Episode Forty-Four - The Coup

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"Everyone get ready to hit the gas when I say go." Vida's voice echoed through the Glider, her tone even but serious.

Alex made eye contact with Cicero. Her breath became ragged. Despite Vida's calm instructions, Alex could feel the panic tightening in her chest.

Cicero eyed the steering wheel and grabbed it. "Keep your head down," he ordered.

Nodding sharply, Alex laced her fingers together behind her head. She didn't want to know what they'd heard.

The Glider rocked violently. A loud, shrill cry much like that of scream started from one deer. Then another. Until an unsettling, eerie volley of screams echoed from the herd.

One of the deer jumped on top of the Glider. Frantic hooves knocked and slid down the windshield in an attempt to get a foothold.

"Go!"

Cicero hit the gas, rocketing the Glider forward. The deer on the roof went sliding off, and Alex could hear it bouncing down the trunk and onto the road behind them. She didn't want to imagine whoever was driving after running the poor deer over.

Deer ran beside them, bumping into the Glider as it sped along. They remained slow enough to stay amongst the stampede and took no care about staying on the road.

"Shouldn't we be going away from the deer?" Alex asked, her face practically smashed into the leather of the console.

She turned her head slightly to look out of the window. From her point of view, she could barely see the moving horns of a deer beside them.

"I could hear the mechanics of something flying in the air. One of the Achilles' heat seeking drones, by the sound of it. This herd will make us less of a target."

A blast not too far off sent rubble and animals flying. The shapes sailed overhead and out of view on the other side. More rattling followed as the deer took a quick turn, leading the convoy of cars into a sharp, left turn.

Alex braced herself, teeth gritting as the Glider's tires squealed. Cicero had the wheel turned as far as possible, and she felt the vehicle side-swipe someone else's.

There was a crash outside. Not an explosion or a deer, but a vehicle.

She straightened her back against the seat. Alex wrapped her fingers tightly around the seat belt across her chest.

"I told you to stay down!" Cicero yelled. He turned the Glider sharply to avoid an overgrown car.

"Watch out!" Alex shouted, pointing in front of them.

One of the cars was braking, and Cicero whipped the wheel to the right. The Glider moved part of the herd further away from the car they avoided. In a fiery explosion, the stopped car flipped end over end.

A loud hum filled the air as the drone closed the distance behind them. Their cover was slowly dwindling. The deer were dying off far too quickly.

They'd lost three vehicles so far. The armored van, Vida's car, and a few others were all that remained. They were going to be picked off one by one.

"This thing's practically a tank, right?" Alex asked.

 "Yeah, why?"

 "Hit the gas."

"Why?"

"Just hit the gas!" she yelled.

The Glider overtook Vida's car in front. Alex could see Vida's confused look from the driver's seat.

Scanning every building they passed with intense scrutiny, Alex had to find the perfect place. Something that wouldn't destroy the car, and something that would keep them safe. Another parking structure would be ideal, but it would also be too open. A building built with too much concrete would be risky.

Her eyes fell on a hotel. Perfect.

Without hesitation, Alex reached over and ripped the steering wheel from Cicero's grasp. She yanked it to the right, drifting the herd of deer, and convoy of cars, in the same direction. The Glider bounced over a curb and drove through the glass windows in a deafening crash. Glass flew everywhere around them as they powered through a concrete pillar.

"Hit the brakes!" Alex shouted over the noise of falling rubble and frantic hooves on tile floors.

Tires screeched as the Glider tore across the foyer, taking out rotting couches and the front desk. The vehicles behind them followed, squealing across tile and making a mess of every piece of furniture around them.

Deer leapt and scrambled over the cars, darting through the lobby and crashing out the other side. Explosions sounded again, but slowly the noise faded away. The drone was following the bait.

Car doors opened and closed all around the lobby, echoing through the open floor plan and up into the twenty floors above them. Alex braced a hand on the side of the Glider, trying to compose herself. She was attempting to not completely lose it in front of everyone.

"We're done. This isn't what we agreed to. We were on board when it was just the Vagabonds, but this is the Achilles. You said that the aircraft at the camp was just a scout, that they weren't going to waste more resources than needed. This is too much for us." One Avoider, a woman named Helena, settled a gun across her shoulder as she talked. A steely gaze looked out from under her thick eyebrows.

"Crossing them signs our death warrants. We all saw that video back there. We're just as dead as everyone else in this city," Helena continued.

"I'm your General. You'll follow my orders until I tell you not to," Vida seethed. She walked over to where the Avoiders had gathered around the armored van.

Nyx was hot on her heels. The woman looked excited for a fight. She danced her long fingers across the hilt of a knife tucked in a leather case at her hip.

"No!" another Avoider shouted. "As Avoiders, we live free out in the Wildlands by not crossing the Achilles. We help them when they need it. That's the deal. And we're doing exactly what we're not supposed to."

Half a dozen eyes looked over at where Alex stood.

Alex melted under their venomous stares, like vipers ready to strike. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Cicero shuffling closer to her, but she didn't want to back down from the Avoiders. She didn't want to cower away like the mouse they must have thought she was. As afraid as she felt, and as weak as she knew she was compared to the others, she steeled her shaking hands into fists at her side.

The Avoiders had figured out the ruse on their own. Maybe they'd gone along with it out of duty to Vida. Alex just knew their loyalties were failing, and they were unraveling fast. The death of the others from the drone must have been their final straw.

"If we turn them over now, I'm sure they will forgive us. They'll let us live," the Avoider, Diego, said.

"You don't know what you're talking about." Edric stepped in. "The Achilles don't care about you. Any of you. They'll kill you because you stepped out of line, regardless of what payment you offer."

 "And whose fault is that?" Diego moved closer to Edric, shouldering Vida out of the way. "You're the traitor that brought the trash to our door."

Vida yanked Diego back away from Edric, a surprising amount of strength for her small frame.

"I'm your General, Diego!" she shouted. Vida's fists clenched at her side, shaking until her knuckles were visibly white. "These people are under my protection. Under our protection."

"These people are Designations and Keepers. I, and every other Avoider here, agreed to turn people like them in. It's what keeps us alive. And I really want to live," Diego said.

The man didn't break his gaze away from Edric, not even when he casually pulled a pistol out of his waistband. Diego looked down the barrel at the last second and shot Vida directly in the forehead.

Alex screamed, covering her mouth in disbelief.

What in the hell just happened?


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