willingly. “Let’s go. The Polatzi are coming.”
He turned, and his knee-length overcoat swirled around him. He picked Alice up by her waist and carried her under his arm. She seemed too shocked to argue. He looked over his shoulder back to me, his smile growing. “Care to join us, or would you rather get to know the Polatzi on a personal, first-name basis?”
I followed him, questions burning through my mind like my lungs had only minutes before.
Minutes before.
Why didn’t this guy need a mask? His graceful stride reminded me of pictures I’d seen of deer. The way they loped and jumped and acted like no wall was too high, no speed unattainable. They were beautiful, and this man reminded me of that.
He sprinted down an alley that was completely obscured by trash and shadows. I never would have seen it. He clambered over the heaps of trash with no trouble, even with Alice in his arms. I struggled, slipped, and lost my footing more than once.
I saw the top of his hat disappear over the peak of the trash heap, and fell into despair. He’d taken Alice and left me here.
At least he hadn’t let me die. He’d let the Polatzi take care of that.
So kind of him.
All of a sudden a beam of light blinded me from above. “THERE! THE PERPETRATOR IS THERE!”
Three more steady beams of light pinned me to my spot. I was terrified. Polatzi swarmed from all directions, flooding through every alleyway. There were at least thirty of them. I pressed myself against the sediment and willed myself to be invisible.
A hand gripped my right shoulder tightly. The hand pulled me backward, and dragged me over the top of the trash heap and hastily down the other side.
It was the man in the hat.
The man without a mask.
“Come on, you lump,” he huffed. He ran down the alleyway and picked up Alice. Again, she let him whisk her away. If we survived this, we were having a talk about that.
I looked behind me to find Polatzi cascading down the mound. Boots, old masks, newspapers and debris flew in all directions as their feet struggled to gain ground. Empty glass bottles clattered down the heap and broke into a million pieces, and the thundering sound of the hovercraft above roared closer.
My instincts and muscles worked together, driving me in the opposite direction of the inevitable arrest.
At the end of the alleyway I found the man putting Alice in a contraption I’d never seen before. Its spindly metal legs gleamed in the darkness, the bolts protruding slightly from the joints. The legs were bent and the body of the machine was situated on the ground, awaiting passengers. It hummed in anticipation, as though it were a living thing. He placed Alice gingerly in the back seat, then waved me forward with urgency. “Let’s go!”
I scrutinized the contraption before a misguided taser gun missed me by a hair. I sprinted and jumped into the machine beside Alice while the man pulled himself into the driver’s seat. His hands swept over the innumerable cogs, switches, and pulleys. Lights flashed and the contraption came to life, the legs extending and lifting us off the ground.
We were at least twenty feet in the air. The six legs moved elegantly for being constructed of steel, and the man had his hands in gloves that connected to the chaises of the body. Each time he moved his hands, the legs moved.
I heard shouts of terror from below and watched as the Polatzi scattered and dove out of the way of this…this thing. All of the hovercraft’s lights were directed at us, and we were nearly eye-to-eye with it. My eyes burned and watered from the light.
The man laughed as the machine lurched forward. There was a loud bang like a shotgun going off, and a net covered the Polatzi’s hovercraft. There were massive weights at the bottom of the net, and the hovercraft struggled in vain to stay in the air. It crashed to the ground with a sickening crunch.
We covered more ground than should have been possible. The faster the thing went,
He turned, and his knee-length overcoat swirled around him. He picked Alice up by her waist and carried her under his arm. She seemed too shocked to argue. He looked over his shoulder back to me, his smile growing. “Care to join us, or would you rather get to know the Polatzi on a personal, first-name basis?”
I followed him, questions burning through my mind like my lungs had only minutes before.
Minutes before.
Why didn’t this guy need a mask? His graceful stride reminded me of pictures I’d seen of deer. The way they loped and jumped and acted like no wall was too high, no speed unattainable. They were beautiful, and this man reminded me of that.
He sprinted down an alley that was completely obscured by trash and shadows. I never would have seen it. He clambered over the heaps of trash with no trouble, even with Alice in his arms. I struggled, slipped, and lost my footing more than once.
I saw the top of his hat disappear over the peak of the trash heap, and fell into despair. He’d taken Alice and left me here.
At least he hadn’t let me die. He’d let the Polatzi take care of that.
So kind of him.
All of a sudden a beam of light blinded me from above. “THERE! THE PERPETRATOR IS THERE!”
Three more steady beams of light pinned me to my spot. I was terrified. Polatzi swarmed from all directions, flooding through every alleyway. There were at least thirty of them. I pressed myself against the sediment and willed myself to be invisible.
A hand gripped my right shoulder tightly. The hand pulled me backward, and dragged me over the top of the trash heap and hastily down the other side.
It was the man in the hat.
The man without a mask.
“Come on, you lump,” he huffed. He ran down the alleyway and picked up Alice. Again, she let him whisk her away. If we survived this, we were having a talk about that.
I looked behind me to find Polatzi cascading down the mound. Boots, old masks, newspapers and debris flew in all directions as their feet struggled to gain ground. Empty glass bottles clattered down the heap and broke into a million pieces, and the thundering sound of the hovercraft above roared closer.
My instincts and muscles worked together, driving me in the opposite direction of the inevitable arrest.
At the end of the alleyway I found the man putting Alice in a contraption I’d never seen before. Its spindly metal legs gleamed in the darkness, the bolts protruding slightly from the joints. The legs were bent and the body of the machine was situated on the ground, awaiting passengers. It hummed in anticipation, as though it were a living thing. He placed Alice gingerly in the back seat, then waved me forward with urgency. “Let’s go!”
I scrutinized the contraption before a misguided taser gun missed me by a hair. I sprinted and jumped into the machine beside Alice while the man pulled himself into the driver’s seat. His hands swept over the innumerable cogs, switches, and pulleys. Lights flashed and the contraption came to life, the legs extending and lifting us off the ground.
We were at least twenty feet in the air. The six legs moved elegantly for being constructed of steel, and the man had his hands in gloves that connected to the chaises of the body. Each time he moved his hands, the legs moved.
I heard shouts of terror from below and watched as the Polatzi scattered and dove out of the way of this…this thing. All of the hovercraft’s lights were directed at us, and we were nearly eye-to-eye with it. My eyes burned and watered from the light.
The man laughed as the machine lurched forward. There was a loud bang like a shotgun going off, and a net covered the Polatzi’s hovercraft. There were massive weights at the bottom of the net, and the hovercraft struggled in vain to stay in the air. It crashed to the ground with a sickening crunch.
We covered more ground than should have been possible. The faster the thing went,
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