Chapter Eight Run

The Contaminated were positioned in a straight line from the left wall to the right wall; they were in rows with their backs turned toward the door.

The rows went to the end of the main room so that some of the sick Drones and Sons were pressed painfully against the glass wall that looked in on the Room. Roach and the other Exterminators as Sun had called them, were standing at the front of the main room, just inside of the doors. Roach was in the first row of Exterminators, Cherry Toes was at his side, constantly glancing up to look at Roach in concern and sympathy. They all had bulky gas masks pulled down over their faces to ensure that they too would not contract the illness; they had been told that the first row would fire first then kneel so that the row behind them could shoot the next row of the Contaminated and so on .

Joyful Tears was standing in the space between the Exterminators and the Contaminated. She met Roach’s gaze and beckoned him forward with two fingers. “Cockroach.” She began, her voice low and menacing. “Cockroach, you shall make the first kill as you are the one to blame for this disaster.” She stretched out one hand and grabbed the upper arm of one of the Contaminated and jerked him forward, wheeling him around to face Roach.“Precious?!”

The Drone nearly dropped his weapon in surprise.Precious was cradling Roach’s small daughter against his scarred and bloody chest; his eyes were wide and frightened and his lips just barely parted as if he had been about to speak. Roach shifted his gun to one hand and pressed the palm of his other hand to the edge of the mask, forcing the heavy piece of equipment over his head to let it fall loudly to the floor. “Precious, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left you.”Precious offered Roach a wearied smile, pressing his chapped lips against Little One’s forehead.

“Its alright, Roach. I knew this day would come. You are here to kill me.”

Roach looked to Joyful Tears, his eyes narrowed. “I will not do this. Its wrong!” He cried, glancing back toward the other Exterminators. “They just want us to shoot them down in cold blood? They’re living creatures! They can’t help that they’re sick!” He turned back to Joyful Noise. “And perhaps if the Mothers would spend more time trying to help them than mating with common filth.” He shot a look at Sun then trained his cold gaze back onto the Great Mother. “Maybe there wouldn’t be so many that are ill…”

“You wretched boy!” Joyful Tears snatched Little One from Precious’ grasp and dangled the baby in front of Roach’s face by its small arm. “This is your fault!” She screamed, giving the now sobbing child a shake. “This is all your fault, Cockroach! Because of you and this thing our colony is going to die!” And with that, she tossed the child to the floor.

Little One skidded across the damp floor and came to rest against the wall. Precious’ eyes widened and he cried out the small girl’s name as he lurched forward to go to her still form. Joyful Tears grabbed a handful of his hair and forced him back into line. “Enough!” She glared at Roach and stepped away, standing beside of Little One’s motionless form. “Get back in line, Roach…”

Roach was frozen where he stood, his hands still clutching the gun and his dark eyes fixated on the tiny body at the Great Mother’s feet. As if from a great distance, he heard Sun shouting orders to the Exterminators behind of him. Their guns lifted, their fingers resting against the triggers. Roach lifted his own gun numbly, the twin barrels brushing against the back of Precious’ head.

Precious stiffened, soft sobs issuing from between his parted, trembling lips.Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Roach turned his eyes toward Sun’s towering figure. Sun’s lips were forming the command to fire, but before the word was completed, Roach had swung his gun around and jerked his finger against the trigger. There was an explosion of sound and time began to flow at its normal pace. Sun dropped heavily to the ground, blood spurting from the gaping hole in the middle of his forehead. Joyful Tears began to scream for the other Exterminators to shoot at Roach, pointing one long nailed finger toward her nephew lividly. Roach stepped forward and pulled Precious from the line, pulling the sobbing boy to his chest.

“Run, all of you!” He cried over his shoulder to the Contaminated. They burst into movement as if they were one being; they twisted violently to face their would-be executioners, slipped and scrambled forward, and the lines collided. Guns exploded and bodies collapsed to the floor. Somehow, Roach with Precious still protectively pressed against his chest, pushed through the Exterminators and the struggling Contaminated. He stumbled outside, his gun dangling from one hand at his side.

“Come on, run!” He cried to the others in the building as he burst into movement once again, making for the dark forest that marked the colony’s borders.As he wove between the labyrinth of protruding roots and thick trunks of the dark trees, Roach could hear the rustling of fabric and the slapping of bare feet against the forest floor. Turning to look over his shoulder, Roach saw that he was being followed. His chest tightened with fear, and he started to run faster, half dragging Precious at his side until he saw that his pursuers were not armed.Roach slowed to a stop, panting raggedly and clinging tightly to Precious, whose sobs had quieted to weak sniffs and coughs.

The small band of followers were stumbling drunkenly over the roots and scraping against the trunks of trees in their exhaustion from the frantic flight. The foremost of the pitiful creatures was clothed in a blood splattered, pastel pink robe. Roach’s eyes widened as they all reached him.“Cherry Toes… I don’t understand.”

Cherry Toes glanced back to the few of the Contaminated that had escaped then faced Roach, pulling down the front of his pale colored robes. Three fresh red welts marked the chalky white skin of his chest. Cherry Toes swallowed hard and lowered his hands to his sides. “You were right, Roach… we all believe in you. We want to live…”

Roach nodded, leaning his head wearily against Precious’. “Come on, we need to move just a little further into the forest to make sure they don’t follow us.”The Contaminated nodded, and Roach turned his back to them, trudging onward through the trees as Precious softly intoned.“Run… See them… run…”