Apartment 905, Sahin, Ned [black female authors .TXT] 📗

“He must be in the Patriot Hall around the corner with other leaders.” He points his index finger to the end of the corridor. He is probably thinking if he disobeyed his leader somehow.

“Ah, right. I forgot what time it started. Thank you,” I say and then slowly close the door.

Val must have noticed the struggle I am having, but she knows she can’t help, especially when her hands are tied. Fortunately, the Savior who has been following us doesn’t seem to be suspicious. At least for now.

“Let’s go to the conference room,” I say, heading to the end of the hall. They follow me.

There is a big door with a Patriot Hall sign above it at the end of the hallway. From the small opening, I see lots of people talking loudly in small groups. Val and I might be able to disappear in this crowd.

We enter the room. The Savior is looking at me, hoping that I would take him to the Charlotte leader. I scan the room to pretend like I am searching for him, but I am actually trying to make a plan on how to get rid of him by walking through the crowd.

Seconds after, I see someone in the crowd. Someone a lot more dangerous than the Savior next to me.

Leyton Fowler.

There are blue stripes on his shoulders. He has a hat with CLT letters on it. He must be the assistant of the Charlotte leader. It looks like he joined the gang and climbed up in the command chain quickly after his betrayal at the cabin.

“I don’t see him. Let’s wait outside of the hall,” I tell the Savior. I look at Leyton one more time to make sure he didn’t see me.

He is looking straight at me. His smiley face turns to a confused look before converting to a hateful expression. The fire builds up in his eyes quickly. The situation got messed up so fast. I have no idea what to do next.

The sound of a heavy shooting comes from the outside and interrupts the moment I am having with Leyton.

People start running around. Some of them take cover under tables while others go to the door, pulling their guns from their holsters. Somebody bumps into me amid the chaos. I push him away. The shooting continues without even a break.

It must be Miguel.

“No…” I say. This wasn’t the plan.

I glance at Val, and we both run out of the hall. The glass covering in front of the building is scattered in pieces. People are running around, trying to get cover and shoot back.

Several guards lie dead around the gate. Somebody is on top of one of the deceased guards. This reminds me of the scene back in the jungle. He is a Rica, an ex-human being that turned into an extremely aggressive killing animal. Several other Ricas are trying to jump over the gate. Either Miguel somehow drew them here or they wanted to check out today’s event on their own will.

The drum fire continues non-stop. It looks like Miguel and Diego are targeting everything and everybody in their range. They will finish their magazines quickly if they don’t slow down and pick their targets carefully.

Val and I run back to the hallway where we came from. Nobody seems to question where we are going or why her hands are tied. The base got caught up in this unexpected attack. It’s a total chaos. Miguel’s version of the plan might have worked after all.

Toshi is still not around. He has the truck’s key. I am not sure if the truck is still there, though. All I know is I can’t wait for Toshi. This chaos is our only chance to escape from the base.

The state leader is running in front of us with three security details. We follow them. They pass the production line.

I know where they are going. They are going to the Centaur.

Once they reach the truck, we take cover behind some equipment boxes. A Savior reaches for the driver's door. The state leader and another one of his details go around the truck to get in the passenger seat and command center of the truck. Another Savior runs to the control box of the garage door and hits the green button.

As soon as the door raises a few feet, an influx of Ricas runs into it. One of them jumps onto the Savior who opened the door. A group of Ricas race toward the other two Saviors, who are shooting at them. The state leader rushes away toward the back side of the factory.

I decide to wait and see how this little war comes along. Val is watching the scene on her knees next to me.

Two Saviors are down while at least five Ricas are lying dead around them. The Savior who tried to unlock the driver door gets bitten from his neck by the last Rica. He manages to put a bullet in the savage’s brain, and he falls down, holding onto his neck.

I touch Val’s arm to signal her to follow me. We run to the truck. I grab the key the driver had dropped on the ground.

“Help!” he groans, holding his back on the floor. I take off one of the dead Ricas shoes. Then I take his socks off. I roll the socks around the driver’s neck to stop the bleeding. It looks like Rica didn’t get to the main artery, and the Savior should survive.

I unlock the doors and help Val get on the passenger seat. I go around and climb to the driver seat.

I try familiarizing myself with the cabin and dashboard. Everything in this truck is big. Steering wheel, gear, odometer. I look for the ignition switch. I place the key and pull the switch up. Nothing happens.

“Come on, baby. It’s not the time to act out!” I slam my fist on the steering wheel.

Val leans over the dashboard to see if