ACT III   SCENE LXVIII
LYSISTRATA

     THEY MANAGED to get to the airport sometime before midnight which was the city's self imposed curfew. Cassandra was both a little surprised and relieved that there were still shops open in the mall. Though it was restricted to just one convenience store, a bar and a kebab restaurant. It would have been deathly quiet, if not for the incessant laughing and warbling from the bar.

Gally and the others weren't there yet so they decided to wait in the restaurant. But on closer inspection, even though the lights were switched on inside, there was no one around and the doors were locked. Something about it struck Cassandra as odd and a feeling of unease filled her stomach when the convenience store was the same.

The only establishment that was actually open was the bar. But judging from the sounds, it would have been better off closed like the other two. There was certainly something strange afoot in this city and Cassandra wondered if all the cities left in the world were like this. That was a pretty bleak thought. Was there any hope left for a civilisation after the Flare?

"Maybe we should wait with the berg instead..." Brenda suggested.

"Yeah...I think you're right," Aislin responded. "I'll just text—" She had reached into her pocket to pull her mobile out when she paused with a frown. "Huh...that's weird."

"What's weird?" Thomas asked.

"Apparently they went on ahead..." She cocked her head to the side. "I just received this but the timestamp was ten minutes ago. Must be the reception..."

"What are we waiting for then?" Newt questioned. He'd been awfully quiet since they left Han's apartment but there were no more signs of aggression from the boy. Cassandra took that as a hopeful sign. She certainly did not want to think about how helping her friend would have costed her. That would be something for future Cassandra to consider.

"Come on," Brenda urged anxiously and their group made a quick shuffle towards the entrance to the airport. There were thankfully no extra security controls on the way out but the absence of the bored woman's voice from earlier made the air seem hollow. Cassandra had to wrestle the large knot in her stomach as the small hairs on the back of her neck started to rise. The darkness of the night was suffocating.

"Something's not right," she whispered into the stillness but only Thomas turned to her with a questioning gaze. Cassandra felt like she was hyper aware of her surroundings, from the rustle of their clothes to the crisp parting of grass under their feet. 

Aislin had reached the end of the outdoor hangar where their berg was parked. Its dark silhouette stood out like a large jagged rock in the gloom. The hatch was open and they could see movement from inside. Aislin looked around with a hand close to the gun at her hip. "Gally, is that you?" she hissed cautiously.

"Hey, what took you so long?" Gally's gruff voice came from somewhere underneath the berg. It seemed like he'd been inspecting something and he slipped out to walk towards them. He looked like a mere shadow under the scant light from the berg. "I got the pilot guy to power up the ship."

Cassandra looked up to the sky and was momentarily struck by how reminiscent it was to that time in the Maze when the sun went out, and they were surrounded in that murky greyness. There was no moon, no stars in sight, as if someone had plucked each and every one of them from the sky. She didn't like the comparison her mind made.

Teresa then stepped out from the hatch of the berg when she heard them. "Oh, thank God you guys made it. We were starting to get worried."

"The faster we're up in the sky, the better," Aislin said. "Let's—"

There was a loud, heavy thud and floodlights suddenly lit up their surroundings. Cassandra winced from the intrusion and covered her eyes from the sting. The next thing she knew, she was being pushed to the cold, hard ground. Her mouth caught a cloud of grit and dusty dirt, causing her to splutter and cough.

"Everyone get down!" Brenda yelled just as a bullet whizzed through the air.

All of a sudden, Cassandra could see everything around them with so much clarity. A soft blue light glowed from the underbelly of the berg and she could hear its thrusters hum gently as it was set on standby. There was a hollow thumping from inside as the others moved around. Behind her, where the hangar opened up to a large clearing in front of a hillside was about three dozen people in red uniforms. She felt her face drain of colour. They were totally outnumbered.

"What the shuck is this?!" Minho cried out. "Is it WICKED?"

"God damn it! They're bounty hunters!" Gally supplied as he quickly unholstered his own gun. He and Aislin took point behind the berg to cover them.

"Hurry up and get in the berg!" Aislin shouted. "We'll hold 'em off!"

But before she could even finish her sentence, the bounty hunters quickly had them surrounded. There was the sound of an electrical charge and Cassandra could count her own breaths just before an explosion of sizzling blue light erupted all around them. The impact of the small grenade took her by surprise at its sheer force. All the wind was knocked out of her as she fell back onto the ground once more.

Then the heat and the pain robbed her of all senses. Her body convulsed involuntarily and all she was aware of was the neverending black sky above them. As if she was suspended above a bottomless pit of nothingness. The ground trembled with the heavy stomps of boots but the bounty hunters had to wait for the electric currents to discharge. It was all Cassandra could do too, to wait for the agony to end.

Suddenly, a loud yell erupted from somewhere above her and the sky lit up with flames. Jorge was there to save the day with his flamethrower. The last of the electricity sizzled out and Cassandra caught a whiff of her own burnt skin. That was going to hurt tomorrow. Her fingers twitched and she managed to dig her nails into the packed earth beneath. Her brain turned the dial on the volume  back up and she let out a groan. Newt was yelling expletives at the slintheads as he shot at everything that moved. Thomas was trying to drag Aislin away, back towards the safety of the berg.

"Grab those two! Quick!" an angry voice ordered.

"No! Get off me!" Teresa let out a feral yell.

Cassandra turned around and her heart dropped into her stomach. The bounty hunters had grabbed Teresa who was still kicking and screaming as they carried her back to their own smaller hellicarrier. And right next to her was an unconscious Minho.