Alexis: Heart and Blood

1. Black Diamonds

The city of Orlando was one of the few cities that could still be called “thriving.” It was a sad parody of the New York it had once been. Built on top of the ruins of the old world, Orlando was now one of the world’s busiest trade markets for thugs commoners alike. There was a variety of theories speculating what had happened. Perhaps it had started off as border skirmishes, then escalated to full-blown guerrilla wars. In the end, it was about terrorists and government fighting for control – power.

I walked the block between our townhouse to the Grand Central Station. It was very crowded at the entrance. People were jostling me on all sides. I think I must be somewhat claustrophobic because I started to get very agitated every time someone bumped into me. I looked around for some distractions. If it hadn’t been for the man covered with tattoos and piercing in front of me, I might’ve yelled, “stop touching me!” I had a few qualms about making such a man angry. Who know what will happen to me once I walked by a nice, dark alley? People in this city didn’t have tendencies towards kindness, charity, and all. Anyway, he wasn’t the only one with body modifications. There seemed to be quite a lot of young people with dyed hair, tattoos, scars (I mean huge scars, on their faces), eyebrow, nose, and lip piecing around; Most of them dressed in run-down clothing.

A man bumped into my side. I stumbled a little before I caught my balance. Unable to take it any longer, I turned around, “watch it, mister!”

            Brown haired, and browned eyed, he really wasn’t much to look at. Too plain. The man was now sneering at me. The nerve of him! Yes, he was definitely too plain! He could also use some sense of style, wearing those decrepit clothing. I was just racking my brain for something scathing to say when I noticed he had stopped sneering. In fact, he seemed to be looking at me intently, as if searching for something on my face that wasn’t there. In fact, he was downright staring with an expression of something like...wonder? Now I was just confused. I didn’t have many experiences with men, but somehow, I doubt they act this...odd or maybe I’m just being paranoid. I didn’t want to walk in front of that man, so we walked almost side by side. I glanced over. He was still staring at my face with that intent expression. I was getting creeped out. I couldn’t wait to get on the train.

            We were just starting to get on the escalator when I heard the shots. They rang out from below in the foyer where the tickets were sold. People from below were screaming; they were pushing their way up the escalator.

            “Terrorists. Fuck,” I heard the man mutter before he grabbed my arm out and began to push apart the mass of people.

            “Hey! What are you doing? Let go of my–” Before I could finish my sentence, the subway exploded. With the breathed knocked out of me, I landed on several bodies. A hand was clutching my wrist. It was the man with the chestnut hair. Like me, he laid on top of several bodies. Another man slumped against him.

            He opened his eyes, then his mouth. That was when someone decided to shout out, “RIOT!” Everything happened and broke into motion at once – the sound of glass breaking, more people screaming and gunshots. The man shoved the body off him and pulled me up, “come on, we’ve got to get out of here.”

           We? Since when did the ‘we’ occur during our two-minute relationship? Nevertheless, in my slightly dazed condition, I followed him. He led me through the stunned swarm of people (some only just starting to regain consciousness). We turned left on the street, then left, right, left, and into a dark, hidden alley. We went through a ramshackle doorway. Inside was a small, old room. What was remarkable was that there was not a speck of dust anywhere in the room. My better sense of caution warned me to run, and get far, faraway from here. But my curiosity got the better of me. I wanted to see where this was going.

            The man glanced at me, then proceeded to the dusty old mirror in the corner of the room. He pushed aside the mirror. A key pad appeared and he rapidly punched in some numbers and letters. At this point, I should probably refrain from opening my big mouth and telling him I now knew his ‘secret’ code and the location of this entrance. A panel popped out from the wooden boards that moved aside. It said, ‘initiating retinal scan.’ Well, so much for knowing his ‘secret’ code and location. You need a fucking eye scan to get in!

            Anyway, the door opened after it was done with the eye thing. I noticed the door was about 10 inches thick, metal. These were pretty hefty security measures. What did he have in there? Black diamonds? Gold bars? Well, I was about to find out. I stepped through the doorway after him.

            “We lost the signal! Doctor Alexandria! We just lost the signal!”

            “How can that be? The signal is sent to three satellites that are revolving around earth as we speak! Find the location of the last frequency received, we can’t afford to lose her.”

A/N: Please feel free to comment! you know how we “writers” love our reviews!!