Blood Rebel [COMPLETED]

Chapter Thirty Three - Run

She thought of the men in the trees, all of whom would be pointing their guns directly at Hector Stanley, waiting to get a clear shot. Anxiety gripped her heart and squeezed it, and she leant into the pain and closed her eyes.

The rain began to fall in earnest, and Selene knew it wouldn't be a mere shower. This was the breaking of months of heat; the sky was going to be ripped apart and sewn together again, full of electricity.

Just then lightning streaked across the sky, caught by the thick clouds which burst and crackled into flowers of fire for a brief moment. Selene opened her eyes just in time to see Hector stop only a few feet away from them and set down the body he carried in the long grass.

Thunder rolled across the space above their heads, ricocheting from the clouds that looked solid enough to cause sound to rebound from their rumpled surfaces. Selene felt the ground beneath her shake in time with the bursting of the sky.

"Untie the boy," shouted Harland, over the noise of the rain. Water covered him now, so furious was the rainfall. His shirt clung to his body and his balaclava was plastered to his face. His words were muffled inside the wet fabric.

"Show your face," said Hector, whose voice was loud and strong. He could have shouted with the force of thunder had he chosen to do so.

Harland ripped off the sopping balaclava and dropped it in the grass. His hair was wet and he moved it off his forehead with a wet hand.

"Let her stand," said Hector, gesturing to where Selene knelt on the ground. Harland grabbed her at the elbow and heaved her up.

"Untie the boy," said Harland.

Hector nodded and bent to the ground, where he untied first Xander's ankles, and then his wrists. He then helped Xander to his feet so they stood side by side.

Selene was surprised to see that Hector had dressed Xander in his own clothes: he wore dark trousers, a shirt and a red velvet smoking jacket. As they stood together Selene realised how similar their figures were. They looked like father and son as they stood together.

"Untie her," said Hector, and his eyes flashed with hatred as he looked at Harland.

Selene felt the cords drop from her wrists and she stretched out her arms and let them fall by her sides.

"Let them cross at the same time," shouted Harland, as another flash brightened the clearing, and thunder rumbled overhead. Hector nodded, and Selene and Xander began to walk towards one another, each step timed together.

Selene felt faint, but gritted her teeth. She knew that any second now she would hear the shots that would kill her owner. She wanted to warn him but she couldn't think how. Harland stood behind her, with his gun trained on her back; he wouldn't think twice about killing her.

With only a few more steps she and Xander would be close enough to touch each other. Her heart thrummed in her mouth and her legs struggled to move the way they ought to. Her feet got caught in her dress and the long grass, and her face was dripping with rain; it fell so fast she could barely see or hear anything. She held out her arms to steady herself and she walked.

Suddenly she heard a shot: too soon! She crouched down at the noise, and looked over at Hector. As far as she could see he still stood, but he knew something was wrong. He glanced towards the trees and in the time it took him to look up another shot had been fired.

Hector didn't need another second, and he leapt faster than a bullet, covering the ground that separated him and Harland in one perfect motion.

Selene knew then that Hector meant to kill Harland, but she didn't want to see it. She reached out and grabbed Xander, who also crouched in the grass.

"Come with me," she said, her voice hoarse as she shouted over the noise of the rain.

For a tense second he looked at her, and it felt to Selene as though some part of his soul had reached out and touched hers; their eyes melting into one another, mixing in panic and relief. He nodded and grabbed her hand.

"Run!" she screamed, and as they moved together hand in hand, away from the men, away from Hector, away from Harland, she felt freedom like she had never felt it before. She pulled up her dress with her free hand and galloped over the clearing, heading for the forest on the other side.

The moon peeked out from behind a cloud for a fraction of a second, but it was enough for Selene to tell that someone was following them, running through the thick grass. And then darkness fell again, and Selene felt Xander urging her to run faster, pulling her through the undergrowth.

Under the cover of trees they paused just long enough to catch their breaths and look at one another once more. Xander mouth moved as though he were about to speak, but Selene pressed a finger to her lips to beg silence. And in that silence they heard the sound of a man screaming, dying; and then the beating of the rain on the leaves that branched above their heads washed it away.