Imperium: Volume 3

Everyone who watched the parade, were now pushing eachother and screaming trying to get out of the line of fire. I quickly looked around for Oaken and Gunner, but couldn't tell who from whom. There were Dom soldier's running towards the gun fire, and other soldiers trying to direct citizens to the designated saftey zones.

"Oak-"

As I tried yelling for Oaken, I suddenly got violently thrown to the ground by one of the panicked spectators. I tried getting up, only to be shoved back down as the stampede of feet hurdled over me. I tried with all my might to get back up, but I couldn't. I felt the weight of people stepping on me and running over me. People trampled on my legs and hands, and the only thing I could think of was to get into fetal position and curl up as tight as possible.

It was endless. The screams of terror ringing through my ears almost deafened me, and I could barely catch a look before I felt my ribs get kicked in.

The pain took my breath away. I laid there screaming in pain, begging for it to stop. I just needed the chance to get up. I gazed my eyes off the ground and then tried to wait for an opening. That's when my eyes then fell on a young man, who also laying on the ground. Blood pouring from his head, and his eyes staring at me.......he was dead. And if I didn't get up soon I would be next. I couldn't wait, it had to be now. Holding my side, I got up as fast as I could and just as I was able to stand up, I took a knee to the face. It didn't take long for the black dots to take over my vision entirely and the sound of panic faded into nothingness.

.....................

Oaken's P.O.V

"Gunner do you see her!?" I yelled.

We were flat up against a building trying to spot Bowdie, whom we lost in the crowd. I turned to him, as he was trying to say something to me, but the sound of the screaming made it next to impossible to hear. I climbed one of the streets lights to get a better view, and started zooming in on the faces.

"Come on...Come on where the hell are you!?" I jumped back down, to where I was immediatley thrown to the ground by another. Next thing I knew I was being picked up by Gunner.

"It's not safe here, we need to get the hell out of here." He yelled.

"Not without Bowdie!"

I saw him frantically looking around for something that could aid us in our search. "Over there!" He pointed.

He grabbed my hand and we ran across the street shoving people out of our way till we reached a fire escape. We quickly climbed it and I was able to get a good look of the ground below. I looked to the left, then to the right scanning my eyes relentlessy till the majority of the crowd had stampeded it's way down. There was still heavy traffic and Dom Soldiers were making there way down the street in a lined formation that stretched from one side to the other. I saw soldiers dressed in white uniforms picking up injured people, and carrying them off behind the line of defenseman.

Now that the crowd was diminishing I could see a few bodies laid out on the street. Some soldiers, and some citizens. I watched as two white uniforms rushed to the one body sprawled out on the street. I zoomed in and their face was all bloody. I watched as they checked a pulse and quickly called over for a stretcher.

"Please don't be her...please don't be her." I prayed.

"Oaken, did you find her!?" His voice cracked. He was panicking.

I zoomed in as they loaded the body on the stretcher, and my gut feeling was confirmed when they removed her helmet and face mask.

"Shit! It's Bowdie!" We quickly ran down the fire escape and started running towards the line of soldiers. One tried to stop us from passing so we could join the line, but I shoved him out of the way and took off as I heard him yelling from behind. We ran as hard as we could till I felt the burning in my legs.

"Don't die.......Dont die......."

"Oaken!" Gunner was hot on my trail as we came to a building where we saw the soldiers in white. I hadn't seen it at first but they all had a red cross embroidered on their sleeves. I came to an abrupt stop, and it was sudden as Gunner ran into the back of me. It barely fazed me, as I quickly scanned the vast amount of bodies. I looked towards the medics performing cpr on another soldier, and others were being tended to for gashes to the face. I ran into the middle of the scene, and quickly turned my attention to a soldier being placed in an ambulance. The medic shut the doors and hit the side of the van to let them know it was okay to depart.

I quickly looked back to the other people being attended and couldn't spot her. I looked back to the ambo....it had to be her. I hit Gunner in the arm to grab his attention.

"This way!" I told him as we ran after it.

"Oaken, is she fucking there?" He asked as we ran.

"Yes, now save your questions for later!" We were making no gain what so ever. I knew we needed a set of wheels, and fast. I stopped and started looking for a potential ride.

"Why are we stopping! We are losing them!" He yelled.

"We need a ride." I scanned the street until I came across what I was looking for. We took off running and as we got closer Gunner knew what we were aiming for.

"Are you serious!? Can you even drive that thing?" He asked.

I quickly took to the driver side and pulled out the wires from underneath the steering column. I used my teeth to strip the insolated coating from the four wires. Twisting two together I then started my way to the other set of live wires and tapped them together.

"Do you even know what your doing?" He pressed.

Suddenly we heard the engine start, and I revved it a few times before I took the truck out of park.

"Oaken, do you know how to drive this damn thing?" He asked again.

"Sure, it's just like riding a bike." I told him as I stepped on the gas. He got thrown back into his seat, and quickly positioned himself in an upright position while he took off his helmet. I took mine off too, which took the slight pressure off my head.

"Just so your aware........this is nothing like riding a bike." He said unimpressed.

"We need to catch up, we can't let them do anything." I advised him.

"Why, aren't they trying to help her?" He asked.

"Check in your left pocket....the one on your vest." I told him. He did so and pulled out an I.D. It was the identification card of the soldier he removed the uniform off of.

"Shit!....if they see that.."

"Ya....I know." They will know right away the uniform doesn't belong to her. She basically put a target on herself.

"So what's the plan?" He asked.

................

Bowdie's P.O.V.

My eyes were still closed, as I felt us going over a bump on the road, and I could hear two voices to my left as I laid there. I could make out the sound of sirens, and I felt a strap pinning my waist down to what I thought was a stretcher. My eyes slowly opened and the brightness of the lights overhead blinded me momentarily. I lifted my head slightly to get a look at my situation. I realised my vest was taken off of me and my shirt was pulled up exposing my torso. I immediatley saw the bruising that covered my entire right side.

I tried undoing the strap, but one of the soldiers turned to me.

"Woah...woah easy there." She said. "We need to further assess you. You definitely have some fractures ribs and who knows what head injuries you sustained."

I didn't say a word, but I felt what she was saying. It hurt to breathe slightly and the pain in my side was certainly evident. I suddenly brought my hand to my one eye, as my vision was slightly blurred and hurt to the touch.

"Miss, your gonna have to relax, we will take care of you." She quickly turned to the other soldier and asked him to check my vest for I.D, then turned back to me.

"Can you tell me your name?" She asked.

It wouldn't matter what name I gave her. One look at that I.D and they would know, so I kept quite. The one soldier handed her the I.D and she took a look at it. She didn't say anything, she just smiled at me.

She handed the I.D back to her partner before she started rummeging through one of the small cabinets, near the end of my feet.

Frig, this is going to hurt. I watched as she pulled a syringe out and unwrapped it from it's seal.

"We are just going to give you a little sedative, to calm you down." She said while trying to comfort me. She came up to my waist and held my forearm to her as she went to place the needle in.

She hadn't even noticed that I had already undone the strap. Before she could stick the needle in I grabbed a hold of her wrist and brought my foot up and kicked her up against the side of the ambo. I screamed as the intense pain in my side took my breath away, but there was no time. Soldier two lunged for my throat. He pushed me back down onto the stretcher, letting out a loud grunt, his hands now on my throat.

I extended my arms into near the pits of his arms, and painfully brought my knees up to his hips, and pushed him off of me. As he stumbled back I got off the stretcher and ran to him full force jumping with my feet first into his chest. He flew into the back of the door, falling against the handle causing it to unlatch the locking mechanism. The doors swung open, and the next thing I knew the woman had me in an armbar. I took my elbow to her rib cage, and she took a right hook to mine.

I jumped up and pushed myself off the side of the ambo feet first, and slammed her back against the above head cabinets. Soldier 2 was still trying to get up, so I didn't waste time and I repeated the step of running to him and jumping into his chest, which threw him out the back of the bus. Behind us I saw a armoured truck tailing us. They quickly sped up to get beside us. That's when I saw Oaken in the driver seat. I turned around to the sound of a scream, as the soldier took out her side arm and aimed it towards my chest. She fired.

I didn't have time to blink as I watched the path of the bullet whiz towards me, and again it slowed to a crawl. The fireball that left the barrel of the gun was still visible and her expression frozen in place. I looked to the bullet, and took it in my hand, and that's when time sped up again. The force of it made me step back, and I found my self hunched over. I took a deep breath and dropped my hand to my side, and looked back up to the soldier through my lashes. She stood up confused, and I made her watch as I let the bullet roll out of my hand onto the floor.

"What the- " She was suddenly cut off as Gunner phased through the side of the ambo, and was knocked out unconscious as he brought his fist to her head.

I looked at him, before we felt the bus hit something which ended up throwing me towards the front of the bus where Gunner was.

"Time to go." He said. He quickly stuck his head out the side of the van, and popped back in.

"You ready?" He asked.

"Ready for what?" He didn't answer me and pulled me into him before he phased us out the side of the ambo, and into the truck that Oaken managed to hold beside us.

We fell hard onto the bed of the truck and slammed into the benching that lined the sides. The impact made me grunt loudly, and I found my hand back to my ribs.

He quickly came to me and checked me over.

"Bowdie! Are you ok?" He asked.

I couldn't speak, it felt like I was stabbed and my breath was hitched. The truck violently swirved and we found ourselves sliding in the back. Gunner quickly threw his body on top of me to stop me from moving around.

"Oaken!" He yelled. Again, the truck swirved and hit something.

"Ugh enough of this shit!" He quickly got up and went towards the front of the truck that seperated us from Oaken. He grabbed her and phased her to the back with us, and brought her to me.

"We're going to crash!" She yelled.

"Ya, that's kind of the point." He said, as he then grabbed a hold of both of us. We immediately felt ourselves sink through the underlay of the truck, and next I was laying in the middle of the street with both of them by my side.

They watched as the truck crashed into the ambulance, and both collided into one of the store fronts.

"Holy shit! Did...did you know that would work?" Oaken asked him.

Without skippping a beat. "Like riding a bike." He didn't hesitate in picking me up in his arms, and started walking.

"Where are you going?" Oaken asked.

"Anywhere but here." He replied. I was starting to slip from his grasp, so he had to throw my weight up slightly to re adjust which had me moan in pain. The adrenaline was currently keeping the pain at bay, but I could feel something going on with my right arm.

"I'm sorry Bowdie." He whispered. I looked at him and a set of lights started brightning his face. We quickly stopped as we heard the screaching of tires stop a few feet away from us. Then a voice yelled out.

"Get in!"

I took a breath of relief.........Sarah.