by the cages. The blood is starting to slowly drip out from their ears and eyes, but I’m trying not to look too closely at either of them. If I do, my gift starts getting a little too excited and I need to be careful not to let it take over, to consume me and tear everyone and everything in my path apart, whether they’re friend or foe.
I watch him process their state, his shoulders rolling back a little and when he looks at me again, he’s wary, as though he’s expecting to be next on my hit list.
I enjoy the feeling a little too much.
“We’re ready to leave,” Sage answers him for us all, drawing his attention away from me and squaring her shoulders up as she readies herself for a fight.
From Kieran or the Resistance, I’m not sure, but either way, my money is on her.
“Fallows, stay behind me and with me the whole way. You’re my top priority, and if anything happens, my only order is to get you to the evac point alive, whatever the cost. If you want Ardern and the Flame to make it through, you need to keep your ass in line, because I’ll abandon them in a second to get you out of here.”
This fucking man and his tripping over my trigger points... I’m going to end up taking him out before we make it back to my Bonds.
My hands tighten their hold on Gabe and my lip curls back at him. “Good luck getting me to leave either of them behind, I’d have you screaming on the ground before you ever got your hands on me. It doesn’t matter, we’re all following you. I won’t step out on the rules, let’s get the fuck out of here.”
Kieran moves so quickly out of the tent that I don’t have time to get nervous or worried, my legs just move on autopilot to keep up with him. Gabe stumbles a little with the first step and then he’s rock steady, barely needing the support both Sage and I are giving him.
I don’t look back to check if everyone is following us, we’ve done everything we can for the others and all they need to do is keep up, but my eyes are busy taking in the changes in the campsite since we were first dragged through here a couple of hours ago.
There’s blood everywhere, bullet holes and scorch marks littering all of the tents and grass around us. There’s bodies too, screaming and gunfire from every direction, and I have to force myself to breathe normally.
“We need a fucking Shield,” Gabe mutters, trying to pull away from me, but I hold on tighter. Keeping him moving is a freaking great distraction from the carnage around us, and it also means that I know where he is at all times. My bond is thrumming in my blood, a constant stream of protect them all that I have no control over.
I need him to be safe.
Kieran has to take out three fleeing Resistance to get past the tents and it feels too easy to me, until we round the corner and I see what the fuck they’re running from.
It isn’t really a battlefield, it’s a massacre.
Thick, black fog covers the entire field except it’s… sentient. Sentient and filled with barely formed creatures that look more like nightmare demons than anything that exists in nature. My feet stumble and Gabe grunts as he catches me, muttering back to me, “It’s Nox, they won’t touch us.”
Uhm.
I feel like Nox would definitely let his gift take a chunk or two out of me and when Kieran shifts to secure his mask back over his face like he’s also concerned about wading in there, I decide I don’t freaking wanna.
“Oli, evac is on the other side. We have to move—“
Kieran cuts Gabe off, “Get her moving, Ardern, or she’s going over my shoulder the rest of the way.”
I have no choice but to follow them in.
I thought I knew how bad it was, but I had no idea. The moment we all breach the dark, covering our eyes to adjust to the murky surroundings, I can see all of the Resistance trapped in here being mauled and torn apart by the creatures.
I don’t even realize I’ve stopped again until Kieran grabs my arm, the one not wrapped around Gabe, and snarls at me, “We don’t have time for your breakdown at the delightful creations of the Dravens. I get