Anzel's arms shook under the weight of the rifle. The synthetic polymer grip dug into the scarred flesh of his palms, slick with sweat. His breath hitched. Somewhere in that blur of hollow faces, Hope stood. He couldn't see her now. Not clearly. The crowd swayed like stalks in a storm. But he knew she was there. Again he wanted to scream. To run. To drop the weapon, break formation, and tear the world apart with his bare hands if it meant getting to her. But all he could do was stand.
And then—
"HOPE!"
In a flash of motion, she broke through the bodies like a wounded animal, stumbling, crying, her face streaked with soot and terror. The sound of metal boots scraping pavement followed close behind. Peacekeepers.
Anzel's lungs seized.
"Hope!" he cried again, stepping forward, but Hazil's hand shot out instinctively, holding him in place just long enough for everything to go wrong. Two Peacekeepers tackled Hope from either side. Her scream was muffled by the stone beneath her cheek. One kept a boot between her shoulder blades. The other forced her arm behind her back until she choked.
"Don't move," Hazil hissed, her voice tight and commanding, but Anzel's mind was already crumbling.
Just then a third Peacekeeper sauntered over from Anzel's right, almost casual, like this was just another Tuesday. His armor shimmered white in stark contrast to the city around him, gloved hands relaxed at his side. His insignia marked him as an officer of some higher rank Anzel did not recognize.
"Back away from the girl," he said to the two guards, gesturing for them to release her.
They obeyed. The officer loomed over Hope.
"Stupid girl," came a voice, arrogant and cold. "Defying protocol. Interfering with quarantine processing. Risking the integrity of this city's health?"
Anzel's rifle lowered a hair. His eyes were locked on the man now.
"People like you deserve to be treated like animals."
Suddenly the man kicked Hope in the stomach. Hard. The sound she made wasn't human, it was breathless, raw pain squeezed through clenched teeth.
"No—" Anzel whispered. "Don't—" Then came the sound of the man's baton he had pulled from behind him.
Crack.
Hope screamed.
Anzel flinched as Hope's body curled into itself. The officer crouched down, wrapped a gloved hand around her neck in a vice grip, and hoisted her from the ground like she weighed nothing at all. Her legs kicked weakly. Her fingers scraped at the wrist holding her.
Anzel's knees buckled.
He couldn't move. Couldn't speak. Couldn't breathe.
Please, Hazil. Please.
His eyes squeezed shut. And then all of a sudden—
Bang.
A single, ringing shot echoed throughout the plaza.
Everything froze.
Anzel's eyes snapped open and the Peacekeeper stood still for a moment before slumping to his knees. A hole, clean and precise, burrowed between the plating of his upper spine. Blood spattered Hope's face as his grip finally gave and she crumpled to the stone. Smoke curled from Hazil's barrel. Her breath was shallow. Her jaw was clenched so hard it trembled.
And yet her voice was soft. "Run."
No hesitation. No emotion.
"Go!"
Then all hell broke loose.
The silence shattered like glass. Screams rippled across the square. Civilians surged in every direction. A siren wailed overhead as a barrage of gunfire erupted from the surrounding perimeter. Peacekeepers scrambled into formation, barking orders, shouting names, screaming for clarity, but it was already far, far too late to enact control.
Anzel didn't run.
He charged.
He threw his rifle aside and bolted toward Hope, partially activating his axis gear for a boost of acceleration before weaving through a storm of stampeding bodies breaking from the inner circle, the square pulsing with noise and panic. Every step felt like sprinting through quicksand, each heartbeat a silent detonation in his chest. Hope was just a few meters away, crumpled on the pavement, her hands barely able to shield her face. Her sobs were drowned out by the shouts, the gunfire, the whirl of engines overhead.
"Damn it!" he screamed, voice cracking, lungs on fire. He didn't care who heard. Didn't care what came next. He would reach her. He had to.
He dodged a fleeing woman who crashed into him. Shoved past a Peacekeeper knocked to the ground. His boots slid on something wet and he didn't look down to see what it was. His eyes were locked on Hope.
Almost there. Just a few more steps—
Then the square erupted once again.
A deafening roar split the air as the left side of the plaza ignited in a burst of flame and steel. The series of explosions were massive. Multiple walls of compressed fire surged outward in an instant, shredding a nearby column of Peacekeepers and civilians alike. Bodies flung like debris in a storm. Dust, smoke, and ash swallowed the world.
Anzel didn't even have time to scream.
The shockwave hit him like a freight train.
One second he was running, the next he was airborne, thrown like a doll as the ground was torn from beneath him. His back slammed into something unyielding, a metal tenement maybe as the sky and ground traded places in his mind.
Darkness overtook him.
Seconds. Maybe minutes passed before Anzel could hear the ringing in his ears. His skull throbbed and he tasted blood. Everything was a blur. The square, now littered with corpses and chunks of scorched concrete, swam in a red hue. Spots of fire had now taken root in every corner. Somewhere, someone screamed. Somewhere else, a child sobbed. Gunshots cracked like distant thunder.
Where—?
His arms refused to move at first. He coughed and then rolled onto his stomach. His vision twisted, then settled as his mind became clear. Hope. Hazil. Where were they? He then rose to his knees, panting.
A voice cut through the mayhem, distorted but loud.
"This act of destruction has been claimed by the Aegis Front. We are the answer to silence. The voice of revolution. This city is no longer your cage."
Anzel then looked up to see a large swarm of Coalition drones hovering above the square. A series of floodlights flickered on and cast their glow down like a divine spotlight. A new voice erupted, booming and omnipresent.
"Perimeter breach! Section for total execution within a one-mile radius! Eliminate all threats in effect imminently!"
No.
Anzel staggered to his feet, panic rising like bile in his stomach. He watched as Peacekeepers, some dazed, others fanatical, began gunning down the unarmed civilians with mechanical precision. Mothers. Old men. Children. All of them. Anzel turned away as a boy barely older than Hope was shot down with a round to the chest, falling into the arms of a sobbing woman who followed a second later.
His mind splintered. This wasn't war. This wasn't order. This was slaughter.
And in that moment, amid the gunfire, screams, and the cold slap of reality, something grabbed Anzel's arm. He twisted around, ready to fight only to find it was a girl, no older than him. Maybe nineteen. Her face was stained with soot, her hair cut unevenly as if hacked off in desperation. Her arm was wrapped around his wrist, knuckles pale with strain.
"Please—please—I can't move—I—help me—" she whimpered, her voice ragged.
She clung to him like he was the last living soul on earth. Anzel froze. His heart stuttered in his chest. For a second he hesitated, torn by an endless debate which ensued in his mind.
He wanted to push her away. To tell her he had his own family to save. But the look in her eyes…
He couldn't. His legs moved on instinct.
"Come on," he muttered, ducking low. "Stay close." She nodded, limping behind him as they weaved through the chaos together. The girl stumbled often, clearly injured, but never let go of his back.
Anzel scanned every face he could. His eyes caught everything and nothing all at once.
Hope—Hazil—please—
He ducked behind a chunk of collapsed wall as a blast of gunfire swept past them. He could hear the peacekeepers yelling commands, some in panic, some with joy. His stomach turned as the girl beside him whimpered, huddling in the dirt.
"You know the layout here?" he asked quickly.
She nodded. "A little. My uncle—he worked the market near here."
Anzel glanced around the corner. One alley. One opening. A sliver of a path through the chaos.
"Then you're gonna get us out of here," he said. "You understand?"
Her eyes widened. "I—I'll try." For the first time, something steadied in the girl's eyes.
Anzel stood before reaching to pull out the pistol at his waist which he gripped tight in one hand, the other ready to pull the girl by the arm if she faltered. He wasn't sure if he was alive anymore. In fact, he wasn't sure if any of this was real because it sure as hell didn't feel like it. But Hope was still out there. And Hazil—
Hazil had shot a Peacekeeper for him. Anzel knew deep down that in that act of heroism she had thrown away her life. Her future, all for his sake. He clenched his teeth under the realization of this before leading the girl down a side street now partially collapsed by the series of blasts.
A stark thought settled in his mind as they ran.
I refuse to leave them behind. I will save this girl. I will save Hope. I will become the person who can. The person who has the power to change. And with that, they sprinted into the haze beyond.