“Help me.”Avalore rushed over and tried to force the wheel to turn.
Michaela looked at her, then hustled over, grabbed one of the cords, and pulled down, attempting to force it to move.
The wheel in Avalore’s hands turned a few millimeters.
All of a sudden, the ground beneath their feet vibrated and pounded as heavy footfalls came from the end of the dim hall.
Staring at it, she couldn’t make out anything but a massive shape and two odd-colored points glowing from a high area in the bulky shadow where the eyes should be considering the size and shape of the thing.
“Harder, Ava!”Michaela yelled.
“Pull!Hurry!”Avalore called out.
They worked together with renewed strength, finally getting the wheel to turn steady even as the pounding got closer and closer.
Finally, the opening between the bottom of the gate and the ground was big enough for them to get through.
Scrambling to the metal gate, Michaela’s long, thin frame went easily.Without them holding it, the metal began to slip back down.
When Avalore dropped to the ground, pressing herself as flat as possible to wedge through the opening, she was only halfway through when she felt the edge of the gate digging into her plump ass.“Help, please.”
Her heart thumped hard against her chest and the ground as fear turned her blood to ice.All she could think about was the mountainous shadow thundering toward her.If it got a hold of her legs still inside, there was no doubt in her mind it would drag her back.
I can’t go back.Not when she could taste the freedom clinging to the thick bushes before them, crowding the other side of the gate.
She was thankful when Michaela grabbed her arms and gave her a firm yank, just enough to help Avalore slide the gate past her round derriere.Quickly, Avalore wiggled her legs out and lost one slipper.She didn’t care.
Freed just in the nick of time as something slammed into the gate with such force the ground shook.
Avalore gasped.
Michaela screamed.
But the gate held.
“Let’s get the hell away.”Forging her own path, Avalore rushed blindly through the bushes, not caring about the scrapes and cuts she felt from the sharp leaves and branches.
When they finally made it out, they saw the massive thick Wall surrounding the lands where their government ruled and required them to live.They turned toward the other way and saw dense forest and trees.They saw the path of well-worn tracks from the vehicles in the predawn light.
“We’ll go this way.”Avalore steered them in a direction away from the Wall and the path.
Boom.Boom.Boom.The pounding still reverberated behind them.
“No.We have to split up, Ava.”
“What?”Avalore shook her head as she stared at her friend.
Michaela took hold of her shoulders with sure, firm hands.“Look, if they open that gate, there will be no escape for both of us if we stay together.”Water filled her eyes.“I know what it wants.I will lead it away so you can escape.”
“No.No.No, damn it, Mich.”She gripped one of the other woman’s wrists.“We can survive together.”
Avalore didn’t even know what was beyond the Wall.What lay in the wilds surrounding them?Have we escaped death to meet death?
“We can’t.Please, Ava, I don’t have much time left.So, let me do this for you.”Michaela’s glassy eyes darkened with a steely resolution.
Sal's words filled her mind, reminding her that he had said how the others were dead.Avalore thought about the woman before her and how, for days, she lay in her bunk motionless and did not eat.Even if Avalore didn’t want to believe this could be the end of her friend, she had to accept some part of Michaela’s words may be fact.
“Okay.”She embraced her friend fiercely, holding Michaela’s reed-like frame against her.Exhaling, she finally let her go, not wanting to believe this was the last she’d see of the woman she’d spent so many weeks living beside and sharing the stories and hopes for the future.
