8.1
Yumi leapt around in surprise. She raised her eyebrows at the strangers standing outside her new van.
"Wooahh," she murmured softly. "How did you get up so fast?"
Instead of responding, the unknown woman yanked the side door open and slid into the back seat. Her companion–a young man with army pants, a black T-shirt, fiery hair, and a relatively dark skin tone–hopped into the other side. They were both completely soaked.
"You're driving, right?" the woman grunted at Yumi in a voice without a hint of patience.
"Yeah. You wanna see some speed?"
"Just start the damn car."
Yumi hit the gas, and they bolted across the bridge.
"We've gotta find somewhere to stop on the other side," the woman in the back continued, leaning heavily against the car door.
"Why?" Yumi asked.
A series of gunshots broke out from the shoreline they were approaching. Everyone flinched, but not a single bullet hit their vehicle.
"We can't survive forever," was Echo's delayed response.
They crossed the bridge, flew across a thin strip of land, another span over the water, and finally proceeded into the mainland, not more than five miles from Portland's center.
"Take the exit," Echo commanded.
Yumi looked at the exit, following the road with her eyes. When she saw how sharply it bent away from the main highway, her smirk crept back onto her lips.
"Of course, Ma'am. I'll take this one for you."
SHREEEEEEEEE
"Stop!" Echo yelled over the sound of screaming tires.
The turn seemed to continue forever, and Yumi didn't release their careening drift until they'd rotated at least 180 degrees.
"Woo-hoo!" Yumi cried in celebration, and the tires found the road again.
"Fucken kids," Echo muttered as another volley of gunshots flew their way.
The road finally straightened out, but their way was suddenly obstructed by the entire side of a building lying flat across the street.
"Let's get out now and-"
Echo was cut off as Yumi re-accelerated, causing everyone's heads to jerk backwards as she drove straight into the debris, somehow bouncing the vehicle over it and forging ahead.
On they flew, crouching as low as possible, just out of reach of the bullets that kept on flying through the shattered windows.
They made it far–impossibly far–driving over concrete and metal debris all the way, and Echo lost any interest in pushing her luck.
"Stop. Stop driving."
"Nope!"
The van's wheels abruptly locked up, and the vehicle skidded across the pavement for one last time, stopping in sudden stillness at the edge of a deserted parking lot.
"What happened?" Yumi whined in disappointment.
"I'm fed up," Echo drawled as she stepped out of the van. "Come on, Jelani."
Jelani and Echo proceeded towards a neighborhood that was completely flattened. Every little house was in ruins.
"Yumi!" Sasha shouted.
She had both her hands resting on the wheel, and he'd finally noticed her white hoodie's left sleeve, which was drenched in blood.
He leapt out of the car and rushed around to the driver's side, yanking the door open and staring at his companion's bloody arm.
"Come out," he urged her. "Quickly."
Yumi, who was still deciding what she wanted to do next, reluctantly obliged and stepped out of the van.
"Let's follow them," he said. "We need somewhere safe."
"Mmmm, maybe not," Yumi replied thoughtfully. "I don't like that girl."
Sasha stared at her in disbelief.
No, he thought, shaking himself out of his daze. I need to do something.
He wasn't usually one to assert himself, but this was an extreme situation. He grabbed Yumi's wrist on her non-injured arm and started running, pulling her along behind him.
Yumi let herself be dragged away, too shocked by Sasha's sudden behavior to offer any resistance.
She smiled.
BANG
Sasha ducked, but the shot wasn't aimed at him or Yumi.
He watched as the two people they'd just met disappeared into a tiny house, walls still barely standing.
With Yumi in tow, he made a beeline for the little building, slipping inside just before a pair of bullets tore through the wall behind him.
Spotting a small hole in the ground, he led Yumi into it and clambered down after her.
"What's up, guys," Echo's voice said from the shadows of the dark basement. "I'm surprised you aren't drifting that van through the center of Portland right now."
Sasha unzipped his jacket, not hearing a word Echo said. "Take your hoodie off, Yumi."
Yumi didn't take it off. Instead, she tore the sleeve off at her armpit with her bare hands, exposing the wound in her upper arm that was still releasing a steady stream of fresh blood.
Sasha suppressed his surprise at her sudden display of strength and tied his jacket tightly around her arm, just above the bullet hole.
"Here–hold your arm up." He helped her raise it above her head, finally causing the bleeding to slow.
Echo stood still in the dark, frozen to the spot as she watched the scene unfolding in front of her.
"Are you kidding me?" Her voice dripped with disapproval, but it also contained a hint of amusement. "That's how you take care of your girl?"
Sasha was far too fixated on Yumi's wound to bother with Echo. He frantically fished around in his backpack, groping his shaking hands around a bottle of rubbing alcohol.
Echo walked up behind his rounded back. "She hasn't consumed an element of healing, has she?"
Finally hearing her voice, he jerked around in surprise. "Huh?"
"Healing," Echo repeated. "The element. Why would you bring her out here without it?"
"...the elements?" Sasha asked cluelessly. "B-but those are too dangerous to consume."
Echo stared at him with her eyes turned downward.
Slowly, she lifted a hand to her face and put her forehead in her palm.
"Neither of you have ever consumed an element?"
Sasha shook his head. "No, we haven't."
He returned his full attention to Yumi.
Echo looked over her shoulder at the solitary figure sitting in the back corner of the basement. "Jelani, go out and get some elements of healing for these idiots."
Jelani looked up. "Alone?"
"Yeah," she replied. "You figured out growth pretty well, so you should be fine."
He stared into her eyes for a little too long. "Can I do anything against bullets?"
"Yeah, just figure it out."
Jelani stood up and crossed the rubble, eyes set on the light shining down through the hole in the ceiling. There were no stairs, so he grabbed onto the decayed wooden floor above him and pulled his body up into the light of the sun.
"You forgot these," Echo said from beneath him, handing up the knuckle dusters. "And don't worry," she added, "I won't mourn your death."
Jelani grabbed the weapons from her. "I wasn't worried."