Claws

Chapter Eighteen- Embracing Death

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Eighteen 

   “But...b-but what if Matthew--” 

   “Sydney,” I interrupted her as I toted her away from the clearing. “this guy is apparently willing to lay down his life so we can escape. Don’t you think he can handle himself?” 

   “But what if he gets hurt... or worse...?!” 

   “Syd, why does it even matter?” I demanded, pausing for the briefest second to peer behind us. Sydney was staring at the ground, playing with her fingers in an manner that suggested she was uncomfortable with the question. 

   “Well... he’s really, sweet, Kay...” she muttered. 

   “Sydney, he captured you! He sided with Max, he’s been trying to kill us from the start!” 

   “But he’s different!” she exploded. 

   “How?” 

  She blew out a noisy breath and slumped down against a tree. “The second day I was there... Max and the others went to go hunt, and told Matthew to stay with me... and I was... scared. The whole time I was there, I was scared. But I was super scared because I had overheard Max talking about killing me in a week it the bait didn’t work. And, I was crying, even though I was trying not to. So, he came up beside me and started comforting me, putting his arm around me... he eventually ended up telling me how much he hated Max and everything he was doing, but explained to me why he couldn’t just ditch the pack... so then it was kind of my turn to comfort him, you know? And then he just... kissed me. It was random, and he apologized but... I don’t know, it was amazing and I just...” she took a deep breath, trying to hold back the tears gathering in her delicate brown eyes. I felt bad. I wanted to tell her to go back, to stay with Matthew, but how stupid would that be? I couldn’t let her go again... not when we barely made it out alive the first time. I bit down on my lip, debate everywhere in my heart, screaming at me to be a good person, throbbing because she was hurt, aching because she was letting someone go that meant something to her, apparently. 

   “Sydney, we have to go, now.” I decided, grabbing her wrist and pulling her away from the tree, walking quick and lightly away from the meadow. It was out of sight now, but only because the forest curved. It was still fairly close. 

   “No,” she yanked her hand away from me, tears escaping her eyes and running down her cheeks. “no, I love Matthew! I love him, and I’m not going to let him walk into his death like this because of my life! You can go if you want to, but I’m going back! I don’t care if they kill me!” 

   “Sydney, I’m not going without you!” I hissed. 

   “Go! Just go! If you want to live, go find Jack, drive off to the Yamasee tribe, get them to side with you, gang up on us, and kill us!” 

   “Gang up on ‘us’?! So, you’re on Max’s side now?!” 

   “No! I’m not, I’m on Matthews side!”

   “Sydney, I’m not leaving you here to die!” 

   “Well, I’m not leaving Matthew to die!” 

  We glowered at each other for a long moment until a sound arose from behind us. A sound that had, in all honesty, became much to familiar. We heard a scream. An agonized scream. Followed by desperate, unintelligible pleas for forgiveness...

   “Sydney, come on, we have to go NOW!” I hissed. 

   “No!” she blubbered, starting to run for the meadow. “Matthew!” she yelled. “Matthew, I’m coming!” I grabbed her torso, using my unusual upper body strength against her, toting her backwards.