Chapter Eight: Lexa

Chapter Eight :
~ Lexa ~
I didn’t slow down. I honestly didn’t know how. If Will had been there, he would have forced us all to slow down. He would have said it didn’t matter if we’re all dead. But the thing was, he was the one who was captured, he was the one who was going to be dead if we didn’t do something and fast. Ironic as it was, I pushed myself to fly even faster through the forest.
I had covered those paths a million times. Most of the time without any shoes. I knew my way. But for some reason, I had a bad feeling today. The energy of the forest was off. There was something bad in the air. What it was yet though, I couldn’t tell.
“Lexa!” Someone yelled.
They were running at me.
To my surprise, it was Grey.
“What’s wrong?” Fear filled my soul.
“They set fire to the forest. On purpose. We gotta get underground.”
“Wait, why?” I asked. “Why would they do that? They need us alive. We’re no use to them if we’re dead.”
“I think they’re trying to draw us out.” He answered breathlessly.
“Well, we literally prepared for this. Everyone needs to get underground. They aren’t going to trick us into falling for this.”
“I already told the village. We need to see how bad this is. There could be more danger there.”
“Grey,” I breathed unsteadily. “I need you to come with me.”
I didn’t know why, but I knew I needed him to follow me.
“Why?” He asked. “I need to go get Gracie.”
God, Gracie. I didn’t know what to say. But I knew he couldn’t leave.
“She knows what to do if she sees smoke.” I answered, but my gut clenched. I wanted more than anything to turn around and go back to her. But I knew I couldn’t. My energies told me not to. They told me to run.
So, I did.
“Lexa are you sure?” Grey shouted as the wind picked up.
“They’re just trying to smoke us out.” That’s what I could feel. It wasn’t a real fire.
“Are you sure?” He called out again.
“Yes.” I wasn’t sure. Something was telling me I was right. But I wasn’t sure. But Grey, needed me to be sure.
“You're lying.” Grey responded grabbing my arm.
We moved together through the woods as one.
“Yea, but you know I’m right.” I felt breathless. I was used to running, but the air was thicker, smokier.
“We gotta get underground!” Grey called out finally after the smoke began to get too thick.
“We gotta see find out what’s happening!” I yelled back.
“Sorry, Lexa. Not an option.”
“What the hell!” I screamed as Grey lifted me up and threw me over his shoulder.
“Stop fighting me.” Grey sounded deadly.
“You gonna kill me Grey?”
“Only if you don’t stop squirming.” He responded.
I rolled my eyes but stopped trying to fight him as I felt us descend. He must have found one of the tunnel entrances. We had built them in the beginning, but had only used them to store food, till now. Jax had known something like this would happen. That’s why we did it.
Grey set me down, and I dusted myself off trying to catch my breath.
“You know, you're going to have to go with Aspen sooner rather than later, right?” He asked as he gasped for air.
“I know.” I answered just as breathlessly. “I know.” I paused. “You know you’re going to have to get me out of there, right Grey?”
“I was planning on it.” He told me, and I felt myself breathe again.
But before I could totally breathe, he added. “But we’re counting on you to not be too reckless.”
I didn’t respond because I didn’t have a good answer.
“Come on, this way.” Was all I said.
The closer we got to the center of the west side, the more people we saw. The more relieved I was. The smoke couldn’t reach us here. Jax and I had built the systems ourselves. We were safe for now.
“Grey!” I exclaimed excitedly, “Look!”
“Hey guys,” Jax said as he hugged me and Grey hugged Gracie.
“Hey.” I smiled. “Glad you're okay.”
“Me too.” Jax answered. “Our signals worked well I think.”
I nodded. I didn’t want to tell him I hadn’t seen a single signal, but maybe I just hadn’t been paying attention.
The reunion didn’t last long. We had a duty to our people. They needed us to show them there was nothing to be afraid of. We passed out blankets and water, and paper bags, either for vomiting or hyperventilating. We reassured people that we knew what we were doing even though we had no idea.
Jax eventually approached me and whispered in my ear, “We can handle the situation down here, so you can go meet Aspen.”
“Shit.” I replied. “I completely forgot.”
“Well, it’s still early. Just barely dark. If you hurry, you should make it.”
I nodded and put the supplies I had been carrying around down. I was hoping that after we met, I’d have the chance to observe the damage. I was hopeful that everything was still intact. But it all depended on if they had actually tried to set fire to our woods or if it was just a smoke out like I thought. And a question not far from my mind was, how many people did they get?
I wove my way in and out of people as I made my way toward the east exits. Not many people were near it the closer I got. They had all moved to the center, the best they could. Only a couple of families with small children were in this sector. I was really grateful we had been able to build this so fast so many years ago. But it felt a lot bigger when we were 10. And I had no idea how long we could actually last down here.
My brain was racing a thousand miles a minute, so it wasn’t till I got right to the door, that I thought, maybe this is a trap. I mean, I had agreed to be taken, but I still had things to take care of before I could go. And if they saw me exit the tunnel, I would put everyone else at risk. I was all about being reckless with myself. But not my people.
I backed-tracked to an exit further away, and the forest was still quite smokey when I opened the door.
I pulled my shirt up to cover my mouth and nose as I moved soundlessly through the unnatural woods, occasionally using my power to move things out of my way. Until I reached the edge where I was supposed to meet S.
My heart was racing when I was crouched in the brush. I had a kill order on my head if I got caught. So, I was already on edge when a hand touched my shoulder startling me, almost to the point of making me scream, but all I did was let out a gasp.
“Shh. E, it’s just me, ” S whispered.
I nodded, but again, I felt the uneasy feeling take over the energies around me.