Brave Fear (boyxboy)

Chapter 40

When Zane walked out the large swinging doors of the ancient library, a New Vancouver jet whizzed overhead, confirming Joseph's theory. The dark shadow flitted over Zane, and his skin went cold, goosebumps rising all over his skin. The plane was different from the one Zane and his friends had stolen. It was sleeker, and had a large undercarriage, presumably for carrying the optimum number of soldiers. He shivered.

The streets were silent. Everyone had left the city in an attempt to escape the havoc Wawrzynski wrought. Little did they know that the man who destroyed FEPE was storming their city at that moment, searching for his failed experiments so he could exterminate them.

London's siren pierced the delicate silence that had befallen the city. They were ancient air raid sirens, for the electronic ones had been wiped out by the EMP. They rattled cacophonously and penetrated Zane's thoughts, scrambling up his brain.

"Follow that jet," Marcus ordered, beginning to jog down the street.

"What about me?" Trip asked.

Zane looked at him. "We'll find you someplace to lie low until it's over," he said, appreciating Trip's concern for his own safety. "We kinda dragged you into this, we'll get you out."

"Are you kidding? You didn't drag me into this. You saved my life. Multiple times."

"And we've only known you a couple hours," Daisy said softly. She looked at Zane. "How sweet is that?" He rolled his eyes as she picked up speed to keep up with Marcus. She cackled, but didn't look back.

Trip, seemingly desensitized to Daisy's antics, rolled his eyes as well and began to run. Zane realized he had disregarded the bloody jean jacket, and his eco-green FEPE uniform, a simple short-sleeve shirt and khakis, was reflecting the light directly into Zane's eyes. He squinted as Trip ran away, blinking to try and shake away the bright spots behind his eyelids.

Zane turned to Jonas. "No shortcuts this time?"

"No chip," Jonas responded. "And nothing from there is accessible. I am now as intelligent as the average middle schooler."

"Har har," Zane said.

Everyone else had taken off running, So Zane and Jonas had to get moving if they didn't want to get left behind. Zane sped up, finding he quite enjoyed running.

More gunshots echoed, followed by cries of triumph and screams of pain. Zane cringed and unconsciously sped up even more. He couldn't stand the pain he knew was being inflicted by Wawrzynski at this moment. Not directly, but it was still the man's fault.

It took them only a couple minutes to reach the outskirts of the city. The library had been quite close to the outskirts because it was in old London. But when they saw what awaited them, Zane wished he'd stayed in the library where it was safe.

Zane would have called it a battlefield, but he believed that word required there to be two sides engaged in fighting. In the scene before him, only New Vancouver was firing their guns. They had gathered London citizens in large groups, corralled in by the deadly weapons. Zane saw old people, young people, people with children tucked into the crooks of their arms. It was a horrible sight to see them treated like livestock, like they were less than they really were.

Wawrzynski had clearly made an effort to make his soldiers seem indistinguishable. They wore simple navy blue gear, complete with the Kevlar breastplate and mesh mask Zane had seen before. But these soldiers also had leg and arm coverings. Kevlar adorned their necks as well. No patches were sown into their outfits to show their allegiance. No normal clothes were visible, and no faces were seen. They were faceless killers, faceless monsters. They were the entity of New Vancouver.