Free Wasteland (Flight) by Lindsay Leggett

building, and together we watch chaos unfold.
    Am I dreaming? Have I died?
    “There is so much—”
    “Shh,” Asher interrupts. He looks at me, and his blue eyes are filled with so much pain. I’m completely overcome by his presence. Somewhere deep inside I worried I would never see him again.
    “Stay strong, Red. When it’s time, I will find you, and never let you go,” he says.
    Then he wraps his hands over my face and neck and pulls me close. His lips on mine erase the sounds of chaos below. A tiny moan escapes him as I thread my fingers through his hair.
    And then he’s gone, and I a alone on a ledge, my mind torn between the nirvana I was just in and the screams of death and torture below me.
    When my adrenaline recovers, I scout the area. I put away any thoughts of Asher in a drawer in my mind; I need to get out of here alive. I spot Rassler and Essa combating citizens, using mace and gas to keep them away and calm them down.
    I look to the ground, trying not to think of how high up I am right now. My only way back is to jump into the fray, but surely that will only result in my death-by-stampede. Not a desirable epitaph.
    “Piper Madden,” a lithe voice calls. My head swirls. Where is that coming from? “Look up, Piper Madden.” I crane my head to see the grating of a balcony above me. The owner of the voice is unmistakable. That pale skin, those all-knowing eyes staring down at me. Io. How did she escape?
    “You must come with me now, Piper Madden,” she says. I take a deep breath. To get up there, to escape, I have only one shot. If I miss the grating, I fall into the riot. If I don’t, then perhaps I will find my freedom.
    I close my eyes before I make the leap. I concentrate on the cacophony of sound below me and the pure quiet above. I jump, kicking my feet off the building’s stone facade for extra leverage and reach as I far as I can.
    My fingers brush the metal grating, and just seconds before gravity pulls me back down, my right hand clenches around an iron bar. Swinging from one arm, my entire body heaves a sigh of relief.
    I use my other arm to pull myself up, and then I stand beside Io. The girl smiles at me, though her eyes are filled with a wise melancholia.
    “What are you doing here?” I ask as I catch my breath.
    “You have seen all that you need to see. It is time to return you to where you belong. Io leads me through the bowels of the apartment complex, deep into its depths. The building is abandoned, at least it looks that way. Unit doors are left open, the furniture untouched.
    Finally we reach a storage room in the basement. Io presses her fingers against the wall, and a hidden door opens, revealing a passageway that enters into a tunnel.
    “Where are we going?” I ask.
    “You will see soon,” she answers with a smile.
    I don’t know exactly why I trust her, but I follow her anyway. There has to be some reason why she is kept locked up, but the innocence surrounding her makes it almost impossible to suspect her of anything. Soon we reach the end of the tunnel, another door. She stops, her hand grabbing on to mine.
    “This is where I must leave you. Beyond this door is your future, the future that is the best for most. We are all counting on you, Piper Madden. Until we meet again.” Then she closes her eyes, and a soft yellow light radiates around her. Her toes float from the ground as she curls up into a ball, and then vanishes, leaving nothing in her stead.
    My mind is far too scrambled to think about anything right now. The riot. Asher. Io. It’s all just too much. So instead I focus on the door in front of me.
    It’s old and wooden, and looks like it could break down into dust at any second. I almost want to laugh at myself. How do I even guess at what could be inside?
    I rap my knuckles against the solid wood and hear scrambling from within. I ready myself for defense, just in case, as the doorknob turns. And then I burst into a wide smile.
    The girl in front of me