Bullets sped overhead and around us as we hid behind cement roadblocks. The noise and dust surrounded us, and I coughed many times while fanning away the dust. Looking over to my comrade, Tyson, ready as ever to give the fight of his life.
Shaking my head, my words danced between the sounds of bullets to his ears. "I told you this was a bad idea."
"Shut it would you and concentrate, you idiot!" Tyson continued to roll his eyes at me.
He always did that. I told him that we shouldn't have gone into the fray, and yet here we were, and he called me an idiot. I closed my eyes and controlled my breathing again. Breath in and breath out, muffled sounds echoed around me. I heard Tyson's voice through the murky sounds, and I opened my eyes. The movement would have to be fast, but I was more worried about him getting whiplash.
The surrounding air lightened as I planned our escape. Patterns of the bullet ricoettes meant that there would be a reloading split-second break, long enough for me to make my move and get us out of here. My body reacted instinctively to the break in sound, his body tensed as he knew how painful whiplash was. My body soaring into the sky like a rocket, I tried to hold his neck against my stomach as I held onto him below his shoulders. His hands were white knuckled as he tried to close his eyes and breath. He hated flying but started to accept that sometimes a quick escape was better than a long defeat.
"You're an idiot," I said under a fast breath of relief.
I finally called him out on his big head after months of dealing with his negative attitude. He wasn't all bad, but he was more serious than I was not only in life but in personality.
"Milana, not now, maybe later. I miscalculated how close the calvary was. It won't happen again," he grumbled, annoyed with his current vulnerability.
"It happens. Don't let it get you down, but if I don't put you down then I may drop you. You're kind of heavy." I smirked, knowing he couldn't see me. Sometimes we fought but it was through these interesting talks that I truly got to know the man behind the tough frame and face.
"Are you kidding me right now? We are in the middle of the atmosphere and now you want to talk about dropping me? I can't believe you've lived this long." Of course, this made him move around and I resisted the urge to pinch him and settled for clearing my throat.
"Don't tempt me with a good time. I may drop you out of spite."
There wasn't much of the world left, but somehow, we ended up as public enemy number one. To be honest, I already was long before he was involved. He was the one who picked my side. All my life, it was about survival. Taking life too seriously was pointless with survival on my mind twenty-four seven. The world was almost wiped-out decades ago, but I was one of the first Elementalists that could control air. Tyson controlled earth. His ability was more common and usually used in building fractions that made up humankind's society. There was water who controlled agriculture for the most part, and then fire who made up most of the military power.
"Take it easy, I'm not going to drop you. Just let the currents take you where they want. Be the air beneath your wings. That kind of thing." Oh, to be the person of power. I enjoyed the moment.
He grumbled something under his breath, and I smiled as he kept quiet and let me concentrate where I needed to. Looking down for our hideout, I saw the tell-tale landmark, a bunch of boulders shaped like a wave that were only be noticed from the sky. The end of that wave was our hideout in the mountains outside of the city walls. The last large city of humankind was called Raj, paradise for humans with the community and unity. At least, that was what they called it. Raj's government and security was meant to control and brainwash humans and Elementalists.
The memory of the last time we were enemies flooded my mind. Tyson was fearless and determined. Though I feared him at the time, his determination made me more courageous. Even being my enemy, he created this power of strength within me. The old mill factory was where I lured him. Rain had been pouring for days and parts of the factory had flooded. There was one ploy I had left to try to end this battle dance with Tyson for good.
"Milana, I won't ask again." His deep voice reverberated through the factory. A threat, a promise of being captured by Tyson.
"While this has been a thrill, I'm sorry that I have to say you are in the wrong line of work. You're tough and while you're scary as heck with your military grade jerk attitude, you miscalculated one thing." Shrugging my shoulders, I reached behind me and pulled down the electric current switch. Floating above water, I saw the realization in his eyes when he tried to run. "You really need to light up your life."
His body collapsed to the floor, and I knelt over him, still floating above the water. "Too soon?" Moving to dry ground, I started to walk away. Hearing a groan come out of him, the guilt started gnawing at my brain. My victory was shortened as I debated to keep him alive. After checking his pulse and breath multiple times, I realized I didn't have it in me to have this annoying but fearless man die.
As we descended, I set him down gently before letting my feet touch the ground. He was much taller than I was and much more muscular. His dark blonde hair was very close to his scalp and his green eyes were piercing, especially against his dark olive skin tone. I, on the other hand, was very light skinned. Sometimes I would sunburn while flying if I wasn't careful. My eyes were a light blue, and Tyson once described them as gullible, innocent and naïve.
"I'm going to think up another plan of attack. Get some sleep. Can you get a hold of your friend to get us into the city and a place to stay? We need to get in there to see what changes she's going to make to security. We both know she will be drastic, so we need to work fast." Tyson almost sounded happy to be making plans again. Almost.
"Will do, Captain." I gave him a weak salute, and he rolled his eyes before getting to work inside the cave.