The girl stood wearily between Chisay and Rey, unsure of which to attack. Both were on guard against her, and she would leave her back open to whichever one she didn’t go after first.

  She faked a jab at Rey, then leaped at Chisay when Rey jumped back. Chisay blocked the knife with a leg of the broken chair, but the girl was expecting this and kicked her in the stomach.

  Chisay was knocked back against the desk behind her as the girl spun and swung the knife at Rey, who was right behind her. Rey tried to catch her wrist again, but failed and got cut across the palm of her left hand.

  She went in for another stab at Rey’s chest, but right as she did, Chisay caught her ankles and tripped her. Rey quickly caught the wrist of the hand holding the knife, then kneeled down on it while Chisay got on top of her.

  Chisay grabbed the chair leg and raised it above her head, but stopped before bringing it down on the girl’s head. She sat atop the struggling woman, poised to strike, but unable to follow through.

  Her eyes wavered, filling with tears.

  “I-I can’t. I’m sorry,” she said, lowering the piece of furniture.

  Suddenly, the girl stopped struggling. She let out a short cry, bringing her free hand to the colr around her neck.

  Neither Chisay nor Rey knew that moments prior, the bounty hunter had fallen four stories and lost his life, automatically triggering a reaction in the girl’s colr. Deadly poison had been injected into her bloodstream, giving her mere seconds to live.

  “I see…you finally…”

  “What? What happened?” Chisay said, backing away.

  “Our… ship… is about a mile and a half… southeast of here… near a small waterfall… in the woods…”

  “Why are you telling us?” Rey asked.

  “Sorry… about… your friends…”

  She closed her eyes, free at st.

  Rey felt her pulse, then slowly got up.

  “What’s going on?!” Chisay said, starting to panic.

  “I don’t think it was our fault,” Rey said. “We need to get Andun,” she decided, moving towards the door.

  Chisay covered her mouth as she looked at the two corpses on the floor, realizing that her life probably wasn’t going back to normal anytime soon. Rey found Andun and quickly untied him. He rubbed his wrists as he returned with Rey.

  “How are you so calm?” Chisay said, looking up at Rey from where she was kneeling on the floor. “She died! Even if it wasn’t our fault…why…”

  She rubbed her eyes, feeling genuine grief over the death of two women that had attacked her.

  Rey wondered what she should be feeling right now, but then Andun spoke.

  “We should contact Zan. I have a feeling we’ll be leavin’ soon.”

  “You’re right,” Rey said.

  Andun tapped his earpiece and waited, but there was no response. After a few moments, they began to grow worried.

  “Something didn’t happen to him…right?” Rey asked.

  “He’s probably in the middle of somethin’ right now. Just wait a bit.”

  He sat down on the couch, and Rey did the same after a moment. She was exhausted, physically and mentally.

  “I want to see him again, and for this to all be over.”

  ***

  Zan looked up at the gray clouds now covering the sky above him. Below, he heard a low humming noise approach, then stop.

  He could barely move, but the pain had mostly subsided. Well, it had become bearable at least.

  His body was already healing at a rapid pace using the st of the leftover energy that Rey had given him, but it would still be a while until he could fight again.

  He heard someone call his name from the roof of the main building. The voice called again, and he recognized it as Landen’s.

  Crawling across the roof, he reached the edge and called down to him, ignoring the burning in his lungs. Landen looked up at him in surprise, then called up to him once more.

  “We need to go, now! Get down here! We need to hurry! Jump and I’ll catch you, then we need to get to the spaceport as soon as we can!”

  After a bit of struggle, Zan did as he asked and ended up clinging to him as they sped down the streets on Landen’s hoverbike. When they arrived at the meeting spot behind a building only a couple blocks from the spaceport’s entrance, there were already three people waiting for them.

  “What are they doing here?!” Landen said, looking at the pilot, then at the two teenagers in confusion. “You two were supposed to be waiting inside, weren’t you?” “They closed the spaceport,” the boy said.

  “And told everyone to go home,” the girl said.

  Both looked around sixteen to Zan. The boy, Deru, had messy, dark hair and an average face while the girl, Yande, had long, pink and bck striped hair put back in two braids. These were the two that Landen had asked him to take to the Alliance as part of their deal.

  “They shut everything down,” the pilot said. “There’s nothing I can-”

  His head exploded. Yande and Deru screamed and ducked as the pilot’s body toppled forward and men in Temurian military outfits emerged, blocking every exit.

  Landen immediately realized it was an ambush, but there was nothing he could do. They were surrounded. An armored vehicle rolled into view, carrying more soldiers that jumped off and pointed their weapons at the four of them.

  “Well, look what we have here,” a man said, getting out of the passenger’s side and walking forward. “I knew something was up.”

  Yande and Deru clung to each other next to Landen, who was still supporting Zan.

  “You’re the vice commander,” Landen said.

  “Take them into custody,” he addressed his soldiers. “And if they resist, shoot them.”

  Just then, the vehicle behind him suddenly moved forward and smmed into the soldiers in front of it. The vice commander had just enough time to leap out of the way before it shot past him and came to a jarring stop right next to Landen and the others.

  “Get in!” Andun shouted from the driver’s seat. Without waiting for another word, Landen helped Zan in while Yande and Deru climbed in as well. The other soldiers started shooting at them, but their bullets did nothing to the outside of the vehicle.

  Landen smmed the door behind him and turned to see Rey and another woman sitting in the back.

  “We came like ya told us, but when we got here ya seemed ta be in trouble,” Andun said, reversing as fast as possible. Right after getting Zan down, Landen had told them to get to the meetup spot as soon as possible, which they’d done.

  “We had ta sneak in and try ta rescue ya.”

  “And who’re you?” Landen asked.

  “Chisay. I run a bookstore nearby.” “And why are you here?” “I didn’t want to be left alone with two dead bodies.” “You superstitious?” Zan asked.

  “No, just scared!”

  “So what do we do now?!” Andun asked, flooring it as multiple vehicles appeared in pursuit behind them.

  “We can’t go back to the spaceport,” Landen said. “Which means we can’t get out of here.”

  “Actually, about that… I might be able to help,” Chisay said tentatively. “Remember the location that girl gave us?” she said, turning to Rey.

  “Her ship!” Rey realized. “If we can find it, we can get out of here!” “And I can guide you to it,” Chisay said. “I know the waterfall she mentioned.” “You’ve been there?” Rey asked.

  “Well, no, but I memorized a map of the town and surrounding area, so I think I might be able to find it.” “But even if we do find it, our pilot is dead.”

  “Don’t worry, Landen used to be a pilot, so he can fly us out of here,” Deru said. With Chisay guiding them they wound their way southeast, racing through the streets at top speed to stay ahead of their pursuers.

  “We’re comin’ up on the edge of the forest!” Andun said, looking at the treeline ahead.

  “Just keep pushing through!” Landen urged. They plowed into the undergrowth, and the ride became a lot more bumpy. Andun swerved to avoid tree trunks as he crashed through vines and thickets in the direction Chisay indicated.

  Suddenly the vehicle lurched forward into a streambed, rendering it immobile. What followed was a scramble to get out all at once, resulting in mostly everyone falling and getting their pants wet.

  “We’re almost there!” Chisay said, standing in the ankle-deep water and pointing. Rey looked and saw a small series of falls no more than five feet high about twenty yards upstream.

  “Run for it!” Andun shouted, hearing the sound of approaching vehicles behind them. Unfortunately, it had been pretty easy for their pursuers to follow the trail they’d plowed through the underbrush.

  They all ran along the pebbly streambank with the water to their left and a low earthen embankment that’d been eroded over time to their right. As they neared the falls, Landen suddenly saw something through the trees and pointed it out to the others. They leaped up the earthen embankment and saw the bounty hunter’s ship through the trees.

  As they ran towards it however, gunshots suddenly began thwacking into the trees around them, and Andun gnced over his shoulder to see soldiers coming after them.

  Up ahead, the others reached the small clearing where the ship had been set down. Landen ran around to the entrance and opened it.

  “No security, huh? Well, I’m not compining.”

  Yande and Deru followed him inside. A bullet ricocheted off the edge of the ship. Andun took cover behind a rge tree and pulled out his axe. They wouldn’t make it in time if something wasn’t done.

  “Take off without me! I’ll stay back and hold off the soldiers!” Rey, Zan, and Chisay stared at him.

  “You can’t do that! You’ll die!” Chisay said.

  “I know. But there’s no other choice. Don’t try to stop me.”

  With that, he turned and ran into the forest towards the approaching troops. The others looked after him, distraught but aware that there was nothing they could do.

  Andun threw his axe, which spun through the air and embedded itself in a soldier's head. He kept low to the ground as more shots were fired in his direction.

  “Good. I just need to keep them distracted fer a little bit longer.”

  He ducked behind a tree and pulled a rock about the size of his fist out of the ground. He turned and chucked it with all his might at another soldier nearby, hitting him squarely in the forehead.

  As soon as the rock left his hand, he dashed to retrieve his axe from the fallen soldier. Just as he yanked it from the skull, he felt something hit his left shoulder and looked down to see a chunk of it missing.

  “Yes, that’s it! Hit him again!” the vice commander shouted, standing slightly behind the soldier who’d shot Andun.

  As the man aimed his weapon once more, Andun had only a few seconds to lift his axe and throw it in his direction. Just before he fired, Andun’s axe severed his left arm and cut into his stomach, causing him to unleash a spray of stray bullets across the forest as he fell. Andun sprinted forward as the vice commander fell on his butt, a look of terror on his face.

  Andun was only a few feet from him when he suddenly felt a burning sensation in his gut. It was only after he’d fallen that he realized he’d been hit. More soldiers appeared, rushing to their vice commander’s side.

  He stood up and approached Andun, still slightly cautious. Then a grin spread over his face.

  “We got him! HA! That’s what you get!” He kicked Andun in the face. Some of the other soldiers joined in, kicking him all over, again and again.

  “Where are the other ones?” he heard the vice commander ask. He didn’t hear the answer, but the group started drawing away. He didn’t know if the others still needed more time, but Andun was determined to give them all he could.

  He grit his teeth and pushed himself up onto his elbows, then onto his knees. They weren’t watching him, probably assuming he was already dead or near enough.

  He crawled over to his axe and grabbed the handle for the st time. Just then, one of the soldiers spotted him and yelled something. As he hefted his axe, a memory from two years ago briefly flitted through his mind, and then he put all his remaining strength into one st movement, unching it straight at the vice commander.

  The axe connected with his left knee, instantly crippling him. He let out a high pitched scream as he fell to the ground clutching his broken kneecap. A moment ter, a dozen new holes appeared in Andun’s chest as the soldiers all fired on him.

  While all this was happening, Landen had started the ship and prepared for takeoff. He’d opened the back so the others could get in, and Zan had told him what happened with Andun. While upset, Landen understood that this was his choice, and if he tried to stop him it would only put everyone else in greater danger.

  Rey felt the ship lift off and looked over at Chisay.

  “Are you sure you want to come with us?” “I don’t have a choice, they saw me with you. And even if they hadn’t, there’s no way I can expin the two bodies in my house.” “Sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault. I just… I don’t want to leave my parents here.” “Maybe we can go pick them up quickly,” she said, looking at Zan, who nodded. “Really?! You’d do that? …Thank you.”

  Deru joined them in the back while Yande and Landen stayed at the controls.

  For some reason, Landen had forgotten to close the back ramp, probably because he was focused on getting them out of there as fast as he could. Rey looked out at the tops of the trees receding beneath them as their ship rose into the sky. Beyond them, the town y under the cloudy grey sky, its streets nearly empty in preparation for rain.

  Suddenly, a squadron of bck drones descended from the clouds above, spreading out as they approached the town. Small objects began to fall from them straight towards the rooftops below, exploding upon impact. In just a few moments the town disappeared in a wave of violent explosions.

  Chisay choked on her breath as she watched in horror. Rey looked on in shock, and Deru only looked back in the direction of the cockpit. Zan watched with empty eyes as the town was obliterated in seconds.

  More bombs lit up the forest, enveloping acre after acre in fmes. Waves of destruction rained down one after another as far as they could see.

  The ramp began to ascend as they neared the level of the clouds.

  “No…my parents…why?” Chisay watched as the town she’d grown up in was annihited before her very eyes, along with everyone important to her. She leapt towards the closing exit, but Rey caught her and held her back as she screamed and struggled, tears streaming down her face.

  “What hath hell wrought,” Zan muttered, the light of the fires below reflected in his eyes.

  GreenHunter128