Chapter 12

His face is covered with a few days of facial hair and his once silky curly hair looks rough and greasy. His clothes look like they haven't been changed for a while. And I could only imagine what he smells like. If he had a beer bottle in his hand, I could call him a hobo or a drunk that fell off the wagon.

My mouth drops. I whisper clearly not believing my eyes. "Braydon?"

Braydon's face pales to ghost white when his eyes linger on me. He swallows. What happened to the handsome young man I've known? This. Isn't him. I tear my gaze away and start up the dirt bike.

His voice husky, "Where are you going?" Somewhere laced in his words is a lost child.

I ignore him and slowly let out the clutch to roll past him. He jogs up next to me. He smells horrid. I had to raise my hand to cover the disgusting stench that's emitting from him.

"Jeez, Braydon. You smell awful."

He ignores my comment and keeps jogging next to me. "Where are you going?"

I sigh, "Somewhere that isn't here."

"Why?" He asks with sadness that breaks my heart.

I'm getting annoyed with his constant appearances. "Because Braydon, I don't like it here anymore, I have to leave. What's the point in being somewhere if you're not happy?"

He slows to a stop. I kept going because if I stop or look back, I'm afraid I'll stay.

"Zeria, one last thing," I pause. To listen to his final words. "Shift up, clutch. Shift down, no clutch."

I let those words sink in. I raised my feet and twisted the throttle to gain speed and took my hand off of it. I pulled the clutch in and shift to second gear and released the clutch slowly. I twisted the throttle again gaining more speed than before.

I followed the tunnel out of the base, where the sun shines and blue skies never end. The heat of the desert hits me as I roll out of the tunnel into the open space. The path is so worn that it makes me happy. I drive off the road and take a jump off the rock jump formation on the side. I land pretty hard but this driving feels so natural to me.

The main road comes up ahead and I decide to take a right. Could never go wrong with a right, right? I drove on the road for a while. The sun blazing and the wind in my hair felt nice. My thoughts filled with Braydon and I tried to shove them away but they just kept popping up. I guess I'm not over him in the way I thought I was.

He meant everything to me. Seeing him stand weak and hopeless was just... sad. In my heart I know I don't completely blame him and part of me still wants to jump in his arms. But the fact is, he's a stupid, ignorant boy that made a mistake that took my father.

If hating him for the rest of my life gives him hell, he should pay for it. I have to deal with my father being gone. Braydon's an orphan too. My consciousness pipes up in the back of my head. Yes, he understands what it feels like to lose a parent which is why he shouldn't have gone out there in the first place.

What about James?

James is an asshole who deserves to die but he's in charge now. How am I supposed to take him down knowing my people need him? It's why leaving is easy. I don't have to deal with the bullshit and the memories that cling to me.

I just know that I can't trust anyone there. I can't pretend everything's ok when it's not. I just need time. Time to see what everyone talks about. Time to understand this world. Time to figure out what I'm supposed to do.

My father told me that there's a place up ahead that he keeps extra guns and anything for that matter, in the case of an emergency. Since being out here alone sounds like a disaster waiting to happen, I make a pit stop.

He said that there's a bit of a turn off on the main road. I watch carefully for it. When I see it, I drive for it. The turn off lead me to a storage shack that I presume is ours. I stopped and killed my engine. I kick the kickstand down, swing my leg over and walk over to the shack.

The door was locked. I unlocked it with my amazing lock picking skills which consisted of me breaking it. With a rock. A rock that needed to be put down after what I did with it. It took me a while but I did it.

When I opened the door, I was surprised to find a lot of goodies. There were a lot of different types of snipers, handguns, machine guns, and a variety of lengths in knives. There was survival stuff there too, which was a good thing since I did not stop by the kitchen as of lately. My attention returned to the multiple selections of weapons. I forced myself to stop gawking at the variety of guns to choose from.

There were just so many to choose from. How am I going to choose from such a selection? Probably the things I actually need. That would be the logical choice but something screams to go overboard with this. I shake my head and get to business.

I grab a thigh knife holster, a belt gun holster, and a backpack to carry extra shit. I choose from a variety of knives and go with a simple knife, an Esee five. For my gun, I choose the Springfield XD 9MM.

To put in my bag, I put a refillable water bottle, a flashlight, a small medic kit, a shit ton of bullets for my handgun, and an extra pair of clothes (Dad clearly thought of every emergency). Finally, I grabbed the Humanoid killer which is just a rifle that has special enhancements to kill Humanoids.

I put some food there just in case I don't come back for a while. My intention is to explore the surrounding area. See the death spot where those bastards took my father. And be back by the time it takes Tris to set up a search party. So I have about a twenty-four-hour window to do whatever I want.

What can a ten-year-old like me get into?

I put on the holsters and slide in my weapons. I pack my bag accordingly and put it on. I attach a strap to the sniper rifle and head back to my bike. I get on and readjust the rifle so it wouldn't distract my driving.

I start up my bike and drive off to the next town.

~~~~~

The ride was long and boring, especially riding alone with no one to talk to. But I haven't spoken to anyone other than Tris, so this is no different. I pulled up to the abandoned town in the desert.

It wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. I thought it would look like a zombie apocalypse or something. But the streets just look worn from the desert sand brushing by. Nothing wasn't as ruined as some movies I watched. Some spots even have patches of wild grass growing as tall as me.

Around here, a shopping mall is where the humanoids like to control. Humanoids like to guard the popular places they 'think' humans would go and capture them. Although it is true we do go there but only because everywhere else is already empty.

I want to go there because it's time to check off my first encounter with a humanoid. Not gonna lie, part of me is afraid but a bigger part of me is excited. Finally, I get to see what all the fuss is about.

My father's voice lingers in the back of my head to be cautious and to stay in the dark. I take back allies and stay away from the main roads. If I get caught, there's no one to save me.

When I drove over to the mall, I could see humanoids patrolling the mall from the cracks of the town. I made my way to the building directly across the mall. I leave my bike at the bottom of the fire escape and climb up. I had to climb on an old dumpster that smelled like crap.

My instincts to jump for the ladder hanging on the fire escape kick in. If it wasn't for that training Tris gave me, I wouldn't have been able to make the jump or hold myself up. The ladder didn't budge so I was forced to pull up my own weight. I used my lower body to swing and my upper body to grab the next bar up and repeated for the third bar. After that, I could use the ladder normally.

I climbed up the fire escape until I made it all the way to the top. I crouched afraid that maybe the humanoids might see me. I made my way to the edge of the building where I could see the mall perfectly.

I took my rifle off and positioned myself properly against the ledge of the building. I laid my rifle on the ledge and I stared through the scope to observe the Humanoids. They look so real. Like actual people. But they're not. Their emotionless assholes who think destroying humans will make the earth a better place. They killed my father.

It was hard not to start shooting at random. But I need a plan to stop them. If I could get the plans of the mall and have a secure plan to destroy them, then maybe this healing process could start. But I have a feeling that once I kill one, it will never fill the deep hole inside or satisfy my hunger for revenge.

I pull my gun back and stare at those lifeless bastards. They deserve to die. If I could, I would destroy them for good and never have to deal with them ever again. If only I could.

I back away from the edge and turn around. I stop dead in my tracks. Here before me, a lifeless bastard stares at me. Probably, analyzing me. He looks so real that his hair shines in the sun while flying with the wind. I swing my gun up and shot him in the chest. I make a run for it, temporarily paralyzing him. If I know better, which I do, the other humanoids will hear that gunshot and come looking.

The stairway of the fire escape seems longer going down. The adrenaline in my veins shoots all over my body. I run down the steps faster.

I twist around to get on the opposite side of the ladder to get down to the ally. I hung on the last peg. I paused to look up and I could see the humanoids circling the rooftop. I jump down and feel a sharp pain spiked up my right foot.

"Fuck!" I screamed in agony.

Crouching down and feeling up my foot, I could tell that I at least fractured it. Shit. This is bad, really really bad. I drown out the pain by focusing on getting away from the lifeless dummies.

I limp over to my bike and hop on. Ignoring the pain, I start up the dirt bike. I swerve around the allies and buildings to lose the humanoids. My heart pumps faster when one of their drones follows me.

Using one hand, I grabbed my handgun from my holster. I make a sharp turn and take that one-second window to shoot at the stupid thing. I knick the bugger. My stupid aim.

The main road approaches and I'm forced to ride on it. The stretch is straight so I twist my body to face the bugger and shot at it. It's either my aim really sucks or this bugger knows how to dodge. If I don't shoot it down, they'll find me and that means doomsday is sooner than I would like it to be.

Then I noticed it. A dead-end sign coming up a couple of blocks ahead. All I had to do was destroy that thing and I'm free from them. I won't get caught and this stupid fear I feel in my gut will go away. I couldn't help but let the smile creep onto my face.

I sharp turn into a dead-end, and turn my back to the entrance and slowed to a stop. The drown whizzed over my head and crashed into the wall at full speed. I'm curious to see what the drone looks like up close. But knowing the training I've had, Humanoids will be here soon and it would be a risk to stop now.

I turn my bike around and crossed the street. I drive to find my way out of the city.

My heart pumps heavily. I was almost killed. I giggled at the thought that I managed to escape them. If only Braydon was there to witness it.

My laughter fades. Braydon.