The Purge
Chapter 11: Conleth

“The question wasn’t whether things would fall apart. Only when. It was a waiting game. A question of who would try to take power and how they would try to use it.”

Shatter Me; Tahereh Mafi

My display started to blink in Code Red.

It was a warning that beyond these metal walls that protected us, something bad was happening. As much as possible I tried to concentrate on calming myself. Now is not the time to panic. I ran back to the Training Room where I know Bri would still be. As I made it to the corner I saw her walking down the hallway. Her eyebrows creased upon the sight of me. The anxiousness might have been pretty obvious on my face. Behind her, Halley was running towards us. The alarm started to sound and Bri looked up, confused.

In our Agoge Training the display usually help us to easier access and communication. Code Red meant a distress call; Code Yellow meant an emergency; Code Orange meant an assembly; Code Blue meant to retreat from a mission; and Code Green meant to advance in battle.

WARNING! My display had said. It kept on blinking and it made my own vision blur. It wasn’t as helpful as I’ve thought it would be. It didn’t even warn me of what was happening or what was attacking. It left me to scurry on my own.

“What’s happening?” I asked when I reached her.

“How am I supposed to know?” she snapped. She looked down the hallway, her eyes burning with irritation. “Obviously something’s wrong.”

From my periphery, Athren was rushing towards us.

“Could it be?” Halley asked. Her eyes mirrored my own fear. “The Gates had been breached.”

“That’s impossible.” Athren said as he made it to us, panting. “They can’t just pass the Barriers!”

“The Zenith would have known.” Bri retorted. “We would have been out there by now-fighting.”

An explosion from the west wing startled us. Bri started running towards its direction. We followed her out of our headquarters only to find a creature devouring our own. The scene had caught us dead on our feet.

It was tall, built in with muscles and rotten skin-it looked almost human but what made it so disturbing was its face. Its skin had sealed what must have been the holes for its eyes. Its mouth opened unnaturally like torn and melted flesh as it gaped open to suck in blood.

We all looked down at the remnants of what was once Althea Cristi. She’s one of our own. Addonexus. Behind the hideous creature was a mass chaos of blood and gore.

“Sigourney!” Athren shouted as he rushed back to our headquarters. “She went back to her room!”

Bri had tried to reach for him but he was already running back inside.

“Athren! Come back! We have to stick together!” she shouted back at him but he doesn’t turn. She cursed under her breath just in time a creature lunged at her. It was just enough seconds when she turned and the creature struck with its claws.

I burned its arm. The creature withdrew with a piercing shriek. Its arm turned into ashes. I moved in front of Bri, playing hero just in case it recovered and attacked again.

“I had it!” Bri glowered behind me. I looked at her from my shoulder.

“You’re welcome.” I told her with emphasis. “Admit it. You didn’t see it coming!”

Flame rose up her cheeks despite her denial.

“Guys, look out!” Halley shouted as another creature leaped in front of us. Bri was fast enough to wrap a shield around us before it could strike. It flew out of the way once its claws made contact with Bri’s shield. The creature hissed angrily at her.

“Die bitch.” Bri spat as she raised her gun and fired straight at its head. It exploded into a million pieces like a bombed watermelon. Immediately her score from my display doubled up.

SANGUINARIANS

EXTRATERRESTRIAL BEINGS

CLASS 8

My display had told me like it suddenly remembered how to operate and cooperate.

STRENGTHS: BLOOD AND POWER.

WEAKNESSES: HEAD AND NECK.

WARNING: IT COULD GENERATE VERY FAST.

It added. I wanted to roll my eyes right now. But seeing the carcasses of both my kind and theirs sent a horrible shudder through my body.

“Does this mean the Gates had been breached?” I asked Bri. More Sanguinarians started to make its way towards us. The sound of the gun firing might have triggered their attention. I summoned the flames in my hands and I burned a band of them. But just as I had burned them, they came back to life from the ashes.

WARNING: IT COULD GENERATE VERY FAST.

My display had warned me again. I cursed.

“It can’t be breached.” Bri said through gritted teeth. “At least not yet. We would have known. We would have felt it.”

A piercing cry caught our attention.

Halley was moving to the wall. Another band of blood sucking aliens started to surround her. I heard gun fires. It struck me out of my frantic state. We are under attack. Keep yourself together, Conleth! Bri was eliminating the ones that threatened to approach us. But unfortunately her gun had ran out of laser bullets too early. She cursed out loud.

I started to wrap myself in flames.

“Fire won’t kill them.” She told me while she grasped firmly on her empty gun. A blood thirsty alien cleaved its way to her. It bared its claws and slashed at her. But its fingers broke into chops of skin. She had protected herself in an invisible force field. Upon instinct, I set the flames raging into her attacker’s skin.

“The flames will buy us some time.” I said as the burning body had fell on the ground. Halley was still screaming behind me.

I tried burning them but they just kept on coming back like ravenous phoenixes. It was frustrating. For a moment I wished I had a gun or anything that could split them open. I remembered our lessons about aliens. There were three types; Major Ross had said. The Predators, the Sanguinarians, and the Initiators.

The Predators were vile species who acted as a killing machine for the Initiators. They appear beastlike who walk on eight legs, covered in scales and a wide set jaw with shark’s teeth. Their weakness is through the heart. Brandishing their body with knives will be of no use for their scales ruled as a protection. They could harden it easily like dragon’s scales. The Sanguinarians are the ones who are slowly obliterating us. They are species of aliens that feast on blood and absorbs power. Once they find a particular target, they won’t stop until these targets are annihilated. They are made of human remains making their skin look and smell like the dead. They don’t have eyes to see but their sense of smell is highly active. They are mostly attracted to the smell of power which makes us Addonexus the number one prey. You can only kill them by blowing their heads off. And lastly, the Initiators. They are well known for their highly advance nature and sharp minds. They procure order to the other aliens. No one has actually seen one-none has actually lived to see one. But when there’s a Predator, nevertheless an Initiator is nearby armed with a Sanguinarian.

I ran towards Halley just in time the monster hit the ground. I set a wall of flame right in front of me to block the incoming alien. It screeched as my flames burned its face. I swung my burning arm in an arc to slice through its neck and cut its head. The force had slice through its skin and its head rolled down the ground like a bowling ball.

“Wake up!” Bri had exclaimed. I turned towards Halley. She was in shock. Her eyes were two pools of blank ice. Bri called her name, willing her to come back to life but Halley remained in her silence as she looked on to nothing. A bigger Sanguinarian crossed the room and it had its peckish eyes set on Halley. I darted towards her. But I felt my body fall to the ground. Strong marred hands grasped at my ankle and it pulled me right through its waiting teeth. On impulse I set my leg on fire. The alien’s mouth melted away.

Bri was still running for Halley. She didn’t notice the Sanguinarian coming right at them. She lashed out the ones in her way with hands as sharp as a katana. Heads started to roll on the floor. On the ground, the burnt bodies started to come back through ashes. There’s not much time. I have to make it to them or we’ll all be dead.

The bigger Sanguinarian lunged itself at Halley. But a wall shut him out. Bri lashed her arm in a combat wave. The alien moved away like it expected her to attack. It plunged its stone like fist on Bri’s stomach, sending her backward to hit the wall. It snarled and hissed with delight. It had found its new meal on Bri. I bet it smelled her power like a glorious buffet.

Bri’s head rocked from left to right. She saw the alien coming and she tried to stand back up on her feet. But the monster was fast. It bared its teeth, blood spluttered from its gums. It advanced on her.

I felt its nails digging from my shoulder to my chest. Shock had paled Bri’s face right next to me. Her lips moved to form my name but I couldn’t hear the words anymore. This might be the feeling of dying. The dizziness was so overwhelming. At least, before I’d close my eyes for good, the last thing I’d see in this world is her face. It would be a beautiful end.

“Conleth!” I heard her. My heart started beating so fast like suddenly I’ve been snapped back to life. A force field had protected us from the danger outside. I met her eyes. The blue was ever dominant than the rest of the colors. Flecks of gold floated like stars in her eyes. There was a crazy thought inside my head telling me that Bri might be crying. But then… Bri doesn’t cry.

She pursed her lips tightly before she opened them and said, “Don’t you dare.”

The force field broke like shattered glass.

The Sanguinarians reached us. What happened next felt like a blur to me. The chaos had stopped but my world turns. Bri had wrapped her arms protectively around me and she bent her head down from the shamble.

I reached down for her hand. She lifted her head so that her eyes could meet mine. I squeezed her hand tightly with all the strength I have left. I don’t want you to leave. Ever.

Then the darkness came to take me.

I woke from the constant throbbing that gnawed my skin. The ceiling had not been a comfort to me. The pillow though had an excellent job by consoling my aching head. It made me want to sleep more. But the pain still got me. I knew I was healing. I could feel my body doing it but I couldn’t do it fast enough. My body was covered in gauze. A red line ought to make a scene on the white fabric. I reached for my shirt on the bedside table, I put it on, and I went out of the ward. No one was here. Perhaps everyone had been busy tending the wounded and the fallen in the public ward. Flashes of blood and death came cruising into the surface like a surfer.

I pushed the double doors open and I found Bri pacing. It gave me the impression that she must be debating whether she should see me or not. Upon seeing me, she paused like she had seen a ghost.

Her eyebrows creased.

I smiled at her. If I haven’t restrained myself, I’d hug her right here.

“You should be resting.” She said. Clear annoyance hangs in the knit of her brows.

My smile deepened. “What are you doing here?”

She opened her mouth to argue but I figured she doesn’t like to stutter. Instead she said, “Guarding.”

“While fidgeting.” I added and I ended up snorting.

Her shoulders sagged.

I stepped forward and it surprised me that she didn’t move away. “It’s all right to care, Bri.” I reached out and I plucked some strands of her hair to her ear. I let my hand stay on her face. “It’s not a violation.”

Her eyes skimmed down the portion of my shirt where the gauze had been hidden. She met my eyes and she pulled away as if my touch had burned her. Guilt and sadness filled her eyes. I let my hand fall. I ached to pull her back.

“You shouldn’t have done that.”

“A simple thank you would suffice.”

She frowned. “I told you to save yourself from trouble.”

I snorted. “I had to do it.”

“Why?” she asked me like the pain had struck her through the heart.

I held her gaze. “You know why.”

For a moment I thought the walls were coming down and she’d cry. But Bri doesn’t cry. She opened her mouth to say something but Major Ross called her attention. She glanced back at her and then back at me.

“I should go.” She said. Her eyes traveled back to the hidden wound in my shirt.

I nodded and I watched her go.

Before turning the corner with Major Ross, she turned back to me.

“Con,” she said. “Thank you.”

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