by Lena August
Chapter 20
I wake up in the morning to find a sheet of frost covering the ground. The early morning air is bitter cold and I hug myself to keep warm. I notice with a dull feeling of surprise that the cold has ceased to bother me while sleeping. The thought of getting used to life on Murderers disturbs me, so I push it out of my mind. Flynn and Heath are huddled a few feet away, deeply absorbed in conversation. I hear them mention Marek a couple of times and a sick feeling of dread begins to build in the pit of my stomach. Unless we have a drastic change in luck, we may be coming face to face with him in only a few hours.
Stretching my sore limbs, I get up and join my two companions. When he sees me, Flynn tries to hide his worry behind a strained smile, but his dark eyes still display his fear. Heath smiles shyly at me, a sweet, genuine look that makes me take an immediate liking to the boy.
“You hungry?” He asks, “If I know Flynn, he’s probably has had you eating those disgusting berries he likes to call food.
Flynn glares at him good naturedly, “If I remember right, those disgusting berries have kept you alive on more than one occasion.
“Anyways,” Heath continues, pretending he hadn’t heard Flynn, “I bet it would be a nice change to actually have some real food.” He pulls a small package of crackers out of his beat up pack and hands it to me. “Have as much as you want. We won’t need it after today, one way or the other.”
“Thank you,” I say, taking the container. I saver the salty taste of the wafers, trying to make them last as long as I can. I can’t remember a time when food tasted so good and before I know it, the package is empty. I notice Flynn watching me with an amused expression as I exuberantly lick the last of the salt from my fingers and I give him a pointed look. This is not the time to be mocking my etiquette.
“We should go,” Flynn says, tearing his gaze away from mine, “We want to get as close to the fence as we can before the Domus catch up with us.” I swallow hard, Flynn makes it sound like that’s guaranteed to happen. Flynn helps me to my feet, and together, the three of us start on the last stretch of our journey toward freedom.
We’ve been running for hours, and I won’t be able to continue much longer. My legs feel like lead and my lungs burn with every laborious breath I take. I know that despite our best efforts, our pace still isn’t fast enough to escape the Domus. Soon they will catch us, and I am beginning to doubt that we will survive the encounter. I start counting my strides, anything to take my mind of the pain building in my chest and the panic rising in my stomach, pouring my concentration into my strides. 305, 306, 307… The pain is growing again despite my best attempts to block it out, and my legs begin to slow, ignoring the frantic signals from my brain to keep going, and I start to drop back.
“Come on Brie, it’s just over a mile now!” Flynn encourages anxiously. I can do this, I think. Only a mile separates me from freedom and I refuse to give up now just because I’m tired. I attempt to steel my resolve, but my body is too exhausted, refusing to cooperate, and I shake my head, tears springing to my eye as I realize I’ve come all this way only to be stopped within a mile of my destination.
“You go,” I tell Flynn, my voice hoarse, “I can’t go on any longer.” Perhaps if they leave me, I can create enough of a diversion to give Flynn and Heath enough time to escape, give my life to protect Flynn’s; there are worse ways to die.
“No, I’m not leaving you,” Flynn says angrily, his eyes burning with incredulity. But I’ve made up my mind and I look at Flynn with fierce determination.
“Yes, you are. You are going to leave me here and make it to the fence, and you are going to live because one of us is going to make it and I can’t. But you taught me how to fight and I’ll be able to hold my own until you’re free.” Tears are running freely down my face now but I’ve past the point of caring. “Please, Flynn” I beg quietly, “Do this for me.”
Flynn takes a step closer to me and wipes a tear from my cheek. “No,” he says, his voice heated with passion, “Without you, there’s nothing I have to live for.”
“But you’ve only just met me,” I protest softly. Flynn reaches over a tilts my chin up so that my eyes meet his, “No Brie. I’ve known you forever, because my life started when I first saw you and there’s no way in hell that I’m going to let you go without a fight. If you can’t go on, then we will wait here for them, but either way, there’s no way you are leaving my sight.”
I nod, numb by his speech and unsure how to respond. It’s Heath who eventually breaks the silence and I start a little when he speaks, momentarily forgetting that he was with us.
“If you’re going to come up with a plan, Flynn, you better do it now. The Domus could be on us at any minute.” Flynn surveys the area, there are some clusters of trees, but none that would offer us enough cover to hide.
“We fight back to back,” Flynn orders, “Stay tight together and don’t get separated from the group. They have the advantage in numbers so be patient and let them come to us. The worst thing we could do is charge them.” He takes out his knives, the cold steel glinting in the sun. I follow suit, my hand trembling slightly. “Just like in training,” Flynn whispers to me. Heath is bouncing back and forth on the balls of his feet, slashing his knife through the air as though he did this every day. I wonder if he is really as calm as he looks or if his cool demeanor is only masking his inner panic. We take our positions, our backs together forming a triangle and we wait. Seconds drag into minutes and I jump at every noise. Finally I hear it, the sound of feet coming our way, lots of them. Flynn tenses next to me and I take a deep calming breath. It’s time to finish this, once and for all.
