Chosen

Chapter 7

I keep screaming into the thing covering my mouth, flailing my arms and legs. Something comes up on either side of me and pins me in place. Maybe legs? With a rush of adrenaline, I jerk forward and bite the thing restraining me.

"Shit," I hear a male voice hiss in the dark, but he keeps his grip on me. I bite harder. It must be his hand.

"Damn it, stop biting me! I'll let go if you promise not to scream!" The man whispers harshly.

Breathing heavily, I nod into the hand. I know my self defense, and if he lets go I can get into a better position to defend myself.

"Okay, I'm taking my hand away now. You're going to be quiet, right?" He asks urgently. I nod again.

He moves his hand away from my mouth, but keeps me pinned against him with his legs and other arm. Damn.

A flash of light nearly blinds me. After I blink the spots out of my eyes I see that it comes from a small electric lantern on the floor of the low cave we appear to be in. Speaking of we, who the hell is this guy? I wrench myself out of his grip to take a look.

Sitting there, still too close to me, is a guy that looks very familiar. He's looks older than me by a few years, with dark brown hair that's a little too long and eyes that are stormy blue-green in the low lighting. He is lean but muscled under his short-sleeve shirt, and I can tell if he were to stand up he'd be around six feet tall. He wipes his bitten hand on his pants and glowers at me.

"...West?" I inquire, hardly daring to believe it. My cheeks heat a little. West must be nearly twenty by now, just about done with his medic apprenticeship. Honestly I've always found him attractive—and I was not alone one that—but he's never really been approachable. Not that he was unfriendly, but something about him has kept people at a distance. I don't recall him ever having a romantic interest. I remember him cleaning up a cut I got a couple years ago. I think I held my breath the entire time.

"How do you know who I am? Who the hell are you?" West snaps back at me.

"Um...I'm Elia." I'm surprised he doesn't seem to know me. Everyone in the community seems to know me, whether we've met or not.

He gets a closer look and his eyes go wide. He looks a little fearful. "What are you doing back here?" West looks at me expectantly.

Do I tell him what happened today? I have no good alternative explanation. "Um—"

"You shouldn't be here," he says abruptly.

His tone makes me angry. "What the actual hell? I shouldn't be here? Nobody should be here! And don't talk down to me like that, you don't even know me!" I seethe.

"Shhh, quiet down, or we're screwed." He glances around nervously. His hand reaches out toward me then drops.

I sigh, remembering where we are. "Well, what are you doing down here?" I whisper.

West studies my face for awhile. "I can't tell you," he finally says.

I look around the small space. There's a tattered blanket, what looks like a journal, the lantern, and a cracked plate. "It looks like you come here often..." I venture to say.

His breath catches. "No I don't," he says too quickly.

"Okay," I try to calm him. I don't want to scare him off. Now that the lantern is on and we've gotten over our initial meeting, I'm curious about why here, of all places, I would run into someone like West. Or anyone for that matter. I feel very aware of our close proximity.

"You work in medicine, right?" I ask, hoping that a lighter topic will help him relax.

West grunts. "Yeah. Lead medic."