81 Trade of Power

I softly put my head against the wall and tried to rest. The intensity of the spasms were decreasing, my wounds were slowly healing. I was feeling slightly better and safer, yet, the pain remained...

Clenching my teeth and fingers, I was trying to form the best sentences in my mind, so I could give the information I had about The Community to the scientists. Would it be better if I told everything at once? Or perhaps... I could be more selective about what I was going to tell them. The amount of information I gave them could be the decisive factor in this fight. And... What would happen to me when the scientist got all the information they needed? It was a very disturbing trade-off between my security and our power against The Community...

I was occasionally looking into the corridors around me, trying to see if someone was nearby. I had never seen or heard from anyone for minutes.

"Hey." I softly said.

"Teacher?" Cansu replied.

"Where are they? How far away?" I asked.

"Are you talking about The Community or the scientists?" she asked.

"I'm asking about the..." I paused. "Hold on, I'm actually asking about both."

"Well, the facility personnel is trying to create a safe area for temporary retreat, damage control and risk assessment." she said. "As for The Community, they are surrounding the facility and searching around for stuff in the evacuated parts."

"Do you know what they are looking for?" I asked.

"I don't think they are looking for something particular. It would be a safe assumption to say that they are simply defending their current territorial gains, and waiting for us to make a mistake, so they can end us in a single attack." she replied.

"Oh. Very nice. I feel safe." I said. "Did you read The Art of War or something?"

The corridor was slowly getting colder. I crossed my arms and began looking around me.

"Looking for little bugs, teacher?" Cansu asked me.

"Yeah." I said. "I'm looking for little murderous bugs."

"Watch out!" she shouted. I jumped away from where I was sitting and started looking at the walls. I couldn't notice anything. My panic lasted until Cansu started laughing.

"How funny." I angrily said. "Do you want to cause a heart attack? Because that's exactly how you do it."

"Your face was priceless, though!" she said, still laughing.

The corridor got even colder. My body began shaking a little. There was a soft breeze in the corridor.

"I know this wind." I said. "Maybe they decided not to wait for us."

"In that case... Maybe you should hurry." Cansu suggested. "Hurry and speak to the scientists."

For the first time in twenty minutes, I finally heard something from the nearby corridors... a gunshot and an explosion. Those loud sounds were followed by footsteps. I stood up. Someone appeared in the corridor. When he came closer, I identified him as the scientist that had rescued me from the killer bugs.

"What is going on there?" I asked him.

Another gunshot. This one was much, much closer than the previous one. The footsteps stopped. The scientist froze with his eyes locked on me. There was blood coming out of his nose and mouth. I stepped back slowly as he dropped dead on the spot. He was shot.

Behind him, I saw an armed man in civilian clothes. He was in a rather good condition. There was a gun in his hand, aimed towards the scientist on the ground. That gun slowly turned towards me. I turned back and began running towards an intersection to lose him.

"Halt!" he yelled.

"Don't halt!" Cansu yelled.

I didn't stop and kept running. Another gunshot... I checked myself to see if I was shot, apparently, I wasn't. There was a bullet hole on the wall ahead. The bullet had missed me with milimeters... It was either a badly aimed killing shot, or a very well aimed warning shot.

"I said halt!" the man yelled. So it was indeed, a very well aimed warning shot. Despite what Cansu told me, I stopped and raised my hands above my head.

"Turn around." he said. I turned around and looked at him. He slowly lowered the gun.

"You are getting out of here." he said. I was surprised by the sudden change of mood. What a nice way to help people!

"Hold it!" Cansu yelled. "Don't listen to him, teacher, think about it caref---". Her voice was cut off. There was only static coming from the speakers.

"Cansu!" I yelled. No response.

"Forget her. We are getting you out." the man said. "Follow me, this is your escape; and perhaps this is your only chance."

I carefully looked at the man. Had they decided to give up the fight and evacuate the facility? It didn't seem likely to me. There was something wrong with this situation, escpecially since Cansu was trying to warn me about it...

"Hold on." I said. "I am not going anywhere."

"Why?" he asked.

"I came all the way here to accomplish something. I am NOT leaving." I said.

"You already accomplished your mission... by exploiting the weaknesses of this facility and leading us there."

The sudden realisation struck me hard. I was astonished. The Community was way ahead of us in this conflict already... They had broken the lines of defense around me, and they had enough power to manipulate armed facility personnel. Maybe it was already too late...

The static on the speakers began clearing up. I was now hearing the familiar voice of a young lady. They clearly had enough power to overwhelm Cansu and take the control.

"Go away. You've done invaluable service to us. Go away. If you do, you will no longer find us as your enemies." she said. "Thanks to your actions, we are on the verge of a great victory."

There was no way I could agree to what The Community wanted; but an actual, working gun was a good source of motivation.

"Okay." I said. "I wish for an everlasting peace. Lead me out of here."

"Follow me." said the man. I walked up to him and we began walking together in the corridors of the facility. During our little walk, I was thinking of ways to escape him or knock him out. Just then, I had a bright idea.

As we were turning at an intersection, I got closer to him and touched his arm. He didn't move away. Nothing happened for a while. Suddenly, the man pushed me away with his elbow. I grabbed his arm and pulled him back towards me.

The man froze.

"Fight it!" I shouted. Since I was very close to him, Cansu could use her powers to render the evil manipulations useless. No matter how weak his willpower was, we could bring him to fight The Community rather than obeying the commands.

But before anything could happen, he kicked me away. I fell down a few meters in front of him. While I was still on the ground, he pulled his gun out.