Sunset Rising

“You’re my first priority. When the guards pass by us, we go back up.”

“No!” I wouldn’t abandon her.

“Clear the way!” the guards were yelling.

But there were too many people on the stairs to clear the way for them. One of the guards unhooked something from his belt and held it high.

“Clear the way or we use the gas!” His voice boomed through the stairs.

“Dammit!” Jack said under his breath.

Cries of fear rose up, and the crowd started slowly moving forward as the people farther down left the stairs. Jack and I were caught between levels and had no place to go but down. Going back up would take us right into the path of the guards. He kept me in front of him, hiding me from their view. When we reached the seventh level, we stepped off the stairs and joined the hordes of people there. I expected the guards would pass us by, but two remained on our level while the others kept going down.

“Crowd control,” Jack said. “We’re stuck here until they leave.”

After several minutes passed, we heard a scuffle on the stairs as the guards came back up from the eighth level dragging Crystal with them. We were close enough to the stairs for me to see her. I didn’t see any new bruises on her face, so I hoped that they hadn’t hurt her. She saw me standing among the crowd and gave me a huge smile.

“Rise up!” she yelled to the crowd. They responded with a cheer, raising their fists high in the air.

I wrenched free of Jack’s grasp. “I can’t just stand here and watch this happen!”

I pushed my way through the crowd, intent on saving her. I wasn’t sure how I was going to do that, but I couldn’t just let her be dragged away. I was vaguely aware of the crowd getting louder, their cries getting angrier, and then people started moving forward. Everyone wanted to save Crystal. I had almost reached the stairs, but then I was being crushed in the surge of angry people. I felt hands grab me from behind and knew Jack had caught up to me. I tried to kick him to make him let me go, but he pushed me up against a wall and pi

Jack’s eyes started tearing up right away. I tried to give him the t-shirt he had pressed against my face, but he wouldn’t take it. Instead he rearranged it to cover my eyes, too. I was blind, but I could hear the chaos going on around me. Jack was gasping for air. I pulled at the shirt to get it off my eyes, and it shifted enough for me to peek out. I watched in horror as Jack fell to his hands and knees in a fit of coughing. I had to get him out of there.

The alarms rang out, signalling a lockdown. In a few minutes there would be more guards down there, forcing us into our homes. I pulled at one of his arms, urging him to get up. My eyes were begi

Jack managed to stand up. I seized him by the wrist and started making my way through the mob. Every time I peeked up from the t-shirt, my eyes stung. The stairs weren’t far from us, but it seemed to take forever to get there. When we finally made it, the stairs were littered with people dealing with the effects of the gas. I was appalled at the sight, but one thought kept me going past everyone: Jack couldn’t breathe. I stepped over people, pulling him behind me. My eyes were begi

We made it to the fifth level, and the air up there was clear. I took his t-shirt away from my face to make better time. The stairs were still thick with traffic, but it was moving steadily. I could hear the arrival of the extra guards. We were almost to the fourth level. I pushed through the crowd and nearly lost my hold on Jack’s arm. His eyes were still closed and tearing badly. I looked around and saw other people in the same shape, trying to find their way home.

We reached our level before we met the guards on the stairs. Instead of going straight to our apartment, I ran to the bathroom. He needed to rinse the gas out of his eyes. There were a few other people already there with the same idea, but they made room at the stone tub for Jack. His eyes were still closed against the sting, but as soon as he felt the water, he madly splashed it in his eyes. He dunked his entire head under, scrubbing at his hair and the back of his neck. When he came up for air, his eyes were open.

“Come here,” he said, pulling me down to kneel beside him. His voice was deep and hoarse.

I splashed the water in my own face. My eyes weren’t as bad as Jack’s, but they were still stinging quite a bit. The water felt cool and relieving.

“All the way,” he said roughly, plunging my head into the freezing water. He pushed all of my hair in as well and splashed water along the back of my neck. I came up gasping for air when he finally let go of me.

“What did you do that for?” I asked.

“You have to get the gas off your skin and hair.” Then he looked at everyone in the room. “When you get home, strip your clothes off and wash them.”

More people staggered into the bathroom, and Jack and I left to make room for them. The halls were still thick with people, most of them moaning and crying. Guards yelled, telling everyone to get to their homes. But most people were too desperate to get to water and relieve their stinging eyes.

As soon as we walked into our apartment, Jack unzipped his jeans and almost tore them off his body. He ran to the sink and filled it with water. A rash covered his back. I grabbed one of the towels off the rack, soaked it, and started rinsing his back. His sharp intake of breath told me it hurt. I realized he must have taken a good dose of the gas when he was blocking me.

“Thank you for saving me,” I said.

Jack smiled and was about to say something when he went into a fit of coughing. My eyes were begi

“Stop rubbing your eyes. It’s on your hands,” Jack said, gripping my wrists and wrenching my hands away from my face. He bent his head close to my t-shirt and his eyes started tearing again. “It’s all over your clothes.”

He grasped the collar of my shirt in both hands, ripped the front of it open, and let it fall to the floor. I still had the vest on so it hadn’t soaked through to my skin, but the outer shell of the vest would have to be washed. I took it off, careful not to drag it across my face.

“Now the pants,” Jack said impatiently.

I unzipped them and took them off. Once I was down to my underwear, Jack let me rinse my eyes and face. I was conscious of the fact that we were using a lot of our water ration. I prayed we didn’t run out. He gathered up our clothes and put them outside the door of the apartment and then came back to wash his hands. While he was at the sink with his back to me, I picked up the wet towel and gently dabbed his red skin.

“Does it hurt?” I asked.

“A little. It’s just a mild chemical burn, so it should be gone by tomorrow. The canister must have gone off right behind me.”

“It did. I watched it hit the floor. I didn’t think tear gas was this bad.”

“Tear gas has been used so much down here that no one is afraid of it anymore, so they changed the formula to make it more… effective.”

I remembered that he’d already had his t-shirt over my face before they had even released the canister. “How did you know they were going to use the gas?”