Survivors

35

Movement caught the corner of my eye. I looked and saw Kash walking back to the compound.

Shit.

Big Eatie and Pierce continued to roar and attack each other. I noticed how the others were coming back and I quietly moved down the tree to them.

"What's going on? Why isn't Darius and Chris stopping this?" Sammy asked. I guessed they haven't noticed I was here.

"Darius didn't want me getting hurt, so he said I should stay behind," I spoke up, making the others jump. "He stopped the fight temporarily but it then went back. I don't know why."

"There was a bunch of BRADs. We had to take cover," Kenji explained.

"We lost sight of Kash," Brooklynn added.

"That's means he could be in there with Darius," Sammy gasped.

I went to move but Yaz pulled me back.

"Let go," I growled, wriggling in her grip.

"No, you'll only get yourself killed if you run out there," Yaz replied.

She then let me go as we watched Big Eatie and Pierce continue to roar at each other. Pierce swung his tail at Big Eatie. One of his tail spikes tabbed her in the leg and broke off, causing her to roar in pain.

"What can we do? Big Eatie and Pierce are going to kill each other?" Sammy asked.

"Here's what we can do," I said, notching an arrow in my bow. I aimed and fired at one of the drones. The arrow sunk into it and the drone fell to the ground. "Take down the drones."

We all split up. Yaz managed to hit one with a branch and Kenji hit one with a rock. I shot down two. We then regrouped.

"Five down," Kenji grinned.

We then watched in horror as Big Eatie bit into Pierce's back and threw him to his side.

"Pierce!"

"No!"

"Come on, get up," Brooklynn urged.

We watched as Big Eatie walked over and glared down a Pierce, her jaws dripping with his blood. We all turned away as Big Eatie roared to finished off Pierce.

"The fight... stopped?"

We all turned as the drones herded Big Eatie onto what looked like a feeding platform. Two clankers showed up and sprayed her with gas that knocked her out.

"Wonder why he stopped them," Ben said.

We shrugged before looking at the compound to see Kash leave with Darius at his side, along with two clankers.

"At least he's alive," Sammy said. Always optimistic.

"For now," Ben added.

My face slightly fell and Yaz shot Ben a glare. Darius will be fine, right? I mean, it's not like Kash is going to shoot him or anything. My stomach churned at the thought. I rubbed Diego's dog tag.

I then followed the others as we watched as Kash and Darius got on the platform with Big Eatie. It then started to lower into the ground.

"No! Where is he taking Darius?" Brooklynn asked. "Mae might know where they went." She then ran off with the others following.

I took one last glance where Darius was. "Be careful, Darius," I mumbled before following the others.

~~~~~~

"No!" Mae yelled after we explained what happened. "I'm sorry. This is just... Big Eatie's already been through so much, and I practically raised Pierce. And now, Darius is stuck with that monster."