Chapter 103

Book Three: The Last Sanctuary
It's 2074, the world, already an apocalyptic nightmare, is on fire. Nuclear power plants all across the eastern side of the continent are melting down, the subsequent fallout driving Primitives toward our only hope for survival, sanctuary cities. As they overrun each city in a desperate need to feed their hunger, they drive the survivors further and further west.
In New Tucson, in our Sanctuary, rebels have taken to the streets protesting food shortages, lack of resources, and their unfair treatment under an authoritarian government. Brutality is clashing with good intentions until nothing remains but ashes. Hope has been lost, and, as our city falls from the inside out, waves of refugees with Primitives close behind are begging Sanctuary from us. Sanctuary that we cannot possibly provide until we solve our own problems first.
Our situation has become bleaker than ever. Friends, families, allies are all crumbling under the pressure of a city divided. Our only hope is to unite, to strengthen our walls, rebuild our homes and face the threat coming our way.
My name is Taran and I've lost nearly everything. My parents, my grandparents, new friends, old friends. I even lost the sister I was reunited with for a few brief hours. My home is burning, my loved ones are trapped and I'm clinging to the edge wondering if I will see my husband again. I am forced to make the decision between staying with him or saving our unborn child.
As I take this leap into the darkness, I can't help wondering how can I, how can any of us, survive a world on fire?

***

Heat blasts me from below as smoke rises to sting my eyes. I'm clinging to the side of a building, 7-months pregnant, with tears streaming down my face. It isn't just the smoke making me cry, but the gut-wrenching choice I've just made, leaving my husband, best friend and others behind, trapped in a burning building.
I try to concentrate on the task, climbing from the sixth floor down to the ground. I'm not safe yet. I remind myself that once this task is complete, I can cry all I want for Diogo, Emery and Grayson. Right now, I need to pay attention, pick out a path, make my way through the flames. Save my baby.
Just as I reach the fourth floor, the sound of shattering glass followed by roaring and intense heat startles me. I cling harder to the windowsill, hugging the building, remaining motionless until the worst of the heat passes. I look down. One of the windows about ten feet down was blown out by the pressure of the fire, and now flames are licking the side of the building. The path I'd carefully picked out to the ground has become cut off.
I search desperately, squinting through the smoke and choking back my coughs. I breathe a sigh of relief when I see that there's still a clear path down if I crawl sideways about twenty feet. I move as quickly as I can with my protruding stomach bumping into the side of the building. Luckily, I'm not showing as much as I thought I would at 7 months. But I still have a healthy sized belly making the climb feel far more awkward and difficult than it would have been in the past.
Exhaustion beats at me competing with the adrenalin rushing through my system. I feel myself growing weaker with each step, the strength draining from each part of me. My hands are sore, my legs shaky and my lungs on fire with lack of oxygen. I promise myself, and the baby, that if we reach the ground, we can sleep for a week after this.
My bare legs, arms and feet are scraped raw from sliding down the exposed concrete. I'm only wearing one of Diogo's shirts. I didn't have time to change after the bomb went off in the bowels of the building waking me up in our high-rise apartment. Diogo grabbed me and rushed us into the stairwell.
A shot rings out somewhere on the street and I shudder, trying to scan the streets below. They're shrouded in smoky darkness, night having fully taken hold in the past few hours. As I continue to climb, I wonder who's winning the fight on the ground; the city forces or the rebels. I pray it'll be Diogo's men I encounter when I'm finally down.
I can no longer pretend that I'm a rebel. I understand their cause even if I don't condone the extreme actions taken by some, but now I have a better understanding what it takes to make a Sanctuary city successful. And though I don't agree with all of Diogo's policies, I do believe that he's the best Warlord for our Sanctuary. He's a thoughtful man, even if he's not a kind or forgiving one. He doesn't have the luxury of such things.
I see this now, better than I ever have, as our city burns from the foolishness of a lost cause. Lost, because if the rebels somehow win this war, they will bring our city down in the chaos they have sown.
I can't tell how far I've climbed, but I would guess I'm somewhere between ten and twenty feet to the ground. The shouts and gunshots are getting closer, clearer. I hear the word ‘Authority' shouted, the sound echoing across the buildings. My heart sinks as I realize it must've been a rebel. Though the city forces are Authority, they don't refer to themselves that way. Only the rebels will shout the word with derogatory intent.
Just as I'm dropping into a crouch, sliding my fingers down the concrete, about to take a new handhold, a window bursts right next to me. The fire roars in my ears and the heat is so intense I'm forced to let go of the ledge and fall in a controlled drop, my fingers sliding down the side of the building, more windows shattering all around me. I manage to catch myself on another ledge, but I can't find a foothold.
I'm dangling above the street, gripping a window ledge with the last of my strength. God only knows how high up I am! I can't look over my shoulder or I'll lose my hold. I try lifting my leg, scrambling for a hold, but my bare foot just slides down an unbroken pane of glass. I'm not tall enough to reach the ledge below me.
The fires are burning all around me, scorching my hands and legs. I can feel the heat from inside the building. I probably have seconds before the window I'm dangling against explodes.
"Oh god, I'm so sorry!" I cry out.
I tried to keep our baby safe, tried to do what Diogo asked, but I'm about to fail. If I don't die in the fall, the baby probably will. Tears streak down my cheeks as hopelessness takes hold. There's nothing I can do, nowhere I can go. There are no more moves left for me. I only pray that Diogo somehow makes it out of the building alive.
As I lose my grip the window explodes, fire bursting out. I scream as I fall through the flames, shattered glass following me down, fire licking at me.
"Taran!" My name is bellowed into the darkness.
Softness envelops me, cradling me as I fall into the black reaches of my mind.