The Wicked Ones

Chapter Three

Holly's POV

Jim and I stopped right in front of the forest that was near our houses, panting. I stared back at where our houses used to be, before it got burned. The smoke drifted into the sky, and I closed my eyes for a while. Our house was gone. We had no idea where our parents were. And last of all, we know that someone purposely set our houses on fire. To find us. Two adolescence kids. I sank to the ground, opening my eyes. Jim was standing beside me, looking at the sky.

"W-why us?" I finally asked in a whimper, looking at Jim. I knew that I sounded like a child, but I didn't care. Not now, when our lives were going down in flames, literally.

"I don't know." Jim replied hoarsely, and I knew that he was telling the truth. We both didn't know why people would set our house on fire to find us.

"What are we going to do now, Jim?" I asked in a whisper.

"We have to run away. Away from the bad guys. Our parents possibly died to save us, Holly. We can't let those bad guys get us. Or else.........."Jim trailed off, and I shivered for some reason. Sirens were heard in a distance now, but I knew that it was going to be too late. Our parents would either be outside, or dead. The bad guys would for sure escaped already. And we were left with nothing.

"We're only 13 years old, Jim. We're the quietest people in our school. We've never joined any clubs or classes except for that self-defence class that our parents forced us to take. What chances do we have against those people?" I asked.

"Even if we didn't have a chance at all, we would still run. You can't just give up your life, Holly, because something is too hard." Jim replied firmly.

I nodded slowly. "But that's what we have been doing, Jim. In school. We surrendered ourselves to Isabelle and Zach. We gave up our lives; we stopped trying to defend ourselves just because we were too scared." I reminded Jim in a whisper.

He looked at me, and sighed. "Well, then we're doing this for our parents, okay?" He asked me again.

I nodded again, and tears welled up in my eyes. "Do you really think our parents are.........."I trailed off, as tears trickled down my cheeks.

Jim didn't reply. I looked up at him, and saw that he was still looking at the smoke that was drifting from our houses.

"Maybe." He finally replied, and sat down beside me. "But we can't give up, Holly. If we give up, all is lost."

I was about to reply when I heard the sound of footsteps running on the road....in front of us. I exchanged a panicked look with Jim, and we both got up and started running into the forest without hesitation. 15 minutes later, we stopped in a clearing and looked around nervously.

"Do you think they are gone?" Jim finally dared to whisper.

I bit my lip, and was about to nod when suddenly at least a dozen people burst out from the trees and surrounded us in the clearing. I started to whimper with fear, but remembered all my self-defence classes. That could come in use, because obviously we were going to have a fight.

"If you come willingly with us, we will not harm you......yet." The leader of the group said, stepping forward. In the moonlight, he almost looked like a bear. A very dangerous bear.

"No way. Where are our parents?" Jim asked in a shaky voice.

Another person laughed, and stepped forward too. "They're dead because they wanted to protect you. But that doesn't matter because we found you, didn't we?" He replied harshly, and I felt like someone had punched me the stomach. Our parents were dead. We would never see them again, never to hear them talk to us again, never to go shopping with us ever again. Because they were dead. By the people that were standing in front of me.

"It does matter. Because now we have something to fight for." I snarled, my fear replaced by anger. Jim nodded determinedly too.

The leader raised a eyebrow. "Do you really think that you could beat us? Two kids beat us, Team A?" He asked.

Jim and I nodded. We were determined to avenge our parent's death.

The leader laughed a cold and eerie laugh. "I like you spirit. Bring it on!" He replied, and everyone started walking towards us.

I started to back away in fear, but then remembered how much times I had done the exact same thing in my life, too scared to take a stand, and I faced the leader, my eyes flashing with anger. Beside me, Jim was already fighting with a guy.

"You're too scared, aren't you Holly?" The leader taunted me.

I narrowed my eyes, and punched the leader's face. He was taken by surprise, and staggered back a bit.

"Well, you really want to fight? Then bring it!" The leader snarled, no longer friendly.

He rushed towards me, and charged. I side-stepped, but he was expecting that, and his left hand swung out to meet my chest. I stumbled back, and just managed to duck at one of another guy's punches. The leader swung his foot out, locking onto my right foot. I gripped his arm, and tried to twist it as hard as I could. He swatted my hands away, and tripped me, sending my sprawling to the ground. He kicked my leg, and I got up shakily. He laughed.

"Like mother, like daughter eh? Your mother put up a good fight too. Before we killed her." The leader laughed. I stiffened with anger, and was determined to beat that guy up. I kicked his leg rather weakly, and he batted it away with ease. As he was laughing away, I suddenly decided to do something rather outrageous, but hey, I was desperate. I braced myself, and kicked the leader in the a**. He stumbled backwards in shock, and Jim fortunately was there to kick the leaders back. He staggered, but straightened himself out, glaring at us.

"Our master underestimated you still. But we will come after you again. You can count on that." The leader spat out, and all of them suddenly disappeared as fast as they had appeared. I blinked, and looked at Jim, who was still standing there in shock. He finally looked at me, and drew in a shaky breath.

"Holly.....what have we got ourselves into?" He asked breathlessly, and I wasn't able to reply.

Because I didn't know either.

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The pic on the side is Leighton!