Amare- Bloodlines

by J Gaines

  Unable to resist the necessity for closure, he limped forward and saw a motionless hand lying in a puddle of blood; as he entered the room he saw it was Russ’s hand. His clothes were soaked with blood and Amias dropped to one knee, afraid to look up. Until he heard a voice.

  “Amias?”

  Chapter 21

  Amias raised his eyes and saw the reinforced glass was still in place, although it was now marked heavily from the impact of Sebastian’s attempts at breaking through. Max was standing with his palms on the glass; his usual self-assured grin was replaced with a look of genuine relief, and he smiled widely at Amias.

  “Am I glad to see you.” He looked towards the door. “Sebastian?”

  Amias nodded, before turning to the other cell. The glass was even more damaged than Max’s, and he walked slowly to it. He surveyed the damage and found an area he could peer through, holding his breath as he placed his nose to the glass. He exhaled and touched the glass with his fingers as he saw Jasmine sitting on her bed, reading a book as if nothing had happened.

  “I’m not sure what to say about your girl, Amias. The whole time Sebastian was trying to shoot through the glass, she didn’t say a word. She didn’t even turn to look at him. It really pissed him off.” Max laughed nervously. “I’m pretty sure he was only a few shots away from getting through, though.”

  Amias pulled his face away from the glass and looked sadly at the body of Russ. Max followed his eyes. “Was he a friend of yours? He saved our lives. Sebastian needed him to open our cells, but he wouldn’t do it.”

  Amias crouched and carefully closed Russ’s eyes. “We need to get out of here.” He walked to the window and placed his hands probingly on the glass of Max’s cell. “If we’re trapped in here we’re dead.”

  “I’m with you, Amias, believe me. But I’m guessing you don’t know how to open our cells either?”

  Amias shook his head. “No.” He walked out of the room and returned with one of the guard’s rifles, taking aim at the door of Max’s cell. “Stand back.” He fired five shots into the already damaged glass door and then surveyed the impact. He fired the rest of the clip, before dropping the rifle and placing his hands on the cell window again. Although the shots had marked the glass, there was no sign that the stability was compromised. Max joined him and ran his fingers slowly against the damage.

  “Actually, I’m not sure he would have ever broken through the glass. There’s no damage showing this side.”

  “And I can’t keep firing a weapon down here. Somebody is sure to hear us sooner or later.”

  “Is there anyone else alive?”

  Amias ignored him. He could feel his strength returning, and with their need growing more urgent, he prepared himself for what was surely their only chance. “Step back.”

  “But you’ve just said there’s no chance of breaking–”

  “Step back.” Amias repeated his order, cutting Max off mid-sentence. As he placed his left palm on the glass, he closed his eyes. He channelled his breathing, as an image of Virgil came into his mind. As his heart began to beat faster, he felt the fear inside him, acute and crippling. If what he was about to try didn’t work he would have to leave; he would have to abandon Jasmine. He fought to control his fear as it began to build, threatening to overwhelm his body. A voice was speaking to him, but he ignored it. In his mind, he saw weakness coming for him: this was his chance. He sucked in air through his nose, contracting his diaphragm and allowing as much oxygen as possible into his bloodstream. His back and shoulders rose as his arms began to tingle and his muscles tightened. Pushing hard against the glass with his left hand, he drew his right fist back and held it. In that moment, images flashed through his mind: Kaden killing Lucas, Blaise lying dead. The more images that appeared, the harder he fought to hold his concentration, squeezing his fist into a tighter ball. He knew he needed to draw on strength he’d never discovered before, and he was pushing himself harder, testing his own resolve. Although his strength was building, he felt sure it wasn’t enough and there wouldn’t be another chance to achieve the power he required. Gritting his teeth, he let out a growl of exertion that turned into a cry. The reaction wasn’t enough and he saw despair; an image of his failure came to him, which he tried to ignore. The cold glass under his fingertips seemed to become colder and he screamed in pain. As his failure approached and the fear was about to overcome him, an image of Jasmine formed in his head. She was in her cell and he was unsure if his eyes were still closed. Olivia stood beside her, and then John. As he watched them, and they looked back at him, he saw their belief, and suddenly he felt elation. It flowed through his mind and body and the darkness was cleansed with a light that he thought might explode from inside his chest. He drew his fist back another inch and then threw it forward into the reinforced glass. There was a crash and he stepped back, opening his eyes to see the glass in front of both cells give way and shatter with the force.

  His legs wobbled slightly, and he steadied himself as Max walked towards him, his eyes wide with amazement. “Shit, Amias!” As he neared, Amias did his best to ready himself for a possible attack. Max stopped and laughed. “You still don’t trust me?”

  Amias relaxed and smiled; he took a step backwards and leaned against the wall. “I don’t think I’ll ever trust you. But there’s little I could do about it right now.”

  Max nodded knowingly. “You’ve saved our lives.”

  Suddenly remembering Jasmine, Amias turned to her cell, anticipating she would walk out of it at any moment. The wall blocked his sight of her and Max turned and walked to where the entrance to the cell had once been. He then turned to Amias and shrugged. “I don’t think she’s coming.” Amias, beginning to regain his strength, walked carefully through to join Max. Jasmine was sitting on her bed as if nothing had happened, a book still held out in front of her. “What do we do now?” asked Max.

  Amias ignored the question and approached the bed, still keeping a distance between them so she wouldn’t be alarmed. Her eyes moved from the book and focussed on him. “Jasmine. We need to leave here, now.” She watched him carefully, a slight frown appearing on her face.

  “Please, Jasmine. I know this must be confusing for you, but if you stay here people are going to come and kill you. Coming with us is your only chance.” There was still no response and Amias began to feel desperate; he looked to Max for help. Max shrugged. “I know somehow it’s felt safer in here, and you’re scared of something, but I can’t let you stay here.” A thousand things he wanted to say to her were building inside him. “You and I, we knew each other… we know each other. We were friends.”

  “We need to go, Amias.” Max walked through the entrance to the cells and disappeared into the corridor, leaving them alone.

  Amias took a step forward and Jasmine lowered her book slowly, not taking her eyes off him. He stopped and held out his hands. “It’s okay, I’m not going to touch you, but you need to come with me. Olivia, your mentor, is in danger. We need to help her.” He noticed a flicker of recognition in her eyes. “You remember her, don’t you? She sent me to get you. And if we don’t go now, the people who are trying to kill you will kill her. Do you remember Kaden?” Her frown grew, and suddenly he could see conflict in her eyes. “Kaden is the person who hurt you, he’s the reason you were lost, and he’s here.”

  Max ran back into the room. “Amias, they’re coming. We need to leave, with or without her.” Jasmine’s eyes flicked to Max, and then back to Amias.

  “Please, Jasmine.” He held out one of his hands and opened his palm. He heard the sound of gunshots, but still he held out his hand, not taking his eyes from hers. For a brief moment, he thought she was going to take his hand, but instead she turned away and picked up her book. The impact of her choice hit him instantly and he closed his eyes.

  “Amias. We need to go.” Max’s usual smile was replaced with a look of fe
ar and desperation. He knew he was right, and as he turned back to Jasmine he was drawn to the scar on her face. He wanted to touch it suddenly and tell her how much he loved her. He tried his best to find the words he needed as she turned a page. As the vital seconds ticked by, he considered taking her by force, but as she sat oblivious to the danger she was in, he knew she was making a choice, and respecting that choice was the last thing he would do for her. Max pulled his arm, and he allowed himself to be turned away. In a matter of seconds, they were running down the corridor, only stopping to relieve two dead guards of their guns.

  “Is there another way out of here?”

  Amias shook his head. “I don’t know.”

  “Well, we can’t waste time looking for one. We’ll have to take the front door… and pray. If we’re lucky we’ll be able to get out of here without meeting Kaden. Then you can get us out of this place by the quickest damn route.”

  “I can’t leave the facility. Not whilst any of my people are still alive.”

  Max stopped and grabbed his t-shirt. “Look, I’m a little out of the loop, but I’m guessing your people weren’t expecting this attack. If that’s true, then I think you know there’s little chance of getting out alive. The best we can hope is that Kaden’s not here yet, and we live to fight another day.”

  Amias pulled himself free of Max’s grip. “You’re free to do what you want. I’m not running away whilst people die.” He left Max in the corridor and sprinted towards the front door. Max sighed and followed. When they reached the entrance, they stopped and carefully peered through the glass. It was still raining, and they watched as gunfire lit up the night with flashes, followed quickly by the rat-a-tat-tat of automatic weapons.

  “It’s clear, let’s go.” Amias pushed his way through the door, quickly followed by Max. They scuttled across the paths and ran in the direction Amias had come from. He hoped that if they could make it back to the fence, it would be free of Kaden’s soldiers by now, leaving them a safer route to the main gate.

  Keeping close to the buildings which weren’t alight, they made quick progress, unable to keep their eyes away from the direction of the fighting. As Amias had expected, the perimeter fence was now free of Kaden’s troops, and keeping low, they followed it in the direction of the gate. The sound of fighting grew louder as they struggled up a slope towards their destination.

  When they reached the summit they immediately dropped onto their bellies, as Amias surveyed the destruction around him. The gate had been totally destroyed, and he saw three large vans on fire, blocking the road. Behind the vans, he could see people with guns firing in the direction of the first building in the facility, which was a small, one-storey structure used to check in goods at the cement factory.

  “Are those Kaden’s people?” he whispered to Max.

  Max lifted his head. “I can’t tell from here. But I’d offer a strong guess they are, and whoever they’re shooting at is trapped in that building. Which is likely to be your people.” He shook his head, pre-empting Amias’s response. “You can’t help them. They’re dead, and we will be, too, if we don’t leave now. There are more of Kaden’s troops there, and there.” He pointed in different directions as the full extent of the attack became clear.

  Amias was still watching intently when something caught his eye. He ignored Max and crawled closer to get a better look. Amidst the gunfire and chaos, a tall figure strode from the cover of the vans and broke into a run towards the under-siege building. As Amias’s eyes followed the direction in which he was running, suddenly another person appeared at one of the doors and ran to intercept them. Amias crawled forwards, almost standing up and ignoring the warnings from Max who tried to grab hold of his leg to stop him. The two people had almost reached each other and each of them was holding something in their hands. As they met they leapt into the air and Amias heard the unmistakable clash of swords. Sparks flew from their blades, lighting up the darkness, and Amias marvelled at the speed of their strikes. The dark figure of Kaden seemed to dwarf Olivia, even from a distance. They remained in between the vans and the building as the gun battle continued, seemingly oblivious to the danger surrounding them.

  “I have to help her.” He tried to stand up, but Max pulled him backwards.

  “You can’t help her now. There may be other people who we can help, and then you can regroup. It’s suicide if you go down there.” Amias saw the truth in Max’s face but wasn’t ready to accept it. He turned and watched as Olivia stood her ground against the dark shadow towering over her and he marvelled at her skill with the sword. She held the blade with both hands and pressed the attack to Kaden, who held his blade in his right hand and parried each strike away. Their blades were moving so fast that the clash of metal sounded like a harmony floating up the hill towards them. More sparks flew from their swords, temporarily illuminating their faces.

  “Amias, look.” Max pointed towards the building Olivia had exited from. Capitalising on the distraction caused by the battle between Kaden and Olivia, a group of ten people streamed through the doors and ran in the opposite direction. More gunfire erupted as Kaden’s forces also became aware of the attempted escape. Two of the people dropped to the wet concrete, cut down by the crossfire. The others ran towards another large building which offered the only cover from the torrent of bullets. Amias gripped the wet grass as he watched the escape unfold, desperately trying to see who was in the group. He relaxed slightly as he saw them run into the building, but no sooner had they disappeared from sight than soldiers converged on the entrance. Crawling forwards for a better view, he saw another group of Kaden’s forces enter the building from another entrance on the opposite side. He got up, but Max pulled him back again.

  “If you go, we’re both dead, Amias.”

  Amias pushed Max’s hand away roughly. “They’ll be trapped. You can look after yourself from here.” He didn’t wait for an answer and sprinted through the rain towards the building. As he ran he could still hear the clash of swords and every impulse inside him screamed that he should face Kaden. He bit his lip but continued running and didn’t turn back. Olivia was on her own; he had to help the others. Shots rang out as he reached the entrance and he threw himself inside. One of Kaden’s soldiers turned in surprise as Amias crashed into him, causing them both to fall into an interior wall. The plaster gave way and collapsed inwards as Amias continued his momentum, gripping the soldier’s neck and pushing his head deeper into the wall. He growled in pain and Amias threw an elbow into his chin and pushed even harder. The soldier went limp and Amias left him buried in the wall.

  He was about to continue down the corridor when Max skidded in through the door and fell to his knees beside him. “I hate this place.” He got up and smiled. “Come on, we don’t have much time. There are more soldiers coming.” They raced down the tiled hallways and heard shouting and gunfire as they turned into a room that had been used as a food hall. Long tables had been turned on their side by the altéré, in a desperate attempt to gain any kind of cover from the soldiers who occupied both sides of the rooms and the exits.

  Amias raced immediately to the group of Kaden’s soldiers on one side of the room, kicking a gun away from one of them, and disarming another. He then expertly twisted the acquired rifle around in his hands and shot three more at close range. As more soldiers approached him, he glanced across the room and saw Max fighting desperately. He turned back and saw a large, muscular man take aim at him; unable to raise his rifle in time to return fire, he threw his weapon at the man as he pulled the trigger. The bullet zipped past his face as he grabbed the barrel and pushed it downwards, feeling the vibration of the hot metal as the man fired more shots into the ground. They struggled as Amias gripped the stainless steel. Realising he wasn’t a match for Amias, the man let go of the rifle and reached for a knife at his belt. Before he could unsheathe it, Amias caught his hand and held it already clasped around the knife handle
. The soldier looked at him in surprise as Amias brought his elbow hard across his face, knocking him unconscious.

  More of Kaden’s soldiers rushed into the hall as Amias took the unconscious man’s knife and rifle. Gunshots ripped across the room as they opened fire and Amias slid across a table, pulling it down behind him and hunching into a protective ball. He could see some of the altéré survivors and his eyes were drawn to the blonde hair of one of them, lying motionless behind some more overturned tables. It was Sophia, and he was about to run to her when her head lifted and she met his eyes. Her own eyes were filled with fear – and something else: he realised it was an acceptance of their fate. He crawled forward slightly to try and see if Max had escaped the onslaught of bullets but was quickly forced back as the end of the table was suddenly riddled with holes. His mind raced as he tried to think of a means of escape and he clenched his fists. I’m not going to die here like this. He closed his eyes and readied himself.

  As he was about to make his final move, a scream tore across the gunfire. It was the sound of pain and death, and it was followed by more screams. There was a bang against the table he was taking cover behind, and part of the body of one of Kaden’s men rolled into sight. Amias frowned as he realised he must have been physically thrown. It must be Olivia or John. His eyes met Sophia’s again and he saw hope and surprise there before she shuffled out of sight. Someone had given him his chance. He rolled around the table and was on his feet in an instant and running towards the exit. Bodies lay strewn across the floor and he hurdled them, focussing on a melee of soldiers who were fighting desperately against a foe: someone who moved with such speed and ferocity that initially he didn’t recognise her. Then, for a moment, she looked his way before she broke a soldier’s neck and pulled another in front of her to take a spread of bullets meant for her.