For the last three hours, the mostly male group had done nothing but travel through the side streets and alleys and completed none of the day's goals. Unless you would consider recollection of the former areas you traveled through, which Jamal did not count as significant.
"Can I get something to drink, I probably should have stayed back if this was what we're doing." Sera had coughed out with a parched throat.
"We should be near somewhere for that." Jamal and the rest of them finally reached one of the city's main roads as carrs bustled through and crowds of people were among the sidewalks. "I think, it's just been so long."
Regardless, the group just picked the route that looked like it was going downhill as they re-started onward to a small restaurant in the distance. Jamal himself wasn't thirsty, at least yet, but if everyone wanted something to drink or eat real quick, then why not? Once they did reach the location, Jamal didn't choose to join most of them except for Leon waiting beside him. Leaning against the wall, the pair didn't say a word as they let the city life remove the distance between each other.
"You knew Hops wasn't going to be able to come with us, so why did you try?" Leon finally sighed after a good minute.
"He needed to understand the consequences of his actions of over-training." Jamal calmly replied, "Otherwise, he was going to be in a worse position than before."
"And that's why you forced him to stay awake?"
"Of course, it sure worked." Jamal noticed a row of about five large vehicles coming down the street a good distance away. "I think we should move closer inside."
Leon turned to see what Jamal saw and just nodded, as both men started to walk down the sidewalk towards it, to make it as natural as possible. As the vehicles picked up speed, Jamal quickly noticed that they were actually tarrs, and the heavy variants from the looks of it as their exhausts expelled large vapors of gas.
"I think we both know what's going on here." Leon stopped walking once the vehicles passed by them, "We're running out of time."
"Of course, we'll play this smarter." Jamal grinned, as they both turned back to the restaurant.
Lucky for them, the rest of them were getting out of the restaurant, giddy with joy as if they hadn't seen what had just happened mere moments ago. The pair noticed them looking out for them until they caught their sight and expression.
"Did we miss something?" Heskins said once both sides were close enough.
"They know we're here." Jamal said before Leon could tell the truth.
"Didn't we know that already?" Brat injected.
"They're using the military to find us."
With that sentence, everyone stopped talking, as Jamal moved through them and down the road. Leon quickly followed suit behind him as the others were still in shock at what had happened. It was somewhat predictable that they would be found within the city, but simply having the local military actually believing the claim within a short period of time was absolutely absurd, but logical. They knew what they wanted to do here and any reports or sightings had to be taken seriously. Quickly figuring it out among each other, the rest of the group continued onward with the journey, unease as to what to do in this situation.
...
Zim was perched on top of one of the twenty tarrs traveling throughout the city, as he pulled out a cigarette. He rarely smoked nowadays, especially with the stress years prior to starting this habit, but this was for a special occasion. He was going to be smoking the rest of this pack in Jamal's name. He couldn't believe that he willingly fought against Youden when all the man wanted to do was provide their struggling society a better life. Despite the damage from the initial siege, it only took them two weeks to get the city back and running as well as new construction occurred. What a fool they all were.
As he lit up the cigarette and took a deep drag, he looked down at one of the soldiers under his command talking to nearby civilians about Jamal and others associated with him. Surveilling the city for almost most of the day was exhausting but if it kept him out of the base for just some time made it worth it.
"Sir." he could hear the man speak back to him as he was lost in thought. "We have some good news. It appears that most of the reports on a suspicious group of around five or six individuals on the southeastern side of the city. Which we're about-"
"Five minutes away, let's go." Zim replied, as he stayed in the commander spot through the hatch, while the other soldier hopped in, as everyone else was awaiting orders inside already. "To Zone G."
As the vehicles lurched forward, Zim continued his smoke staring down the onlookers. It wasn't common for the military to have such a large presence within the city itself but there were occasions and situations when it was needed. Even looking back as they made it back onto the main road, he continued to see more soldiers marching down the streets as news began to spread in the city. The tarrs themselves didn't stay on the main road for long, as they quickly traveled through several side streets and less activity then before.
"Sir, it seems like Zone G has been put on lockdown." one of the soldiers inside the tarr replied to him, as Zim flicked his cigarette towards the ground.
Just as Zim was going to respond with pleasure, a tarr ahead made a loud noise, as flames lit up in front of it. Shouting and screams could be heard about, as the many troops in the area started to rush towards the commotion. Even through the fire, there were gaps where no flames were, and Zim could do nothing but grin. Standing mere meters away from him, was Jamal extending his hand glowing with the fire that had saved him. The fire that he thought brought salvation, but instead the actual truth that Youden was trying to preach. The flames that only brought death and destruction wherever they went.