Brennen Im Feuer Ch 8

After Azrael killed James, I felt like my world had ended. I was frozen in time and space. I was grabbed by a member of The Coalition and was told to run. I refused, and even as the wave of policemen came down on us, I was prepared to hold my ground. However, somebody grabbed my arm with vice-like strength and pulled me away. I screamed to get back to James, but the force was too strong.

I saw myself and a huge group of Coalition members getting chased down the street by at least a dozen policemen. While in my heart I wanted to stay and fight through, my head instinctively made my body run away from the men chasing us. After running for what seemed to be forever, our group made it to an abandoned factory on the west side of the district. We huddled in there quietly for what also seemed like a lifetime until one the guys whispered, “I think we’re in the clear.”

I was sitting in the corner, out of breath and in shock. A couple of people came over to me and said, “Morrigan, what do we do now?”

I just looked at them, unable to talk, unable to move.

“Morrigan, we need your help. Please tell us what to do. We need to get out of here alive.”

I continued to stare blankly. I could see the worry in the eyes of everyone but I couldn’t speak, I still couldn’t muster up the energy to do anything. I was afraid that I’d be stuck like this forever until one person finally blurted out, “We need to put an end to the Coalition. I want change but I don’t want to die. I’d rather obey Commander X than be killed, or worse.”

Murmurs of agreement came from the group and they all seemed to be in agreement. This got my attention. I stood up and said, “Living under the rule of Azrael and Commander X is not a life! We can not truly even live without our freedom! If you can’t see that, then maybe that’s why this was a failure!”

I got up and stealthily made the long walk back to my house to think things through. I knew that this was going to be a turning point in my mission.

The next meeting was only attended by a few people. The failure of the protest led many people to leave The Coalition and go back to their oppressed lives. After a few minutes of silence one of the members said, “We are here because we have lost faith in The Coalition. We want to disband.”

I was shocked. I exclaimed, “What?! Why? We may have been beaten but the fight is far from over!”

“For you it may not be, but for us it is. We are not willing to die for this cause. We know YOU are, and if you choose to die, that’s fine. But we are deciding that our lives are more important. We are going to leave, and I hope you understand.”

And with that, I was left alone, dumbfounded. I couldn’t believe that The Coalition failed so miserably and so quickly. I felt as if my gut was being clenched. I realized that for the first time, I was alone.