The Tag Bearer

Chapter 16 - The Return of a Monster

Slowly, the tumble of bodies cleared.

The light of dawn blared into my eyes in an array of dazzling purple and orange. Was it morning already? The tops of the trees were mesmerising as I lay gazing up at them in wonder. I can't remember the last time I saw something so pretty.

Perhaps it was a time before the war? A time when my mother existed and my father sat beside us, his hazel eyes smiling as the edges of them creased? He was beginning to go blind; I remember. That day had been peaceful, the songbirds chirping around us. He knew the rebellion had taken his eyesight, but he'd be damned if it took his family as well.

I laid my eyes on my mother as she spun around in a red flowery dress, her long ginger hair swirling behind her and her brown eyes sparkling with happiness. She bent, perfect in her own aurora.

A memory I didn't know existed was playing in my mind, clear as day. I frowned. She was never present, yet here she was, presenting herself like she'd been there all along. She placed her hands on my cheeks, cupping my face and smiling, and opened her mouth to speak a message I could not hear.

All too quickly, I was dragged up onto my feet, the daydream snapping away. I scouted the ground in a desperate rage, spotting Matthew laying facedown, motionless. His gun was half-covered in amongst the leaves barely a foot away, still warm from being used. Bryce's forehead was oozing with blood and he tried to ignore it as it flowed into his eye. He cried out, his shirt torn and his right arm caressing his left.

They tried to cuff him but gave up when he lashed out at them. He pulled away from them, his chest heaving as he eyes darted around. Quickly, he jumped to his feet and made a beeline for it, bolting towards the trees.

The bounty hunter with a changed heart. What a pity. He'd helped the enemy of the regime and still thought he could be free. His contract was well and truly broken, and his plight didn't last long. A needle, flung from the belly of a Drone, was jabbed fiercely into his neck. Blue liquid leaked from the syringe into his bloodstream, forcing his eyes to droop. His head rolled back, and he flopped helplessly to the ground.

In the commotion, an Officer managed to wrap my hands complacently behind my back and cuff them. I was too bewildered to resist, watching on as Bryce lay stationary in the dirt. At least it wasn't Maurice who was touching me.

I observed on as the Officer's fussed over a limp Matthew, revealing a tracker on his neck which was promptly scanned. After nodding to each other, two Officers cuffed him and slapped him hard across the face. He groaned, his eyelids fluttering reluctantly open. His eyes wandered around the scene before they landed on me and he scowled.

I gulped, feeling my gut clench in on itself. I was the one who didn't run fast enough. Who couldn't run fast enough. My bewildered self was turning out to be no match for this new regime. I was the one who had stopped. The one who couldn't save myself even if I knew how.

"Good work, A14," a voice rang out into the dawn.

I glanced up, shielding my eyes against the angel-like beam of light. Almost as if on cue, a plate began to descend into the stream of white luminosity like God himself was controlling the scene. The lower it got, the more the silhouette became creepy, instead revealing a man that could only be described as the Devil himself.

"A14?" I murmured. Who was A14? I glanced at Bryce hoping he might know, but he still lay motionless on the forest floor, his hands cuffed in front of him and his left elbow sticking out at weird angle.

Gradually, the silhouette from the hovercraft was lowered to the ground, my eyes drawing to a parting in the circle of Officers. They stood assertively, like they knew they'd done their job properly and were waiting for a pay rise. I cringed. I didn't like how this was going. I wished I had of run when I had the chance, but it was too late for wishing now. Fate had trapped me in its grasp and pulled me into a direction I never wanted to meet in the first place, and as the shadowed man stepped out of the limelight, I almost fainted with fear.