Year E3029

Ocea

"Thomas," I whispered, pulling him to the shadows of the rock building.

We ducked under a kiosk stand holding insect food as feet stomped by us, racing down the street. A pair of boots stopped before us, kicking the rock next to them.

"Fuck!" a male voice yelled. "We lost the two that ran this way," the man said while a set of men's dress shoes walked up.

A loud huff escaped one of them as the dress shoes strolled closer to us, tapping their feet while he thought.

"Any word on the two that ran off to the forbidden forest?" Dress Shoes asked.

"Yes, they jumped the fence and darted north."

I knew Wyatt and Becca had to be sprinting to Camp Corn Pops, given it was north from here. Thomas scooted closer to me, peeking his eyes out from under the cart. All we could make out with the MOS men were their pants and shoes.

"And how did we lose the two that ran this way?" the dress shoes man asked. "Isn't one of them chipped?" He hummed to himself, grabbing something from the cart.

"Yes, the Doctor removed it."

"Dr. Coachman?" His voice filled with anger.

"Yes, sir." The boots stepped back, waiting for him to yell.

"Order a mission to have group green scope the house for the removal device." He walked away while a hover bike pulled up.

A female human jumped off the bike while the man stepped into view and took it from her. "I will be at my office. Don't disturb me unless you find the device and the purple female Savior." His orange hair and eyes gazed up at the Nus. He was the same man from the marriage banquet. The safforian MOS that talked to me before being sat at the table.

I glanced at Thomas at the same time he looked at me. The purple safforian? They are talking about me, but why am I on their top priority to capture? There are many other Saviors, so why?

The man drove away as the other two ran toward Dr. Coachman's house. I crawled out from under the insect cart, glancing down the street. With empty roads, I waved for Thomas to follow me.

Thomas hesitated before climbing from under the cart. "Why are they after you?" he asked. "Besides being part of the Saviors."

I shrugged my shoulders. "I'm not sure." Glancing at my feet, I tapped my hand on my leg. "He talked to me at the marriage banquet when that yellow safforian caused a scene."

"They were tracking you then, too," Thomas added. "Do you think they know about you being half-human?" he asked, saying the one thing that never crossed my mind.

"But how?" I answered back before climbing on top of the insect food.

I rotated with my hand out for Thomas to take it. He placed his palm on mine while I pulled him onto the cart. As the wind whistled through the empty streets, I reached, pulling myself into an open window.

Thomas followed with my help into the dark, abandoned building. I slowly shut the window behind him before sliding and sitting under the trim. Thomas peeked out the glass while he placed himself next to me.

"How is your arm?" I asked Thomas, pulling the chip remover from my pocket.

Thomas chuckled under his breath while shaking his head. He let out a huff, grabbing the device from my hand.

"I can't believe we did it," he said, tossing it an inch above his palm and then catching it.

I laughed under my breath, leaning my head on his shoulder. "Never doubt a Savior."

✧✧✧

Stopper closed his eyes with his face in the dirt. A bomb in the distance rumbled, shaking the bush next to us. The glasses on his face fell down his nose as we waited for the explosions to stop.

His green eyes opened, reflecting the orange clouds in them. His breath blew dust into my face as I glanced toward the bush, not wanting to make eye contact with him.

A small black relict slowly dropped with its web onto the ground. Its long eight legs raced at my face. Within a split second, Stopper smashed the spider with his arm.

"Ew," he expressed, lifting his arm to show the black goop on his forearm.

Letting out a laugh, I relaxed in the purple dirt, hearing Fin's voice around the building. Stop froze as I grabbed the glasses from his face.

"What are you two doing?" Wyatt's voice asked from behind us.

I secretly handed Stop's human glasses to him as we shifted in the dirt to a sitting position. Another bomb went off near us, causing Wyatt to stumble into a bush. I waited for the vibrations to stop before standing on my feet.

"One of those people taking over ran right in front of us," I said, brushing my pants off. "To avoid being seen, we ducked down."

Wyatt smirked while Fin eyed me, not believing my story. I glared at them before walking by Wyatt and shoulder-shoving him. My mom ran around the corner with her finger over her mouth, telling us to quiet down.

"Shh, someone is coming," she whispered as we all jumped back into the bushes, ducking away.

A blue safforian not much older than me ran from the same direction as my mom, with a set of twin male safforians behind him. They had similar appearances. Fin stood quickly from the bush, catching their eyes.

"Finally," Fin said. "It's okay, just my brothers."

Stopper stepped out of the bush, snagging his leg with a branch. He fell forward, landing on his palms. I laughed a little while Wyatt shoved him more into the dirt.

"Nice to see familiar faces," Wyatt said, talking to the older one. "What mission are you on, Dan?"

Dan glanced at me with a smirk. "Your father wanted to confirm these two young ladies make it to the safe house." He reached his hand toward my mom. "Dan Cyder, you must be Kat."

My mom shook his hand with a smile. "Yes, and—"

"Your daughter, Ocea," he interrupted her, pulling his hand away and reaching for mine.

I slowly took his palm. He tightened his grip, moving my arm up and down abruptly. "This is William and Ben." Dan pulled his hand away, pointing at the twins behind him. "Don't worry about trying to figure out who is who." He leaned in, whispering to me. "I can never figure it out."

I awkwardly laughed at his joke. He tilted his head with a smile, reaching ear to ear before clapping his hands together.

"Okay, let's get you guys to the house."

✧✧✧

The dark, empty room danced shadows on the wall across from us as the two moons shined through the window. Thomas's eyes blinked hard, trying to stay awake. His head bobbed a few times before he panicked-stiffened and stood from the ground.

He leaned against the wall near me, tapping his hand on his pants. A hum escaped his lips while we noted the Men Of Suits raided the streets below.

"What if they decide to check the buildings?" Thomas asked in a low voice.

"We stay one step ahead of them. If we stay quiet, they won't know we are here." I pointed over my shoulder toward the window. "They are so loud, so easy to keep ahead of them."

Thomas chuckled, showing off his perfect teeth. He leaned over me, watching out the window as I trailed my eyes from his lips to his jaw. Stubbles formed beautifully, peppering his darker skin. Thomas bit his cheek nervously while his eyes shifted to me. His mouth dropped open before a slight smile formed on his face.

My throat dried like a lump lodged itself, making my heart beat rapidly. I coughed out, glancing away from Thomas.

"So, any recent memories since the removal of the chip?" I asked, hoping he wouldn't bring up me watching him.

He slid down the wall, placing himself close to me. "No." Thomas brought his knees up. "Looks like Dr. Coachman was right."

"I wonder why your memories are recovering, then?"

"Who knows?" he said, shrugging his shoulders. "Maybe I never truly lost them?" he said, more like a question.

"What do you mean by that?" I shifted on my rear to face him.

He put his hand in his curly hair. "Well, I believe there were memories before we ran into each other at my job." Thomas played with his fingers, looking away from me. "Once I saw you, I realized my dreams may be reality or memories."

"I thought your memories floated in when you saw me, not already there?" I asked him. "Like it blocked them before me."

He glanced from his hands to me. "I thought so too, but now maybe they were there."

I tilted my head. "Now, what makes you different from the rest?"

Thomas pointed at me. "Well, I think it is—"

A voice from below the window on the street caused Thomas to freeze. The mumbling cleared as they walked closer to our building.

"Looks like an abandoned rock office. Had anyone checked it?" a female voice asked.

"According to my logs, nope," a deep voice responded.

Thomas and I peeked over the windowsill down to the streets. A small group of Men Of Suits in riot gear stood, waiting for the command to invade the building. A female safforian clicked on her tablet and then glanced at the commander.

"Okay, this building, then I want the abandoned one on Ochre Street next," the lady said before walking off with her heels clicking on the road.

The leader pointed at the building. "You heard the woman. Check every room."

The small group of MOS stomped into the building, invading the first floor. Thomas and I quickly sat under the window, listening to them below us.

"What now?" Thomas whispered.

I brought my finger to my lips, telling him to be quiet. Crawling across the room, I waved behind me for Thomas to follow. We needed to climb higher in the building.

While at the door, I opened it slowly, peeking into the hallway. Voices echoed from below as we tiptoed down the corridor. Thomas pointed at a glowing hover sign, telling us where the stairs were. I grabbed Thomas's shoulder, tapping the same sign where it said rooftop.

He gave me a thumbs up, but soon, his expression showed panic while we heard voices nearing. I grabbed Thomas's hand and ran quietly to the stairs. We raced up the steps until we reached a dead end.

Thomas spun in a circle at the end of the hallway, panicking. "How do we get to the roof?" he whispered-yelled.

I pointed toward the ceiling, showing him the latch with the two moon's light shining through the glass on the trapdoor. Thomas walked to the wall with the keypad on it, tapping the screen.

"It's asking for a code," he whispered as I strolled behind him.

"Why is there power in this old building?" I replied, frustrated with the situation.

Loud footsteps echoed from the stairs, causing us to glance down the hallway. The dark space threatened us while we waited for the Men Of Suits to show themselves. Thomas interlocked his hand with mine, stepping forward and standing before me.

"This is the last floor," a voice sounded from the stairs.

I stood straighter, ready to fight whoever ran down the hallway. With my hands in front of my face, a flash of light lit up the building. The MOS on the stairs froze while thunder rumbled, shaking the building.

Another flash cracked through the night, and then the roaring of the storm surrounded us. Heat floated into the hallway like fire burning down a field.

"Heat storm!" a female voice yelled. "Abandon mission and report back to base three!"

The shadows at the top of the steps raced away from us. The building shook with thunder simultaneously as lightning zipped across the sky, flashing light.

Sweat dripped down my hairline to my eyebrows. I glanced at Thomas, seeing the heat bothering him already. His arms glistened with moisture as flashing lightning lit the hallway, menacing to burn us alive.

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