18 Walls by Teo Xue Shen

Author:Teo Xue Shen
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-981-46-5544-6
Publisher: Epigram Books
Published: 2019-01-28T16:00:00+00:00

13

Raine nudges me aside and raises her rifle, making it clear that she isn’t going down without a fight. One by one, we do the same, resigned to the bloody end that fate has delivered to us. They don’t want to die. Not like this. I can see it in their eyes. Pain. Anguish. Heart-rending reluctance. In every situation we’ve found ourselves in, we always found a way out. But now, surrounded and outnumbered, we’re at the end of the line. We’re kneeling on the platform, a guillotine above our heads, waiting for the executioner to pull the lever. The Savages creep to within five metres of us and I prepare to give order to fire. The order that will see the end of Squad 72.

“Wait.”

I blink. An unfamiliar voice. The others are glancing around too, a look of confusion on their faces. Before anyone has any time to react, a spiked mesh of vines fans out over our heads, falling upon us like a net over a school of fish. It sprouts from the shoulder blades of one of the Savages.

“Fire!” I roar as the vines constrict.

It’s too late. We watch as the organic walls of our prison flex and intertwine all around us, our bullets digging harmlessly into them. Raine lashes out in frustration, using all eight clubs of her Extension. It’s futile. This Strachea doesn’t behave like any other we’ve encountered. Instead of shattering, it simply compresses sinuously like an elastic band, absorbing the impact dealt by Raine’s Extension. Tired and helpless, we await the end. There’s a hissing sound. Plumes of pungent gas curl up from the bottom of the tangle of vines. The more I breathe in, the worse I feel. Eyes watering, dizziness and a pounding headache. My body is heavy, my head light. So this is how it ends, huh, gassed to death inside the Strachea of a Savage. I’m not ready for death, but at the same time, a part of me is relieved. Relieved to leave this messed-up world behind. I don’t have much that I want to accomplish anyway. In fact, my only regrets are that I can’t avenge my parents and that I can’t save Squad 72. Out of the corner of my eye, I see April smash the radio on the ground. Wise choice. What a failure of a person I’ve turned out to be. In the end, I can’t even protect the ones who matter the most to me. As my consciousness slips away, I feel someone grab me. Raine. She presses her lips against mine. Then, darkness.

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