Chapter 34

I must black out, because when i next open my eyes there is a bold headed, tattooed Nati carrying me in his arms, my head pressed against the side of his shoulder.
I realise almost instantly that i have seen this Nati before, and i think his name is Garne. He was the one who told Mihai that i wasn’t being fed properly.
I cough, dust and smoke coating the air, “Where are we?” i ask, choking on my own breath.
Fuck my head is pounding. How hard was i thrown? Was there a second bomb?
I look around, trying to ignore the pain. Why is there so much smoke? I can hardly see anything.
Garne doesn’t answer me, but i know he heard me by the way his entire body tenses, his arms tightening around me ever so slightly.
Maybe he’s afraid of what Mihai will do if I'm lost in the smoke. But i doubt that, i am more on the lines of thinking he’s taking me directly to the people i don’t want to find me.
“Where’s Mihai?” i ask, trying to breathe slowly even as panic seizes my heart.
Again, he doesn’t answer, he just looks down at me, his eyes dark with worry.
“Garne, if you are taking me to my brother’s then i promise you that you’ll regret it.” i say, trying to wiggle out of his arms.
He looks at me again, raising a single eyebrow, “Mae, I'm trying to get you out of the smoke, but we are surrounded, if you keep talking they’ll find you.”
I shut my mouth, looking around nervously, but all i can see is thick dust and even thicker smoke, and it seems like we are alone. I can’t hear anyone.
Yet, i do not think that Garne is lying, if he were truly taking me to my brother’s why lie? It isn’t like I'm in any state to fight back, my fucking head is bleeding.
I lean into his chest, trying my best to listen to what is around me, and i hear it, the faint sound of footsteps between the crackling of fire.
We are being followed, and they’re close.
I just blew our cover with my stupid mouth.
My dad always said my mouth would get me killed, looks like he was right.
“Garne.” i whisper, keeping my voice low enough to not be heard by anyone else over the sounds of the building collapsing around us. “Put me down, you don’t have to carry me, i can help you.”
He looks at me like I'm a certified lunatic, but he does put me down, so he gets points from me. He can think I'm crazy all he wants, as long as he keeps listening to me. I know how hunters operate. I used to be one of them.
I take a deep breath and pull a knife from my boot, the same boots Mihai brought me a few hours ago, they don’t go with pyjama bottoms and a vest, but they’re practical, and right now, i need practical.
Garne nods at me and indicates that i should follow him, and i do, keeping my steps light and silent, even as my heart thumps in my ears.
I've never killed before, i have always refused, even when it came to the enemy, but i don’t think i am going to have the luxury of a choice anymore. This isn’t training, and my father won’t protect me here. He can’t, he’s more delusional than me if he thinks that the council is going to let me go.
Then again, my dad always has had too much faith in them, he thinks they’ll protect those loyal to them, but the reality is that they don’t care about us, not so long as they get what they want, and they want to total antihalation of the Nati. No matter the consequences.
I follow Garne as closely as i can, careful not the trip over the fallen rubble, i have no idea how the building is still standing. Everything is destroyed.
A deafening bang shakes the ground seconds before i am thrown into the wall, a small scream of pain slipping past my lips, my should no longer where it should be. My right arm was as good as useless, and fuck, it hurt like hell.
I picked myself up off the ground and searched for Garne in the smoke, but i couldn’t find him. It was deathly silent. Too silent.
Someone would have heard me scream, now all they have to do is find me, which is easier said than done in the thick smoke. But it would also be easy for me to get lost, or wander if someone who would slit my throat on sight.
Either way, I'm probably dead.
I lean against the wall as i try to steady myself, and my breathing, now wasn’t the time to panic. It was the time for action.
I won’t just stand here and wait to die.
I pick my knife up from where it had fallen, checking my shoulder to see if i can pop it back into place. It's possible, but not without a lot of pain. I've never been good with pain.
I bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself from screaming as i slam myself back into the wall, knocking my shoulder back to where it should be. It isn’t great, and i can barely move my arm without a whole lot of pain, but i can use it, and that is the main thing. For now.
I flex my fingers as i move along the wall, hoping to find a door somewhere, preferably one that leads outside. But luck has never been on my side, and it feels like i am going around in fucking circles. Maybe i am. I have no idea.
If only i could fucking see where i was going.
I reach the end of the wall and sigh, no door, no window, nothing that could help me get out of the crumbling building. If i don’t get out it is going to fall on my head.
I find my way to the next wall, but not before tripping over something and landing on my side, the same side with the injured shoulder. As i said, luck isn't on my side.
I look back, trying to figure out what i fell over, and my stomach drops down into the floor, lost to me forever. There lies a body not far from me, the same Nati that was speaking to Mihai by the kitchen when the bomb went off.
Had he come this far to find me?
I shudder through a breath, trying not to scream, i mean sure, I've seen dead bodies before, but it’s different when they are on the same side. It's different when they are loyal to someone you care about, and i know for a fact that the dead Nati would have family. Most do.
Who is going to tell them that he died trying to save a hunter's daughter?
I always thought the hunters were just making bad choices, but after seeing my brother, and the way he acted towards me, i realised something else. They are blinded by hatred. They despise what they cannot control, just like the council.
And the thing with monster’s is, they love to kill.
I climb back to my feet, looking around in the thick smoke, trying not to cough out a lung. It's getting worse, and quickly. If i don’t get outside I'll die.
And I'm not ready to die, not yet. Not before i have lived.
I slide my hands along the wall, feeling nothing but broken concrete and bricks, some of them slicing into my hand, but i barely register the pain. I'm running out of time.
I stop when i feel something wooden, hope sparking in my chest as i get closer, the outside world coming into view through a half-broken window.
I breathe a sigh of relief, a small smile coating my face, but before i can climb out into the open air something hard slams into my back, knocking me against the wall.
I turn, grunting in pain when another hit connects with my shoulder, something sharp slicing my skin, though not deep enough to cause problems.
I spot a woman, not much older than me with fiery red hair, and hips to match her thick arms.
Amanda Song. A hunter below me.
The council said she was a loose cannon, and she couldn’t be trusted, i guess that changed when i left. She was almost as good as me. Almost.
I block the next attack, noticing that it is a club in her hands, one with wooden spikes. She always did like to do things the most barbaric of ways.
“Amanda.” I sneer, shoving her backwards and ripping the weapon from her hands, “How lovely to see you again.”
I swing the heavy club, smashing her in the chest and sending her slamming into the floor, but it doesn’t stop her, she’s back on her feet in an instant.
“Mae.” She smirks, “I can’t say the same.” she takes a step forward, “Not when I'm here to kill you.”
Amanda crashing into me so fast i almost didn’t have time to cover my face before we are smashing through what is left of the window and rolling across the grass.
I whimper, glass imbedded deep in my arm, if i want to survive, I'll have to kill her, but that isn’t going to be easy, not on my body, and not on my mind.
I stumble to my feet, watching as she tears glass from the side of her leg, not even fazed by the blood pooling on her skin, and neither am i.
Only one of us walks away from this, and it is going to be me.