Battle Of The Hopeless (Chapter 7)

Delem

She is beautiful. I had so many emotions it’s embarassing. I bet Felix knew all about it by now, but I didn’t care. Suddenly, I had a ray of light in my gray, abandoned life.

‘Katrina, how exactly are we going to get to the sectors? We will get shot within miles of the place.’

‘All roads lead to Rome, Delem.’

Once again, uncertain questions, mysteries. She’s just so wonderfully strange, interesting. Who is she? How does she know about spirits, how does she know how to get to the sectors? And what will she do when she gets there? Questions spun around in my head, pacing back and forth, bugging me with every step. But I knew I had to be patient. I was so consumed by my thoughts that I nearly forgot that there were soldiers following us. Felix kept behind us, looking around, still looking a bit lost. We moved towards a small opening in between buildings. Some light was spilling into the darkness in front of us, a hopeful exit from this city. But, before we could come closer, Katrina took a sharp turn into the darkness, not uttering a single word. All we could do was follow. I decided to come back to the conversation, try to get more out of Katrina, maybe understand what she was doing:

‘So, all roads lead to the sectors?’

‘Not exactly. They will lead to the passage to the sectors, though.’

‘Passage?’

No reply. Katrina continued walking, not even turning back to look at me. All she saw was the road ahead, the narrow streets, her eyes full with admirable determination. Suddenly, I heard Felix behind me, speaking in a supressed whisper:

‘We’re heading in the same direction as the soldiers’.

‘I know what I’m doing’ - Katrina replied, speeding up.

For some odd reason, despite her risk-taking, I believed her every word. Felix didn’t.

‘Katrina, they are close’.

‘How close?’

‘We will run into them in about thirty seconds.’ - Felix whispered, his voice almost fading. ???Suddenly, I began to feel nervous. What if Katrina’s plan, whatever that could be, failed? Why is it that I trust someone that I barely know? Whilst it will be her fault, each one of us will suffer. Yet before I could figure out an elaborate escape plan of my own, Katrina took a step to the left, into a narrow crack in between two buildings, and disappeared into thin air. Feeling slightly astounded, I stopped for just two seconds, which was unfortunately enough for the men in dark brown shirts to appear from around the corner, guns loaded and pointed at us. I frantically searched for a way to avoid promptly getting shot, but before I knew it, I was surrounded. Then, I knew there was no one to save me - Felix had also vanished. Saving myself would be a tough job, especially with a dozen barrels aimed at my head. Even if I knew I couldn’t rely on Felix or Katrina, I felt somehow betrayed. One of the soldiers stepped forward, to face me. His narrowed eyes studied me, maybe assessing the danger I might represent, if any. Still, I lied to them, which automatically labelled me a traitor, and a nuisance, because even after lying I was stupid enough to get caught. He smirked: ‘What’s your name, you little shmuck?’

‘John’ - I replied.

John? There was no way they would buy that. Once again I stood facing death, and as far as I knew, it didn’t grant second chances.

‘Truthfully now, where did the girl go?’ - he asked, making slight but noticeable eye contact with each and every soldier standing by me.

Now I knew exactly how much I had to live - around a minute, if I didn’t answer straight away, but if I hesitated too much, it would be less than a minute. Was a minute enough to take down twelve men, all armed, and escape? ...

‘Okay then, I’ll find her myself’.

The man turned out to be less patient than I had expected. I took a deep breath, still not letting go of the thought of some miracle to happen. I began to suddenly regret everything in my life, from the moment I was recruited to be a soldier. Maybe, I didn’t have the choice. Or I did, but never took advantage of opportunities, never found another way. Once again awoke the feeling of resistance, will to live. Too late, no use of them now.

    He pulled the trigger.

    The sound came with no consequence. He missed? He stood at an arm’s length from me. He staggered back, shaking all over, his eyes wide open. After a brief moment of confusion, shock, disbelief, the soldier fell on his back and moved no more. All others gazed at the body, then back at me, then back on their leader. Suddenly, another collapsed to the ground. One began to run. The rest still stood, pulling the rest of their courage and feeling of duty into one entity, which crumbled to dust as soon as another man fell to the ground, gazing into the sky. I couldn’t believe my own eyes. Stepping away from the body, still wondering how it all happened, I heard the voice of my saviour.

‘I guess I got the timing a bit wrong’ - Katrina sighed, leaning against the wall - ‘But I didn’t expect you to just stand there! What were you thinking?’

I didn’t answer, just took a couple of quick breaths, and kept staring at her in awe. Felix re-appeared next to me, faintly smiling, as if nothing had happened in the past ten minutes. Katrina made a hand gesture for me to follow her.  

‘Come on, get your breath back, we have places to get to.’

As soon as my heart stopped racing, I did as she asked, entering the passage, completely relying on Katrina to get us somewhere where I could finally rest.

    It took about thirty seconds to get my eyes adjusted to the darkness, only to see a claustrophobically narrow tunnel, which seemed to lead to nowhere. All I could hear was Katrina’s steps in front of me, echoing forward and back. I didn’t dare ask where we were going, as before I didn’t get a clear answer, and I was not in the state to find more hidden meanings in her words. Soon, a faint light emerged in front of us, revealing the path splitting into two. Katrina stopped, gazing at our stretched shadows.

‘If you two need protection’ - she pointed to the left - ‘the resistance fighter’s camps are over there. They’ll give you everything you need. Tell them Katrina sent you, they know me.’

She turned to the right.

‘And there is the path to the ‘rome’ of this country.’

I stood, trying to decide which way to go, when Felix spoke:

‘Which way are you going?’

‘I have to see my father. I’m sure he’ll be glad to know about...well, you.’

‘Me?’

Felix stood confused.

‘The sectors are no place for you, nor for a traitor. If you stay in the camps, I will come find you in about two days.’  - Katrina stated, gazing into the dark.

‘But, the sectors are the heart of it all. We can destroy the enemy from the inside!’ - I spoke, slightly moving over to the right tunnel.

‘See, Delem, this is why you can’t come. It’s so much more complicated than that. You can’t just... come and start shooting everybody. You can’t destroy spirits, they’re like water, you can’t just... just go, Delem. You have no idea what you’re getting into.’ - Katrina answered, now in a slightly annoyed voice.

‘Katrina, I am sick of all this. I am sick of seeing people die, seeing them turn into heartless creatures. A year of battle, and we’re still getting nowhere! You said that it’s impossible to kill spirits, then how do you expect humanity to survive? We begin to kill our own. I left that battle because I didn’t want to kill the innocent. I want to kill the ones who began this chaos - the ones who order slaughter, hiding in the safety of the sectors! I know exactly what I’m getting into, and if I die whilst getting rid of those tyrants, then so it will be!’

Both Katrina and Felix looked struck by my words. In fact, I didn’t expect to pour my heart out either, but I did, and now felt so much better. As I spoke, I had recognised what I really wanted. Not what the officers had told me to want, not what I was expected to want. Katrina showed an unsincere smile:

‘Pretty speech, but I hear this from the fighters every time I see one. What will happen as soon as you come in? You get shot. You die for nothing. You’ll have a better chance of survival, and contribution to the war if you go left, now. Two days, I promise.’

As soon as the last word slipped off her lips, she disappeared from sight, leaving only echoes of her footsteps. After a moment of silence, I heard the spirit’s voice behind me:

‘You know, my impression of you completely changed. Except that last sentence, about you dying whilst saving the world. Heroic, but untrue.’

‘Hey, don’t judge.’

‘You’d make a good leader’ - Felix remarked, as he began to walk in the direction of the camps.