Chapter 5

   “We’re at the cliff!” Experiment #3 shouted to the back of the group at Yuki and Naru. “What do we do now?”

   “Here we go again,” Naru said, shaking her head. “One more time to get this place empty.”

   “Hopefully we all get out in time,” Yuki said, grabbing both sides of her aching head. “I can hear them already outside.”

   The younger experiments, Experiment #6 and Experiment #7 shook in absolute peril. Their trained and surgically perfected ears could hear the very words they were shouting at each other.

   “We need to get out of here!” Experiment #7, Natsumi, exclaimed. “They know where we are! I think they said they were bringing the boss out here too!”

   Naru cursed under her breath and moved to the closest tree. With all the mental clarity of a newborn she removed the tree as quickly as a straw from a cup. Instantly she flung it out and they heard it crash, along with the voices of squished men.

   “Now, let’s get out of here,” she said, turning back to them. “Shinji, is your shield ready for this?”

   “Been training as hard as I could for it,” he said, running to the cliff’s edge. “Alright everyone! When I say it’s ready, you jump on, sit down, and don’t move!”

   He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. When he re-opened his eyes they were the same bright yellow as the shield. He exhaled and spread his arms out to either side. Instantly, the glowing yellow shield spread before them like a giant picnic blanket that kept on growing. He looked intently at it and everyone saw it thicken to the width of a large textbook.

   “Everyone on!” he yelled, hearing a tree crashing. Experiment #6, Aki, practically threw Natsumi onto the shield. He followed Natsumi and they sat in the middle, huddled close together. The boss was outside and looking for all of them.

   Every experiment out there ran onto his shield, making sure to find a spot that made it easier for the leaders to walk on. Yuki and Naru were carefully lifted on to the shield with Yumi’s help. Yuki could feel her head growing increasingly heavy so she knew it wouldn’t be long before she fell unconscious.

   This is why I can’t stand this place! She winced, holding her head up with her own hands as she sat on the shield. I’m going to get myself hurt because they don’t even know their own strength and they work here.

   Shinji put his arms down and jumped onto the shield as soon as everyone was on and moved to the side away from the cliff.

   “Ok, everyone!” he said, sitting down. “Sit tight, because we’re off!”

   He pointed with his right hand forward, and the shield took off like a magic carpet.

   Before anyone could think of safety, the boss flew into the area and everyone could see his eyes practically smoldering without even looking.

   “OH NO YOU DON’T!!!” Naru yelled, pulling up her left hand. “You’re not doing this again!”

   She shot out a quick succession of five balls of electricity and he caught all five of them into his bare hands. She yelled something in her native language and the electricity blew up in his face. He yelled in frustration and came zooming out of the smoke after them like a mad man.

   “I need some help, Yuki,” Naru said, looking worriedly at the slowly fading girl still holding her head. “Do you think you’re up for it?”

   Yuki nodded and looked at her like she couldn’t believe what Naru was asking. “Of course I’m up for it.”

   “Don’t worry,” Yumi said, sitting next to them and winking. “I’ll pick up what slack she gives.”

   All three aimed their palms up quickly and electricity shot out from Naru and Yuki’s hands while fire sprang from Yumi’s. She laughed triumphantly; it was the first time she’d ever let the fire come freely without the protective gloves she was forced to keep on her hands.

   “Now that’s more like it!” Naru said, laughing as the boss wobbled back into position in the air. He became smaller as they flew faster and farther away from their prison.

   He barreled down at them again, this time faster than they realized he could and Naru quickly did what she knew she had no choice to do.

   He had brought out his sword from the office and unsheathed it, making every experiment look and scream bloody murder. The last time they’d seen that sword, he’d punished a former experiment in front of everyone’s eyes. It glowed a sickly black aura and he flew within a few feet of their flying shield.

   Naru jumped off the shield, both of her arms covered in electricity and grappled the boss in the air. He screamed and as quickly as possible managed to stab her instant open spot: her side.

   Yuki, barely conscious now and absolutely weakened by the amount of electricity she’d used, felt herself jolt awake when she saw blood spurt out of her mentor’s side.

   “NARU!” she screamed, standing up on the shield despite her better judgment. She instantly fell back onto her knees when white stars filled her vision. Before Yumi could stop her, she stood back up and spread her wings over the sailing shield. “Not again!”

   She flew and every experiment on the shield gasped at the sight of her bare wings. Metal and leather straps covered the huge, fluffy white wings whenever they were released in the labs. She pulled every last shred of electricity in the air surrounding her and released it in a giant orb of light.

   I’m starting to feel like a cartoon character. She thought, feeling her entire body go numb. This will end badly, won’t it?

   The boss fell off of Naru and his sword was still inside of Naru’s intestines. Yuki felt like everything was ending in just those seconds. At the last second Yumi came from out of seemingly nowhere and caught Yuki before she could fall into the valley beneath them.

   “S**t,” Yuki choked out, feeling blood trickle down her left temple.

   Yumi’s tears fell onto Yuki’s bleeding head as they were taken back to the flying shield a quarter of a mile away. The boss had kept falling, to Yuki’s delight, but Naru remained in the air with a sword in her side, bleeding like Yuki had never seen before.

   “Naru,” Yuki coughed up blood in an attempt to say her name.

   Naru turned around slowly as Yumi and Yuki were being dragged through the air back to the shield by Experiment # 11, Ann. Naru seemed to realize something and she smiled wistfully at their diminishing figures.

   “You go now,” she said and Yuki’s trained ears painfully heard. “I’ll be fine.”

   Then there was a sweet, silent darkness.