Selection (Book 2 of P.O.E. chronicles)

Chapter 16 North

“We can’t just leave them.” Emily exclaimed, stomping her feet as the rest of us sat in silence around a small fire. We didn’t dare raise a big one in case it attracts Legres. Guilt was stabbing through my heart every time I thought about the people we left behind, not just the Ganesh family guard, but my classmates from POE Academy. The guilt was catching up on me and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I was willing to do anything just to get them back, to help them; but I knew it would all be futile and I will just end up getting myself caught as well.

Burying my face in my hands I sighed into them, trying to rub the weariness off. We ran for hours before we dared stop and without our backpack, we have no supplies save what was on us during the ambush. Which wasn’t much at all. At least we had our weapons. We were all worn from running all day and the prospect of finding a river seemed small. The girl was still unconscious and none of us know anything about medical care past the first aid basis so there was nothing we could do except lay her down comfortably.

“Does anyone have anything to eat?” Jeremy asked, Emily gave him a glare and returned to pacing around the camp fire. I shook my head at him sadly; I only had a bottle of water and a nutrient bar on me, the later was lost amidst the fighting.

“What are we going to do?” Kailey asked, looking at Steven. She was sitting on the ground next to Jeremy, hugging her knees against her chest and her face white as ghost. “We are never going to get out of here alive, are we?”

Suddenly I felt ten times worst than I already did; Kailey must be using her power without realising it. I could see everyone visibly slipping into a gloom. Without much thought I rested my head on Tom’s shoulder. The whole thing has been a downward spiral since four months ago, our luck with the Ganesh guard was just a temporary high which had actually made things worst –we were now separated from everyone else with no knowledge of their whereabouts, or even if they are still alive or not.

“Sssh.” Tom said, stroking my hair. “Everything will be okay, I promise.”

“We need to run away.” Steven said, finally answering Kailey’s question. Everyone looked towards him; he was our last beacon of hope. “We must go north.”

“North?” Emily exclaimed in a shrill voice, causing several birds in the nearby trees to take flight in fright. “There is nothing up north! Just treacherous mountains and the barren land of former Russia!”

“Exactly.” Tom suddenly said and everyone turned to look at him, there was a spark of understanding in his eyes. “They will be expecting us to run towards the nearest citybse, who knows if they had left teams towards that way to ambush us, or the city isn’t full of them, waiting for us to enter? The only way is to go away.”

“If we survive the North.” Emily muttered, scratching her head bad-naturally. “Do you have any idea how many people heads north every year and never make it out? We are going to die up there with no supplies and no back up. I would rather fight to death than starve or freeze to death”

After Emily’s exclamation we fell into a dense silence. It was really down to that wasn’t it? Starve, or freeze, or fight till we die. I wished fervently that Evanna was here; she could easily tell us where she foreseen danger and we will just choose the other option. Without her, we are as blind as night.

“Let’s vote for it.” Steven said finally, “I am in charge of looking after you, and although my better judgment is to go north, i can’t do it without your co-operation.”

I blinked, that’s the most words I have ever heard him speak in one go. I looked around at the lost faces and knew that it would take some time before any of us could make a decision.