I nod my head against his chest as I sigh. He always could make me feel better.
"How did you get to be so smart?" I mumble into his tunic.
"I was always smart," he says. "You were just so blinded by my good looks you never noticed."
He laughs at his own words, and I suddenly feel like all that time we’d been forced apart just melts away. Like it was just us back at the swimming hole again, planning some stupid folly to break up our day and laugh about later. Like my best friend was back and everything was still the way it used to be. I know it ain't the same. I know that we ain't doing something silly like hiding Lou's handcart all over the village and driving him plum crazy outta his mind. Instead, we are about to make a run for our lives. But looking into Ben's trusting eyes makes me think that just maybe everything is gonna be okay.
"Hate to break you two kids up, but it's time." Jax's ice-blue stare cuts me through to my core, and I move outta Ben's arms like I’m guilty of something.
I didn't even hear him and Zoe come back in from their watch. Even though I ain't got nuthin' to be ashamed of, his look raises my hackles, and I glare back.
Zoe steps between us, breaking our contact.
"Okay, everyone, listen carefully." She ain't gotta say it twice. Almost as one, the entire room steps closer, surrounding her.
"The patrol tank has passed on. We counted fifteen guards on the wall, plus six at the gate. Once the raiders begin their attack on the wall, Beanie, Talbert, Riven, and Busher will take out the gate guards. Flip and the others up on the roof will take care of the guards on the wall. We clear the way for Mack to get into that booth, so he can open the gate. Once the gate starts opening and the guards are taken down, Talbert will give the signal. At that signal, you all go. We won't have much time. The next patrol will be around at one on the hour. We have to all be out of the gate and the tunnel blown before the next patrol manages to get a target on our asses. Everyone got it?"
There are a few mumblings and nodding of heads.
"Good. Now, be ready; it should be any time now."
Almost on cue with Zoe's words, we hear the attack begin. The raiders are shooting on the wall. The group of five designated to take out the guards at the gate don't hesitate; they move as one as the onslaught begins. I want to go with 'em so badly, and I know Jax is itchin' too, but we have our own jobs. We are to make sure the rest of the crew get to the gates at the signal, so we stand silently at the door, one on either side, waiting to herd the rest to their fates.
The shooting outside echoes in my head like a heartbeat. Maybe it is my heartbeat. I cain't tell the difference. All I know is that every shot seems to take a day offa my life. My eyes frantic, I search out Ben and Finn and Jax as if I’m trying to remember every detail of their faces. Like somehow, my mind is telling me this may be the last time I will ever see 'em. Stop thinkin' that way, I shout in my head.
Seems like an eternity passes; time has no meaning. What's happening? Why are they still shooting? Are they being captured, hurt … or worse? My hands holding my shooter sweat like crazy, and I wipe 'em on my trousers. Blood rushes to my head, making me faint, and I shake my head to clear it. Oh gods, it ain't gonna work, I think. There's still so much shooting. There shouldn't be so much shooting. There are too many guards at the gate and on the wall. We had counted wrong, and now my people are all captured or dead. I know it. The terrible thoughts jump through my head, one after another, and it's all I can do to keep myself from running out into the street to see what’s happening with my own eyes.
And just like that it stops. Silence descends, bringing with it a whole new set of fears. The shooting has stopped, but why? Had our plan worked? We wait, scared to even breathe, but still the silence drags on. There ain't no signal. There ain't nuthin' but silence, which is much worse than any shooter fire we had just heard. No signal. Where is the damned signal? I stare across at Jax in dawning horror, his face mirroring my own deep fears. They had failed. They hadn't made it. They were probably all lying dead in the street. Oh, gods, oh gods, oh gods!
Suddenly, three sharp whistles ring through the night air, freezing me in place.
"Go!" Jax yells, pushing open the door, bringing me outta my stupor. We stumble into the street, me and him, checking for any sign of Army. Whatever other souls that had been hanging about the streets at this hour have rightly disappeared at the shooter fire. I check up and down the streets, but there ain't one single person milling about in the deserted section of city, not even a soldier. Good but that don't mean they ain't gonna be here soon. I stand off to the side, Jax on the other as we rush the others out the door.
"Don't stop for anything. Run straight to the gate!" Jax yells as they rush past us.
Finn stares at me frantically as he and Cat brush by, and for a split second, I think he is going to stop. I scream at him, "Get to the gate!" as Ben grabs him by the scruff of the neck, dragging him along. Finally, the last person is outta the cellar, and Jax and I hurry to bring up the rear.
We run, all eyes fixated on the gate. At first glance I think it's still locked tight, and my heart jumps into my throat. But then I realize the rumbling underneath my feet is the actual gate opening. Mack had truly done it.
The closer we get to the wall, though, the more evidence we see of the earlier fight. Bodies litter the ground. We have to step over some of 'em in our way, and I am glad for the darkness hiding their wounds from us, from Finn. As much as I know this part was necessary to save our own lives, he don't need to see this. Please let 'em all be Army lying there, I think desperately as my eyes search for the familiar faces of my people through the gloom. I finally spot Mack in the little booth that operates the gate with Riven outside keeping watch. Beanie and Talbert are standing at the widening gate, ushering the others through, and I almost cry in relief as I watch Finn and Cat pass outta my sight through the opening. Ben is right there too, but he stops and looks back. Looking for me, I know. I keep running as I yell to him, "Go. I'm right behind you."
This is it. The plan had worked. We are gonna make it outta the city. Once we get outta that tunnel and the raiders blow it, we will be safe.
A black shadow looms up in fronta me, and I skid to a stop. I raise my shooter in defense, but other hands grab the barrel before I can fire, and I feel it almost being pulled outta my grasp. A tug of war ensues as the soldier in fronta me tries to wrestle my shooter away. Where the hell had he come from? Why ain't he down with the rest of 'em?
I hang on for dear life, two sets of hands pulling the shooter back and forth in the silent struggle.
"No. You. Ain't. Gettin'. It!" I snarl as I pull with all my might, but the soldier is strong.
He gives one more forceful tug, and I stumble into him. We are so close now I can see the frenzied glint in his eyes, and I know his intention. Only one of us is gonna walk away from this alive. My knee impacts into his groin, and he loosens his grip. I pull the shooter away and slam the stock of it into his forehead with a sickening crunch, his wild eyes glazing over before he falls to the ground. Please don't let there be more, I pray silently, but my fears are painfully justified as I look around. The brown robes are all I can see, swarming us outta the darkness. No. There ain't supposed to be this many.
I hear Jax's angry growl as two of 'em tackle him at the same time. He manages to take one down with a solid uppercut, but the other jumps on his back and gets him by the throat. Without thinking, I head for him, determined to help, but a painful kick to my knee from behind sends my face planting the ground hard, and my shooter skitters across the stone road. Right away, I flip onto my back to fight off my attacker, but already he’s on top of me, his hands closing around my throat.
I kick and buck like a madwoman, trying to dislodge him from my chest, but his hands are wickedly strong, and he soon has me gasping for air. He is leaving nuthin' to chance. He don't seem to give one lick about taking me alive.
Desperate now, I move my hands in underneath his arms, trying to k
nock 'em away, but my strength is waning quickly along with my air. I cain't breathe. My vision grows fuzzy. Everything is turning dark, and I know I don't have much time before I black out completely. No, it cain't end like this. It cain't.
The shooter fire sounds like an explosion and stuns me for a moment, but I still have sense enough to roll outta the way as soon as my attacker's hands leave my neck. He falls on the ground beside me with a heavy thud as I shimmy away on my elbows, gasping for air and trying to suck it into my starving lungs. Already, I can feel the pain and swelling of my bruised throat.
"Tara, hide!" Zoe's voice is almost drowned out by the ringing in my ears as she yanks me to my feet. Shizen. Why are my ears ringing so badly? I shake my head, trying to clear the confusion before I realize the sound ain't just in my ears. It’s an alarm. The Army had sounded the alarm. There is gonna be more of 'em here any minute now. White light erupts, nearly blinding me as the whole area comes ablaze from the electric torches on the wall.
"Move. You cannot be captured," Zoe yells again as she grabs my arm, and we stumble back into the street. I let her pull us to cover behind the burned-out husk of a veacal, hiding us from the Army now ascending from the darkness of the city. I can hear the yells of the soldiers as they pass.
"Find the New Blood. She has to be taken alive."
It wasn't supposed to be this way.
I need to help the others. Jax. Mack. Beanie and Talbert. I have to help 'em. They have to get out of here with the rest of 'em. I stand slowly in shock, holding my damaged throat, looking for my people. I hear Zoe yelling at me to get back down. I do, but I don't heed her. I watch Jax lose his battle as the two soldiers now become five, and they beat him down to the ground with the force of their blows, his face almost unrecognizable under the blood. Mack and Riven are fighting heroically, but they disappear under the soldiers swarming the gate booth. One of the soldiers makes his way inside the booth and starts closing the gate again, trying to lock the rest of us in. I watch as Busher barrels through the mob covering Mack and Riven, sending some of 'em flying into the air. Mack claws his way outta the jumble, stumbling into the booth, and shoots the soldier point-blank. His blood-spattered, crazed face finds me where I stand, and I hear his roar from across the distance as clear as if he’s standing next to me.
"TARA! GET OUT NOW!"
Even with his own life hanging in the balance, he is still trying to protect me.
I don't move, rooted to the spot, but Zoe ain't as stupefied. Grabbing me again, she drags me across the road towards the gate, her intention to follow Mack's order. No. I dig in my heels, stop her from pulling me. I cain't leave. I have to help the others.
Beanie and Talbert are still at the gate, trying to keep the soldiers from following our people that had already made it through, a couple of stacked water barrels their only protection from the slug fire. Don't let 'em get past, I think frantically. Finn and Ben at least have to get to safety. They see us, and Talbert stops firing long enough to wave wildly with his arm.
"Run, Mistress. Come on!"
He tries to duck back behind his flimsy shelter again, but a slug sends him spinning backwards and his shooter flying through the air. Beanie's high-pitched yell as he runs to help him is cut short as a shooter smacks him in the back of the head, sending him to his knees. They are quickly surrounded with shooters pointing at 'em from every direction. Oh, Gods. They’re gonna kill 'em. I see Flip come running outta nowhere at 'em, screaming like a lunatic, shooting as he goes. He manages to take out a few of the soldiers before his heads explodes in a hideous shower of gore and blood, killed instantly by the slug that hits him. My scream is lost in the roar of the onslaught of more brown robes.
It wasn't supposed to be this way.
A black blur sails through the gate at that moment, attacking the soldiers surrounding Beanie and Talbert, taking down five or six with one swipe of massive paws. The soldiers still on their feet are rattled at the sight of the crazed, black beast, some of 'em opting to run while others raise their weapons.
Cat! No, she was already past the gate. Why had she come back? Fear courses through me, making me stagger under its weight 'cause right away, I know what else that means. He would never let her come back on her own, not without him. The scream leaves my lips as I see the red head squeeze back through the opening, frantic eyes searching for his beloved beast.
"Finn, no. Go back. Go back!"
He don't hear me over the shouting, the shooting, or the alarm. I watch in horror as he spots Talbert's shooter and picks it up, his intention obvious: to protect his beast.
"What are you doin'?" I scream at him. "Stop it. Get back outta that gate."
I have to get to him. He has to drop that weapon. The soldiers ain't gonna care that he's just a boy.
Finally rattled outta my stupor, I shake off Zoe's hand, and I run. I have to reach him, get him to safety. My eyes don't leave his face as he finally sees me running at him, screaming his name.
I don't see where the shot comes from. I don't even see it hit him. One minute, he’s staring at me with such defiant bravery and the next; he’s looking down at himself in wonder as the red blossoming on his tunic causes the world to tilt around me. His little hand touches his chest; his face turns to me quizzically as if to say, "What is this, Tara?" before he slumps to his bony knees and falls face first into the dirt.
My heart stops beating. I feel it stop. I feel it break, shattering into a thousand tiny pieces.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way.
There ain't no small flickering of flame or gradual buildup of my Chi like before. It hemorrhages, bursting through every fiber of my being, searing me painfully into action. The scream that leaves my lips is one of primal grief and rage as I throw myself into a reckless attack on the soldiers coming at me, blocking my way to Finn. I have to get to him. I can save him like before.
I jump straight into the sea of soldiers and kick at the lead one, slamming my foot hard into his chest. He falls back into the others, knocking 'em down like dominoes. Whipping out my knives as I land, I ram 'em into the throats of the next two soldiers, spinning past their silent screams, attacking flesh wherever I see it.
Movement flickers at the corner of my eye, and I twist away just as a shooter barrel comes for my head. It slams into my raised forearm instead, but my other hand remains steadfast as my knife blade enters the soldier's neck, his lifeblood spurting into the air.
A blow from behind hits me in the shoulder, throwing me forward. I can feel blood running down my back, but it don't slow me down. I continue slashing and slicing, nuthin' breaking through my silent onslaught, although inside I’m screaming like a madwoman. Chest, throat, gut, no target is safe from my blades as I strike out with pure rage. I dispatch every soldier in my way with brutal precision.
I feel their hot blood splatter my face; I see their life spark fade from their startled eyes. It does nuthin' to penetrate my all-consuming need for vengeance. There is no room in my heart for anything else.
The last soldier falls from my blade, and I stand among the carnage, a strange sense of satisfaction flowing through my gut. Like what I’d just done was meant to be. I stand unmoving, knives gripped tight in blood-soaked hand as my Chi finally ebbs away, leaving me with one bone-chilling realization. My Chi ain’t a gift like the others believed, not by any means. It is a curse. A terrible, dire weapon. Until this very moment, I ain't understood that. Now everything is crystal clear.
"Finn!" His name explodes from my lips, forcing me to remember. Setting the pain free. I try to go to him, but the ebbing Chi is taking its usual toll on my body. My head spins dangerously, nausea boils in my gut, and my legs threaten to give way. Heat rushes over me so intense it feels like my eyeballs are roasting and the hair is sizzling offa my head. What is happening? I fight it, but I stumble forward and fall to the ground, the bloody knives still clutched in my hands.
Finn.
I pull myself to my hands and knees, start cr
awling towards the boy. I can still help him; I just have to get to him.
"Tara?" Jax calling my name breaks through my numbing grief.
I look up at him. He stumbles towards me crying, the tears mixing with the blood on his face and causing fat, red droplets to drip from his chin.
"Tara, stop," he pleads, but his voice sounds like it is echoing down a deep well.
My vision is blurring … everything is hazy, but still I use every last remaining bit of strength to pull my useless body toward the boy.
"Finn," I whisper brokenly as my strength finally betrays me. The weakness takes over, and I collapse onto the ground. I lay there, my cheek pressed into the cold mud, and my eyes glued to the tiny, still body. I'm sorry. It wasn't supposed to be this way.
People are piling through the gate now with blurred faces and vague yelling. I wanna scream in protest as someone picks up the boy and starts taking him away, but nuthin' leaves my damaged throat. It's the last thing I see before the blackness swallows me.
15
The Reunion
Birds. I hear birds singing. I cain't remember the last time I heard that beautiful sound. It reminds me of being a young'un back in Rivercross and fills me with an odd sense of peacefulness. A light breeze flows from somewhere, stirring my hair and bringing with it the sweet smell of grass. I try to open my eyes, but they don't wanna cooperate. Feels like they are sewn together, and the lids refuse to budge. So I just keep 'em closed and lay there, letting the sounds and smells wash over me.
I reckon it must be daytime. The light shining on my face is so bright I can see the veins in my eyelids, thin, pink lines of blood. My serene mood lasts only a moment longer 'til I realize the reason I had woken up in the first place. I can hear low murmuring that grows louder in urgency.
"… she will need to know..."
"... not yet … too weak … Chi nearly killed her …"
New Bloods Boxset Page 52
