Another Chance

Not even adrenaline could make me take as much as another step. Even if I could, where the hell would I go? The city was burning down around me, and there was nowhere left to run. I felt myself collapse against the brick wall of what once was a coffee shop in the heart of the Emerald City… but was now just a tomb. My mind screamed to get back up, but my will was broken. Faces of friends flashed before my eyes… My mother’s broken body on the ground… My wife’s outstretched arms as the ferry took her to safety… It had taken a long time for me to realize the ferry would not be coming back for me.

As the fire crawled up nearby buildings, I felt myself surrendering to it. Tears leapt unbidden to my eyes, and fell to their untimely demise. “I’m too weak, Angela. I can’t… I can’t do it anymore.” As rasping words escaped my throat, I rest my weary head against the wall, felt my chest rise and fall, felt the heavy breaths escape me. I knew my end was coming… This knowledge was cemented by the rhythmic sound of boots hitting the ground. The militia would be my ultimate end. It all was all too appropriate.

“Jared!” The man running to me knew my name… I would have smirked, had I the strength to raise the corner of my mouth. I opened my eyes, but instead of the militia uniform I expected to see, it was worse; Brian was coming for me. “Jared, get the hell up! We’ve got to move! The militia’s coming this way!” I didn’t understand the words coming from him. This was the man who had hated me since we were kids. I had gotten better grades than him. I had always been picked first for sports. I had even stolen his girlfriend and married her.

“I can’t… Brian, I can’t move anymore.” I lay there, useless. I wept pitifully, choked by a sudden, gasping sob. I was painfully aware of the dirt all over my skin, the blood and sweat I was covered in. Brian cursed and leaned down, and closed the space. He wasn’t satisfied with my answer, and slapped me full in the face. Dazed, I stared up at him, fury in my eyes, but the expression on my face filled me with surprise.

He looked at me with more than resolve; determination was in every feature. As he reached down and grabbed me by the shirt, I could feel, melting away, the exhaustion, the pain, the hurt. “She chose you over me… Angela married you, you stupid ass! Now get moving!

Again, the rhythmic thumping as combat boots were heard around the corner. There was no mistake in the number, much to our horror. “Get out of here!” Brian yelled, pushing me around the corner. I tripped, and fell part of the way down the hill. I rolled down, feeling new wounds and abrasions from Brian forcing my evasion. Dimly, I was aware of the dirty pistol he pulled from his leather jacket. He took a side stance and fired, with a deafening roar. Again, the explosion of sound and light erupted, rocking me to my core. Shot after shot left his metal weapon, and only one was returned…

Brian fell to the ground, holding his stomach. I saw crimson running downhill, streaming past me. I don’t know where I found the strength, but I started to climb.

He struggled to sit up, raising his pistol. As I rounded the corner, I saw the slug it threw make the last shadow clad militiaman fall. He fell on the pavement.

I ran to him.

“Jared… you have to live.” He said, rasping. “You have to live. For you, for Angela, and for me.”

“I know,” I said crying. “I know.”

“Tell me,” he whispered, rasping.

“Wh- What?”

“Tell me, what is it you plan… to do… with your one… wild and precious life?” he asked, cryptically. He died in my arms. I almost felt his strength running in to me. I felt surges of fury and rage well up from places I didn’t know I had. I ran, and I ran hard.

Angela, I’m coming for you. I’m coming back to you. No force on Hell or Earth can stop me.

Brian’s sacrifice will not be in vain.