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| Yes, I'm not dead |
Act 2, Chapter 7: The Tower, Part
2
It's been an hour and a half since Morgan and the rest of her team arrived at Silverton, they assumed the largest skyscraper in the city was the most likely place that they were going to hold the promotion exam. They've been walking along the widest street in the city hoping it could cut a direct route to the building. Though the widest street led to a highway on-ramp that circled the city, along with giving them an elevated view of the city skyline.
“How long is this damn road?” Morgan muttered to herself, the big claymore she carried around strapped to her favorite place, the center of the back, the hilt hanging over the shoulder in her scabbard, a leather band wrapping around to her front to latch it into place at three points so it didn't sway when she broke out into a run. Erika was just holding the hilt of her battle-axe over her shoulder, yawning softly as she tried to shake the sleep off. They've been walking for an hour, but she was still tired. “I'd say we're halfway there, though admittedly I'm not sure we can make the deadline if we keep strolling like this.” Erika commented, Robin patted her shoulder and smiled. “Well how about we try breaking into a run for a while? It wouldn't hurt our progress.” She offered, Erika smiling a little at that. “I like the way you think.” Erika commented at the suggestion, waving her hand and shouting to Morgan who was about 15 feet in the lead.
“Permission for awesome footrace, Morgan?” Erika said, pumping a fist as she slid the axe into a holster on her back. “Am I your mom? Just race if you really want to.” Morgan brushed off the request, Erika gesturing to both Florence and Robin to follow her. “Winner buys dinner!” She shouts to the two of them, Robin quietly breaking into a run with her brother as they all passed by Morgan and sprinted down the road, quickly making a couple hundred foot gap between them and Morgan. Morgan sighed a bit, breaking into a run for herself as they started to head into the distance.
It was only then she realized her three friends stopped in their tracks, weapons in their hands and in a lower stance, almost as they were preparing for something. “So much for the race, huh?” Morgan mentioned as Florence pointed to the reason why they had to stop. “Bad news.” He briefly stated, as a huge pack of Riftfallen were prowling the highway roads. It was a pack of dog like creatures, the black consuming their bodies with piercing red eyes.
“Think we can take them?” Erika asked, preparing her axe to smash some heads, Morgan walked in front of Erika, placing an arm in front of her to get her to stop. “Sienna had to be a jackass and dull our weapons, We might as well be fighting with rocks.” Morgan commented, they slowly sheathed their blades, watching as they continued to approach. “So what now?” Robin asked Morgan, Morgan quickly making a hand gesture and running across the road, leaping over the rail and landing on the road below. Robin leaped down with her gracefully, but Florence smashed into a couple of empty trashcans sitting on the side of the road, making a loud banging noise.
“Oh crap.” He muttered, climbing out of the pile of stacked metal trashcans, dusting himself off as Erika leaped down. “Should we run?” Morgan asked, hearing the growling noises coming from very nearby. “Sure seems like it...” Erika replied, when suddenly nearly a hundred Riftfallen began to leap over the railing in large amounts, making the 20 foot drop down like it was nothing. Growling and breaking into a chase for the four. Morgan smacked Erika on the back to signal all of them to run, breaking into the fastest sprint their legs would allow as the monster sized pack began to chase them down the street. “Aren't dogs faster than people!?” Florence shouted, taking a sharp left along the road only to be quickly followed along with the rest of his team. “Yeah, and we only have so much stamina!” Robin replied.
Morgan thought to herself, if the dogs were faster and might possibly have more stamina than they do, there was no way they could beat them in a pure sprint. “Florence, you run the fastest out of us! See if you can break up the pack!” She shouted to him, he nodded and began to split from the group. “Wait a second!” Robin shouted, quickly running over to go beside him. “I'm not doing to let him run headfirst into something without me helping!” She mentioned, Morgan just groaned as they split off to run down another street, and like clockwork, a fairly decent sized chunk of the back broke off to chase them.
“And what about us?” Erika asked, Morgan looked around, finding one of the many city apartment facilities, the very same they build when they were starting to run out of ground space to build more roads. “Erika, get behind me!” Morgan said, gesturing them to run closer to her. She ran up, grabbing Morgan's shoulder, bending down and running even faster, smashing her shoulder into the door, causing it to launch into splinters and sending both Erika and Morgan tight into a wall, as they stumbled and crashed on each other with a hard thud. Morgan felt a dull throbbing in her shoulder, splinters stuck in her face and arm were deep enough to draw blood.Erika groaned, standing back up and dusting herself off, Morgan panted, standing back up as she felt a pain surge through the left shoulder she used to smash through the door.
Morgan pressed her arms against the floor to lift herself up, when suddenly a stinging pain ran up her left arm as she realized she couldn't use it to push herself up. She gritted her teeth, pushing herself into her knees to stand up, as the somewhat healthier redhead turned to face the door, only when she realized that the Riftfallen were still chasing them. “OHGOD!” Erika shouted as the Riftfallen pack narrowed together pushing their way into the door, Morgan ducked one that leapt at her throat as Erika backed away to smash her leg into another one, trying to push themselves across to climb up the stairs. Morgan followed closely behind as she grasped her shoulder. as the Riftfallen slammed into each corner from their sheer momentum when they charged up the stairs ,each one struggling for space as they mindlessly chased the two girls. They dashed up the stairs, eventually Morgan recovering her breath from the door smash.
As they reached the top of the stairs, the corners turning into a short hallway leading up to the roof. Erika charged, leaping up into the air and smashing her leg into the locked door with a massive Pulse blast emanating from her leg.. Knocking it off of it's hinges and spinning top over bottom onto the ground with a metallic rattle. Erika and Morgan stopped to look around the area. This place was a pretty big residential zone, stores and necessities interspersed with a couple of apartment complexes. The closest one was a couple of stories shorter, but across the street. Erika gestured Morgan to follow her to the left, breaking out into a dash.
They both dashed to the ledge of the roof, pushing with all of their might to jump across the 30 foot gap between streets. Erika landed using her hands for extra stability, but Morgan tumbled against the contrete, rolling a couple of feet as she clenched her shoulder and began to thash in pain. The wolves growled and barked, while being a Riftfallen enhanced their physical capabilties, there was no way they could leap that far. They were both safe. Morgan sat up, scooting back using her legs to press against the wall and prop herself up. “Erika, help.” She said with a desperate voice, Erika leaning down as Morgan used one arm to unzip the front of her top, revealing her tanktop and yanking it down to her shoulder.
“What's wrong with it?” She asked, reaching up and gripping onto a couple of splinters stuck in her skin and slowly pulling them out. “I can't move my left arm.” Morgan replied, groaning in pain and wincing a bit, the removed splinters causing her shoulder to bleed. Erika calmly inspected the shoulder, when she realized it looked different from her right shoulder. “I think it's out of socket...” She replied, grabbing onto it and feeling it, it didn't feel like it was where it should be. “Do you want me to call for help, or do you want to have me put it back in socket?” She asked, Morgan looking at her with a furrowed brow. “I'm not passing this opportunity, Do you know how to put it back into socket?” Morgan asked her, Erika straightened Morgans arm, pulling it to the side and holding it in both arms. “Nope.” She mentioned briefly, Morgan feeling a chill of concern as she's going to have a complete novice mess with her shoulder, potentially even worsening the injury.
“Will this hurt?” Morgan asked, Erika grabbing one hand onto her shoulder. “Hell yeah it will.” She replied, pulling onto Morgans arm. The sharp pains making Morgan break out into a scream. The pigeons roosting along the railings flew away out of fear, Erika pulling her arm harder and harder, Morgan even felt herself tear up as she winced in pain, when suddenly she heard a pop, pushing her arm back into it's socket. Erika let go as Morgan clutched her left arm into her other hand, holding it closer and doubling over. “Holy shit...” She groaned, slowly standing up and shaking her hair, some more chips of wood coming loose.
“Why didn't you use pulse to go through that door?” Erika asked Morgan, confused by her actions. “Uhh... I forgot to.” Morgan replied, Erika just calmly shook her head. “So you broke your shoulder because you forgot.” Erika stated incredulously, Morgan lightly flipping her the middle finger with her good arm. “Catch your breath, I'm going to check on Robin and Florence.” Erika replied, Morgan sitting up and onto the railing as Erika checked her armlet, holding the button to signal for the radio.
“Robin, Florence, you guys alright?” She said, an echo of her voice coming from Morgan's own armband, but they were met with about 15 seconds of silence.
“Maybe they haven't evaded them, yet.” She said to herself, Morgan continued to pull the splinters from her skin, causing her to draw some blood and wince. “Maybe they're both dead.” Morgan replied, causing Erika to just kind of stare at her with a confused look on her face. “What would make you think that...?” She asked Morgan, who just leaned back against the roof's ledge, before getting up and dusting off her clothes, looking across the street to the other roof, the wolves slowly filing out as they lost interest.
“It's just a possibility, part of the job.” Morgan attempted to justify herself, slowly walking up to the ledge of the next roof on the street. “Yeah, but I'd rather not think like that.” She responded to Morgan, bending down to see the rooftops of the next couple of buildings were a similar height. They both used pulse, leaping across to the next one. “We might need to stay to rooftops for a while, at least until we lose sight of the wolves.” Morgan explained, Erika nodding a bit as they began to travel, each leap just with enough momentum to make it along the rooftops. Occasionally a building would be too high to leap, and they would be forced to scale along the side of it to actually get to the rooftop. After about 15 minutes, they stopped to take a break.
“Hey, Erika... Can I ask you something?” Morgan said, pacing the top of a former mom and pop shop, Erika dug into her bag and pulled out a small bag of candy she brought with her just in case she felt like she needed it. “Go ahead.” She said, popping a piece of chocolate into her mouth. “I've known you for a while now, and we've hung out nearly every day, but there's been one thing that's bothering me.” Morgan continued, sitting beside her and leaning her weight onto the wall. “Why are you in Spectrum? Your parents are so far away, and yet you moved all the way here to risk your life?” Morgan asked her, Erika took a bit to finish her chocolate.
“Well.. To be honest, I joined because of how boring my life is.” Erika answered, standing up and finishing the chocolate, tossing the bag over the side of the building and slid her backpack over her shoulder. Morgan started to stretch her shoulder out as she let Erika explain herself. “My parents are fishers, and I lived in a cold place where all people do is get drunk. A Spectrum is going to open there at one point, but well.. that's a ways off.” She continued, leaning against the wall and looking up at the tower in the distance. “My parents didn't want me to join Spectrum, they said I should focus on getting a career, or even become a fisherman just like them. They talked me down for nearly the entire year I considered. It drove me insane.” Erika continued, Morgan pulling the last of the splinters out of her face.
“So is this just so you can get a thrill? Don't you regret joining this on a whim like that?” Morgan asked Erika as she stood on the ledge of the two story shop, leaping off the side and rolling on her shoulder to quickly recover, Morgan going after her as she landed beside her, walking their way along the road now that the coast was clear. “I guess it was for the thrill, and I haven't regretted it yet.” She said, putting her hands in her pockets and walking with Morgan along the sidewalk. “It's not like I'm not taking this seriously, but who am I outside of Spectrum...? A boring redhead with a boring life, I want my own story.” She continued, Morgan somewhat glaring down at her as they split apart to walk around a tree.
“Yeah, but is an interesting story with ten pages more interesting than a more boring one that has the potential to eventually become a great story?” Morgan asked, Erika sighing some as she walked a little faster to break away from Morgan. “That's my decision, not yours. Don't try to guilt me out of this nearly 10 months into it.” Erika reprimanded with some annoyance, Morgan jogged to face her again, though this time a bit antagonistic. “Well excuse the hell out of me.” Morgan replied, kicking a nearby rock out of the way as Erika stopped, Morgan walking a couple of steps past her before stopping as well.
“At least I'm open about my decisions, unlike you.” Erika scolded, Morgan furrowing her brow as she leaned in, clearly offended. “What the hell does that mean?” Morgan asked out of confusion, Erika turning around and pointing her finger at Morgan out of accusation. “You barely talk to any of us anymore, Morgan. And yet you act like you're the leader, you got a red cell phone in your bag that you always hurriedly stuff back into your bag whenever someone walks into the room, and yet you won't explain what it's for!” She yelled, Morgan felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up, she didn't know Erika knew about that. “...Maybe I just bought a new phone? Why isn't that an option for you? You have to act all paranoid about it instead.” Morgan tried to play it off as nothing, but Erika continued to persist. “You -HAVE- a cell phone, it's black and it has a skull sticker attached to it. You NEVER use the new phone, and ever since then, you've been acting dodgy.” Erika exclaimed, Morgan frowned a bit and shook her head.
“You don't know when something ain't your business, Erika.” Morgan said, breaking off into a faster walk to get away from her, Erika sighing some as she heard a sound come from her armlet. “This is Robin, anyone nearby?” She stated, Erika quickly lifting the armlet to her mouth so she could reply. “Yeah, I'm here, Robin... What's the status of you and Florence?” She asked, a short pause was heard as she continued to walk. “We're both alright, I managed to lose them in a drainage ditch, we'll be heading to that one skyscraper in the distance. So please do not wait for us.” She stared, Erika nodding and activating one last time. “Carry on, then.” Erika said before closing the radio broadcast, looking up to only realize Morgan left her behind.
“Oh damn it...” She muttered to herself, grabbing her axe and slinging it back over her shoulder as she headed to the tower for the beginning of the exam. Meanwhile, Robin and Florence were running up the side of the concrete drainage ditch, leaping over the side and back onto the road.
“How much more time do you think we have, Florence?” Robin asked, Florence checking the time and walking through a grassy lawn to get back to the road that his sister was walking along. “I think like... about an hour.” He said, Robin looking up at the skyline with a squint to see how far away it was. It was no longer a spire in the distance, she had to pull her neck back to look at the top of it, signaling that it must be near. “I think we'll be fine.” Robin replied, gently reaching up and placing a hand onto his shoulder as they walked.
“Hey Robin...” Florence asked, looking over to her sister. “Yes?” He looked at the floor, taking a deep breath before looking up at her. “Do you remember a year ago?” He asked, Robin being put on the spot, raising her brow a bit from being perplexed. “Of course I do, why do you ask?” Robin wondered aloud, Florence turning up to look at her. “Well... about a year ago was when Donovan proposed to you, you remember?” The shaggy golden haired teen asked, Robin looked at the floor, softly sighing some as she walked off the curb to be slightly farther away. “Yeah... Donovan had a pretty elaborate and expensive wedding set up.” She mentioned, her fiance, Donovon Borough, the future head of the Borough family. They were to be wed to combine the houses together to help pay off the massive war debt of the estate.
“Yeah... But you walked out on the day of the wedding,” Florence mentioned, Robin rubbing her shoulder awkwardly from the tinge of uncomfortable. “Well... I left because you joined Spectrum, honestly.” She replied, she didn't want to lie. Florence frowned some, looking away. “I'm sorry, I didn't know.” He mentioned, Robin sighed a bit and patted him on the shoulder. “Look Florence, it's okay... While Donovan was a nice guy, I just wanted to join to look after you. Family comes first.” She said with a smile, Florence grabbed her hand and lightly pulled it off his shoulder. “But it's not okay, you ruined Donovan's life to look after me... Don't you trust me enough to do this by myself?” He asked her, Robin just froze in place, Florence slowly walking past her before gesturing her to follow him.
It's been an hour and a half since Morgan and the rest of her team arrived at Silverton, they assumed the largest skyscraper in the city was the most likely place that they were going to hold the promotion exam. They've been walking along the widest street in the city hoping it could cut a direct route to the building. Though the widest street led to a highway on-ramp that circled the city, along with giving them an elevated view of the city skyline.
“How long is this damn road?” Morgan muttered to herself, the big claymore she carried around strapped to her favorite place, the center of the back, the hilt hanging over the shoulder in her scabbard, a leather band wrapping around to her front to latch it into place at three points so it didn't sway when she broke out into a run. Erika was just holding the hilt of her battle-axe over her shoulder, yawning softly as she tried to shake the sleep off. They've been walking for an hour, but she was still tired. “I'd say we're halfway there, though admittedly I'm not sure we can make the deadline if we keep strolling like this.” Erika commented, Robin patted her shoulder and smiled. “Well how about we try breaking into a run for a while? It wouldn't hurt our progress.” She offered, Erika smiling a little at that. “I like the way you think.” Erika commented at the suggestion, waving her hand and shouting to Morgan who was about 15 feet in the lead.
“Permission for awesome footrace, Morgan?” Erika said, pumping a fist as she slid the axe into a holster on her back. “Am I your mom? Just race if you really want to.” Morgan brushed off the request, Erika gesturing to both Florence and Robin to follow her. “Winner buys dinner!” She shouts to the two of them, Robin quietly breaking into a run with her brother as they all passed by Morgan and sprinted down the road, quickly making a couple hundred foot gap between them and Morgan. Morgan sighed a bit, breaking into a run for herself as they started to head into the distance.
It was only then she realized her three friends stopped in their tracks, weapons in their hands and in a lower stance, almost as they were preparing for something. “So much for the race, huh?” Morgan mentioned as Florence pointed to the reason why they had to stop. “Bad news.” He briefly stated, as a huge pack of Riftfallen were prowling the highway roads. It was a pack of dog like creatures, the black consuming their bodies with piercing red eyes.
“Think we can take them?” Erika asked, preparing her axe to smash some heads, Morgan walked in front of Erika, placing an arm in front of her to get her to stop. “Sienna had to be a jackass and dull our weapons, We might as well be fighting with rocks.” Morgan commented, they slowly sheathed their blades, watching as they continued to approach. “So what now?” Robin asked Morgan, Morgan quickly making a hand gesture and running across the road, leaping over the rail and landing on the road below. Robin leaped down with her gracefully, but Florence smashed into a couple of empty trashcans sitting on the side of the road, making a loud banging noise.
“Oh crap.” He muttered, climbing out of the pile of stacked metal trashcans, dusting himself off as Erika leaped down. “Should we run?” Morgan asked, hearing the growling noises coming from very nearby. “Sure seems like it...” Erika replied, when suddenly nearly a hundred Riftfallen began to leap over the railing in large amounts, making the 20 foot drop down like it was nothing. Growling and breaking into a chase for the four. Morgan smacked Erika on the back to signal all of them to run, breaking into the fastest sprint their legs would allow as the monster sized pack began to chase them down the street. “Aren't dogs faster than people!?” Florence shouted, taking a sharp left along the road only to be quickly followed along with the rest of his team. “Yeah, and we only have so much stamina!” Robin replied.
Morgan thought to herself, if the dogs were faster and might possibly have more stamina than they do, there was no way they could beat them in a pure sprint. “Florence, you run the fastest out of us! See if you can break up the pack!” She shouted to him, he nodded and began to split from the group. “Wait a second!” Robin shouted, quickly running over to go beside him. “I'm not doing to let him run headfirst into something without me helping!” She mentioned, Morgan just groaned as they split off to run down another street, and like clockwork, a fairly decent sized chunk of the back broke off to chase them.
“And what about us?” Erika asked, Morgan looked around, finding one of the many city apartment facilities, the very same they build when they were starting to run out of ground space to build more roads. “Erika, get behind me!” Morgan said, gesturing them to run closer to her. She ran up, grabbing Morgan's shoulder, bending down and running even faster, smashing her shoulder into the door, causing it to launch into splinters and sending both Erika and Morgan tight into a wall, as they stumbled and crashed on each other with a hard thud. Morgan felt a dull throbbing in her shoulder, splinters stuck in her face and arm were deep enough to draw blood.Erika groaned, standing back up and dusting herself off, Morgan panted, standing back up as she felt a pain surge through the left shoulder she used to smash through the door.
Morgan pressed her arms against the floor to lift herself up, when suddenly a stinging pain ran up her left arm as she realized she couldn't use it to push herself up. She gritted her teeth, pushing herself into her knees to stand up, as the somewhat healthier redhead turned to face the door, only when she realized that the Riftfallen were still chasing them. “OHGOD!” Erika shouted as the Riftfallen pack narrowed together pushing their way into the door, Morgan ducked one that leapt at her throat as Erika backed away to smash her leg into another one, trying to push themselves across to climb up the stairs. Morgan followed closely behind as she grasped her shoulder. as the Riftfallen slammed into each corner from their sheer momentum when they charged up the stairs ,each one struggling for space as they mindlessly chased the two girls. They dashed up the stairs, eventually Morgan recovering her breath from the door smash.
As they reached the top of the stairs, the corners turning into a short hallway leading up to the roof. Erika charged, leaping up into the air and smashing her leg into the locked door with a massive Pulse blast emanating from her leg.. Knocking it off of it's hinges and spinning top over bottom onto the ground with a metallic rattle. Erika and Morgan stopped to look around the area. This place was a pretty big residential zone, stores and necessities interspersed with a couple of apartment complexes. The closest one was a couple of stories shorter, but across the street. Erika gestured Morgan to follow her to the left, breaking out into a dash.
They both dashed to the ledge of the roof, pushing with all of their might to jump across the 30 foot gap between streets. Erika landed using her hands for extra stability, but Morgan tumbled against the contrete, rolling a couple of feet as she clenched her shoulder and began to thash in pain. The wolves growled and barked, while being a Riftfallen enhanced their physical capabilties, there was no way they could leap that far. They were both safe. Morgan sat up, scooting back using her legs to press against the wall and prop herself up. “Erika, help.” She said with a desperate voice, Erika leaning down as Morgan used one arm to unzip the front of her top, revealing her tanktop and yanking it down to her shoulder.
“What's wrong with it?” She asked, reaching up and gripping onto a couple of splinters stuck in her skin and slowly pulling them out. “I can't move my left arm.” Morgan replied, groaning in pain and wincing a bit, the removed splinters causing her shoulder to bleed. Erika calmly inspected the shoulder, when she realized it looked different from her right shoulder. “I think it's out of socket...” She replied, grabbing onto it and feeling it, it didn't feel like it was where it should be. “Do you want me to call for help, or do you want to have me put it back in socket?” She asked, Morgan looking at her with a furrowed brow. “I'm not passing this opportunity, Do you know how to put it back into socket?” Morgan asked her, Erika straightened Morgans arm, pulling it to the side and holding it in both arms. “Nope.” She mentioned briefly, Morgan feeling a chill of concern as she's going to have a complete novice mess with her shoulder, potentially even worsening the injury.
“Will this hurt?” Morgan asked, Erika grabbing one hand onto her shoulder. “Hell yeah it will.” She replied, pulling onto Morgans arm. The sharp pains making Morgan break out into a scream. The pigeons roosting along the railings flew away out of fear, Erika pulling her arm harder and harder, Morgan even felt herself tear up as she winced in pain, when suddenly she heard a pop, pushing her arm back into it's socket. Erika let go as Morgan clutched her left arm into her other hand, holding it closer and doubling over. “Holy shit...” She groaned, slowly standing up and shaking her hair, some more chips of wood coming loose.
“Why didn't you use pulse to go through that door?” Erika asked Morgan, confused by her actions. “Uhh... I forgot to.” Morgan replied, Erika just calmly shook her head. “So you broke your shoulder because you forgot.” Erika stated incredulously, Morgan lightly flipping her the middle finger with her good arm. “Catch your breath, I'm going to check on Robin and Florence.” Erika replied, Morgan sitting up and onto the railing as Erika checked her armlet, holding the button to signal for the radio.
“Robin, Florence, you guys alright?” She said, an echo of her voice coming from Morgan's own armband, but they were met with about 15 seconds of silence.
“Maybe they haven't evaded them, yet.” She said to herself, Morgan continued to pull the splinters from her skin, causing her to draw some blood and wince. “Maybe they're both dead.” Morgan replied, causing Erika to just kind of stare at her with a confused look on her face. “What would make you think that...?” She asked Morgan, who just leaned back against the roof's ledge, before getting up and dusting off her clothes, looking across the street to the other roof, the wolves slowly filing out as they lost interest.
“It's just a possibility, part of the job.” Morgan attempted to justify herself, slowly walking up to the ledge of the next roof on the street. “Yeah, but I'd rather not think like that.” She responded to Morgan, bending down to see the rooftops of the next couple of buildings were a similar height. They both used pulse, leaping across to the next one. “We might need to stay to rooftops for a while, at least until we lose sight of the wolves.” Morgan explained, Erika nodding a bit as they began to travel, each leap just with enough momentum to make it along the rooftops. Occasionally a building would be too high to leap, and they would be forced to scale along the side of it to actually get to the rooftop. After about 15 minutes, they stopped to take a break.
“Hey, Erika... Can I ask you something?” Morgan said, pacing the top of a former mom and pop shop, Erika dug into her bag and pulled out a small bag of candy she brought with her just in case she felt like she needed it. “Go ahead.” She said, popping a piece of chocolate into her mouth. “I've known you for a while now, and we've hung out nearly every day, but there's been one thing that's bothering me.” Morgan continued, sitting beside her and leaning her weight onto the wall. “Why are you in Spectrum? Your parents are so far away, and yet you moved all the way here to risk your life?” Morgan asked her, Erika took a bit to finish her chocolate.
“Well.. To be honest, I joined because of how boring my life is.” Erika answered, standing up and finishing the chocolate, tossing the bag over the side of the building and slid her backpack over her shoulder. Morgan started to stretch her shoulder out as she let Erika explain herself. “My parents are fishers, and I lived in a cold place where all people do is get drunk. A Spectrum is going to open there at one point, but well.. that's a ways off.” She continued, leaning against the wall and looking up at the tower in the distance. “My parents didn't want me to join Spectrum, they said I should focus on getting a career, or even become a fisherman just like them. They talked me down for nearly the entire year I considered. It drove me insane.” Erika continued, Morgan pulling the last of the splinters out of her face.
“So is this just so you can get a thrill? Don't you regret joining this on a whim like that?” Morgan asked Erika as she stood on the ledge of the two story shop, leaping off the side and rolling on her shoulder to quickly recover, Morgan going after her as she landed beside her, walking their way along the road now that the coast was clear. “I guess it was for the thrill, and I haven't regretted it yet.” She said, putting her hands in her pockets and walking with Morgan along the sidewalk. “It's not like I'm not taking this seriously, but who am I outside of Spectrum...? A boring redhead with a boring life, I want my own story.” She continued, Morgan somewhat glaring down at her as they split apart to walk around a tree.
“Yeah, but is an interesting story with ten pages more interesting than a more boring one that has the potential to eventually become a great story?” Morgan asked, Erika sighing some as she walked a little faster to break away from Morgan. “That's my decision, not yours. Don't try to guilt me out of this nearly 10 months into it.” Erika reprimanded with some annoyance, Morgan jogged to face her again, though this time a bit antagonistic. “Well excuse the hell out of me.” Morgan replied, kicking a nearby rock out of the way as Erika stopped, Morgan walking a couple of steps past her before stopping as well.
“At least I'm open about my decisions, unlike you.” Erika scolded, Morgan furrowing her brow as she leaned in, clearly offended. “What the hell does that mean?” Morgan asked out of confusion, Erika turning around and pointing her finger at Morgan out of accusation. “You barely talk to any of us anymore, Morgan. And yet you act like you're the leader, you got a red cell phone in your bag that you always hurriedly stuff back into your bag whenever someone walks into the room, and yet you won't explain what it's for!” She yelled, Morgan felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up, she didn't know Erika knew about that. “...Maybe I just bought a new phone? Why isn't that an option for you? You have to act all paranoid about it instead.” Morgan tried to play it off as nothing, but Erika continued to persist. “You -HAVE- a cell phone, it's black and it has a skull sticker attached to it. You NEVER use the new phone, and ever since then, you've been acting dodgy.” Erika exclaimed, Morgan frowned a bit and shook her head.
“You don't know when something ain't your business, Erika.” Morgan said, breaking off into a faster walk to get away from her, Erika sighing some as she heard a sound come from her armlet. “This is Robin, anyone nearby?” She stated, Erika quickly lifting the armlet to her mouth so she could reply. “Yeah, I'm here, Robin... What's the status of you and Florence?” She asked, a short pause was heard as she continued to walk. “We're both alright, I managed to lose them in a drainage ditch, we'll be heading to that one skyscraper in the distance. So please do not wait for us.” She stared, Erika nodding and activating one last time. “Carry on, then.” Erika said before closing the radio broadcast, looking up to only realize Morgan left her behind.
“Oh damn it...” She muttered to herself, grabbing her axe and slinging it back over her shoulder as she headed to the tower for the beginning of the exam. Meanwhile, Robin and Florence were running up the side of the concrete drainage ditch, leaping over the side and back onto the road.
“How much more time do you think we have, Florence?” Robin asked, Florence checking the time and walking through a grassy lawn to get back to the road that his sister was walking along. “I think like... about an hour.” He said, Robin looking up at the skyline with a squint to see how far away it was. It was no longer a spire in the distance, she had to pull her neck back to look at the top of it, signaling that it must be near. “I think we'll be fine.” Robin replied, gently reaching up and placing a hand onto his shoulder as they walked.
“Hey Robin...” Florence asked, looking over to her sister. “Yes?” He looked at the floor, taking a deep breath before looking up at her. “Do you remember a year ago?” He asked, Robin being put on the spot, raising her brow a bit from being perplexed. “Of course I do, why do you ask?” Robin wondered aloud, Florence turning up to look at her. “Well... about a year ago was when Donovan proposed to you, you remember?” The shaggy golden haired teen asked, Robin looked at the floor, softly sighing some as she walked off the curb to be slightly farther away. “Yeah... Donovan had a pretty elaborate and expensive wedding set up.” She mentioned, her fiance, Donovon Borough, the future head of the Borough family. They were to be wed to combine the houses together to help pay off the massive war debt of the estate.
“Yeah... But you walked out on the day of the wedding,” Florence mentioned, Robin rubbing her shoulder awkwardly from the tinge of uncomfortable. “Well... I left because you joined Spectrum, honestly.” She replied, she didn't want to lie. Florence frowned some, looking away. “I'm sorry, I didn't know.” He mentioned, Robin sighed a bit and patted him on the shoulder. “Look Florence, it's okay... While Donovan was a nice guy, I just wanted to join to look after you. Family comes first.” She said with a smile, Florence grabbed her hand and lightly pulled it off his shoulder. “But it's not okay, you ruined Donovan's life to look after me... Don't you trust me enough to do this by myself?” He asked her, Robin just froze in place, Florence slowly walking past her before gesturing her to follow him.
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