Chapter 22

{{ Alexis' POV 🌌 }}
Alexis couldn't breathe. No matter how many times her chest rose or fell, the oxygen that she needed so desperately wouldn't fill her lungs. So she just stood there trying to breathe. She couldn't focus on anything or anyone at the moment, the edges of her vision starting to blur from the lack of oxygen. She didn't remember the last time she had ever run that far that fast.
When she had finally caught her breath, Alexis looked up to meet the face of a girl who couldn't have been much younger than her. The girl was much smaller than herself, with bronze skin and dark brown hair. In short, the girl looked like a twig compared to Alexis, so she wasn't surprised that she hadn't been attacked during her lengthy breather. The only thing that was odd about the girl was that she had her own personal storm cloud sitting right above her head.
"Well if you'll excuse me I would rather not have to deal with those things," Alexis said as she straightened herself and dusted the grass off her pants. She figured the twig wouldn't object to her leaving but she hadn't made it five steps before the girl shouted, "You're the one who stabbed me, aren't you?!"
"Oh, I'm so honored that you remember me, but sadly I'm in a bit of a rush and don't have time for autographs." It was all Alexis could do not to laugh at the rage boiling in the girl's eyes. As she watched, small tendrils of lightning flashed from the little cloud above her head. Alexis could beat anyone in a fight, but she certainly wasn't begging to be struck by lightning again.
As the girl's anger grew, the wind around both contestants began to pick up, blowing Alexis’ hair in her face. She was barely able to make out the girl's obvious threat through the wind howling in her ears, but her “You'll pay for that” was still audible.
The girl lunged toward Alexis but her slow and sloppy movements gave her plenty of time to sidestep the oncoming body. Once her assailant landed, she spun to face her target, her eyes practically spitting fire. Bigger bolts of lightning started to crack around both girls, singeing the patches of grass it made contact with.
Alexis prepared herself to teleport just in case she needed a quick getaway. She was about to make a move to get the show on the road until she saw the girl pull a long knife out of her arena-issued jacket. She almost laughed at the situation as the girl continued with her display of lightning and killer stares. She thought she could kill her with that thing, did she? This time she couldn't stop the small giggle that escaped her lips.
She saw the flash of the blade, ducked, and threw her arm out. Her fist collided with the girl's gut and she gasped.
Alexis struck out again and caught the hand that held the knife. She twisted the fingers that gripped the handle and the blade dropped from the girl's hand to the grassy floor. Before she could get another hit in though, the girl's knee slammed into Alexis' side. She released her hand and stumbled sideways, just enough to give the girl a few seconds of precious time.
Alexis' body screamed at her, the pain overriding her reasoning. Then she went completely numb, both her body and her mind, but just for a few seconds. When the shock of electricity began to recede, she mustered all the strength she had left and was consumed by black smoke. The iridescent blue embers were barely visible to her quickly fading eyesight as the smoke disappeared, leaving her on dead leaves instead of soft grass. All she could do was lay there, her breathing heavy, waiting for the literal shock to wear off. She was so done with the lightning thing.

{{ Coryn's POV ☀️ }}
Coryn dropped her sword onto the forest floor, following it onto the ground a few seconds later. She couldn't stand. Couldn't think. Couldn't breathe. All she could feel was pain. Hot, oozing, indescribable pain. It was in her side and in her head, consuming her. Her shirt was soaked through with thick blood and her head was pounding.
Then Xander was on the floor next to her saying something that she couldn't hear. The ringing in her ears was deafening. Xander looked distraught as he looked down at her still uttering words that she couldn't hear.
As darkness began to shroud her vision, Coryn shut her eyes and felt her body begin to rise, and assumed that Xander must have picked her up. She managed to open her eyes and realized that her head now rested on his shoulder. But why? He could just leave me here to die, it would be so much less work. I barely know him so why try to save me?
"Please Coryn, please don't die."
The words barely made it to Coryn's ears, but she heard his plea all the same. The urgency in his voice confused her. But as his words bounced around her head she decided that it didn't matter his reason for trying to save her. The sorrowful tone he had used made her heart swell with pity towards her ally. With the last reserve of strength in her body, Coryn whispered, "You can't get rid of me that quickly, stupid."
Xander peered down at her with worried eyes, "You're literally dying in my arms and you felt the need to say something snarky?"
"Oh don't go getting all soft on me now, Xander," Coryn wheezed, a small, sly smile dancing on her lips.
He didn't say anything back, but his body was still tense with worry. Thanks to the shock of losing so much blood, the pain had become numb. She hadn't originally thought the knife wound was that bad but her aching body and numb limbs told a different story.
Xander continued to trek through the woods with the nearly unconscious Coryn in his arms. She realized that the pain was completely gone now and she wondered silently why she hadn't completely passed out yet. Neither contestant had said a word for at least ten minutes until Xander stopped by a small cave that was practically buried in the ground.
"This will have to do. I need to set you down and try to bandage your side."
Coryn nodded as much as she could as he bent down and slid them both through the small opening. He propped her up against the stone wall and took off his jacket. After laying it down in an arranged pile, he gently slid her from the sitting position to a position on her back, his jacket serving as a makeshift pillow.
Coryn felt herself finally slipping into darkness and figured that she wouldn't be waking up anytime soon. "Xander," she breathed, her voice hardly above a whisper.
"Shh, don't waste any more energy. You're going to be fine, I just need to stop the bleeding."
He started to lift the edge of her bloody shirt away from her skin but Coryn managed to move her hand into his. She tried to say something, tried to stop him, tried to tell him to stop over-reacting, say something sarcastic but nothing would come out of her mouth.
The encroaching darkness had almost completed its task and Coryn was helpless to stop it. All she could do was lay there until she finally was taken into the void.

{{ Carrie's POV ☁️ }}
Carrie didn't know what to do. All she had managed to do was hurl one of the large plastic storage crates at the horrendous beast and thankfully it had stopped it from killing Mackenzie. But now she just stood there. She had never been one for fighting or violence but she would do what was necessary to help her friends. At least she thought these people were her friends. They hadn't tried to kill her yet but they might never get the chance to again.
Andrew was doing his best by keeping the stone wall in place but it was obvious the excessive use of power was draining him. His extended arms were starting to shake violently and Carrie figured it wouldn't be much longer until K.C.'s tiny body gave out too.
Think Carrie, think. There's not much you can do but you can certainly do more than just watch. She didn't know the extent of her powers but if they were what she thought maybe she could help after all.
Using all her willpower, she shut her eyes and blocked out all the chaos surrounding her, focusing on her own body. Slowly she felt herself rise and she opened her eyes. She continued to raise herself until she landed beside K.C. on top of Andrew’s wall. Now she could really start to do some damage. Hopefully.
"K.C., I need you to stop!" Carrie yelled over the noise of the wind.
K.C. turned to her with a look of confusion but didn't lower her hands.
"Please! You have to trust me! I should be able to hold it off while you and Andrew try to kill it," she yelled again, her throat starting to burn from the force.
K.C. gave her one last look before lowering her hands and the overpowering sound of the wind ceased. The beast released an angry scream, but before it could advance closer to the wall, it froze.
Carrie didn't see anything but the monster as she slowly started to lift it off the ground. Her ears were no longer filled with the whistling wind but with ringing. It continued to intensify the higher she brought the creature, the heavier it got. She figured it was at least twenty feet in the air at this point but she couldn't think about what to do with it next. She didn't think she could hold it much longer, her head was pounding, her ears were ringing, and her vision was starting to cloud.
A deafening boom echoed through the valley and Carrie's blurry eyes were blinded by a flash of light.
She had thought that the monster's previous screams were the worst noise she had ever heard until she heard absolutely the most demonic noise possible. She felt the beast go limp and her body began to crumble from the dead weight.
She was falling, she was sure of that but not much else. Her mind finally released her and she faded into darkness just before her body hit the ground.