1:1:5 Disarray (Part 2)

The countdown began.

Despite their limited memory, they knew that they had never run so fast before. Their bare feet slapped against the unyielding floor as they barrelled through the building. Details weren’t important, getting out was the only thing that mattered. Time wasn’t on their side. Finding their way to one of the floors edges realisation set in. They were a couple hundred metres in the air with nothing but unforgiving concrete to cushion their fall. They looked left then right, they realised they were roughly in the middle of the two corners. They turned back on themselves and ran towards the middle of the building. They still had time but they had no idea how much as they reached the lift. They requested the ground floor and before the doors closed, they used their first shot to destroy the controls. They didn’t know why but they felt it was the right thing to do.
“I’m dead the moment those doors open. Options, options.” They whispered as they frantically tried to dress themselves. No matter how much time they had left before they entered the lift, it would definitely be over by the time the doors opened again. “Why does everything have to be so tight fitting?” Lore fumbled as they tried to pull their trousers up with their top covering their face. They bounced around the lift in a literal blind panic. “Breathe. Breathe. They’re not going to get us in here.” They paused for a moment. “Hang on. Why haven’t they killed me already? I’ve trapped myself in a convenient cage but I’m still moving and still alive.” They continued to hope their luck would hold out and finished getting dressed. Lore’s senses were in overdrive, their heart beat blasted through their veins. They span their ring on their finger wondering if they made the right choice or even if they had a choice. They hovered their hand over the pistol. They didn’t want to use it. Not again. Although it wasn’t for the intended purpose, it felt wrong even holding it let alone discharging it again.

They took a deep breath as the doors began to open. There was barely a centimetre between them as the first bolts of perfect purple made their way into the lift carriage. The doors were now a foot apart but then they seemed to give up. Their lethargy was contagious as coincidentally, the stream of bolts had slowed too. Individual bolts had begun to coalesce into large beams that clung in the air, remaining as deadly, unmoving obstacles. Lore sidled closer to the doors and apprehensively peered between them. It wasn’t just the bolts and the doors taking their jobs less seriously; soldiers took up positions around the lift; a myriad of unwitting frantic employees were frozen in their mad panic to escape the warzone that had just erupted and yet Lore found themselves unaffected. Lore was about to open their mouth to question their circumstances but thought otherwise. Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, they ran. What had probably been a peaceful scene only moments before their arrival had swiftly devolved into a full on battlefield with only one enemy left. Traces of the tell tale white light from their Breachers lingered on some of the soldiers who were yet to properly aim their weapon at the lift. Lore ducked and dodged the purple poles, not wanting to know whether they’d still have the same effect as they had on Brian or if the lack of time had rendered them harmless. While helpful at first, time taking its time was beginning to become old. Although they were at significantly lower risk of death, they also couldn’t escape. Every exit was essentially locked and guarded by an automatic sensor which, due to Lore’s reduced stature and temporal situation, was off duty. One shot down, nine left. Lore removed Crait’s sidearm and took aim at the glass pane door before realising the obvious and smashing the glass with the disrupters butt. The glass shattered instantly, acting as an alarm clock for time itself. The shards had barely hit the floor when the bolts began to fly. Lore joined them and fled. The soldiers took a moment to re-orient themselves but once they had, Lore knew it. They never looked back but they could see the stray bolts as they passed by, narrowly missing them.

They hadn’t a clue where they were, they just knew they didn’t want to be there. They ran in random directions until they were confident they had lost their tail. Freedom, for now. Lore stopped in a side street’s back alley to reconstitute themselves. The only person they had somewhat trusted had set a building full of soldiers on them and the other person they considered somewhat helpful, dead. Finally alone, they let the tension out, their neck violently shook from its initial central point to the right and back over and over again. Their breathing was heavy, their limbs weak and their vision almost completely blacked over. They slumped to the floor but as they fell they felt a warmth grab them from behind, knocking the wind back into their sails.
“Hello stranger.” She said lifting the revitalised Lore from their position near the floor. She planted a kiss on their cheek. “You need to shave.” Lore spun swiftly so as to see the speaker. She smiled. Lore recoiled, recognising both the face and voice.
“It’s you.” Lore stepped closer, still clutching the sidearm within their bag. “You’re real.”
“Of course I am. You look like hell, where have you been?” She reached for her pocket. “What’s my name?” She removed a chunky, leather-strapped watch from her bag and fitted it to her wrist. She then dipped her hand back in and palmed a small cube.
“I’m really sorry but I don’t have a clue.” They answered, confused. The woman sighed.
“Guess it is my turn then.” The woman returned the cube to her pocket and with it her hopes. Memories.