Our Sanctuary

Chapter 11

Our boots crunched loudly against the gravel as we raced towards the truck where Ashley was waiting for us. Her eyes immediately widened and her hand went straight to the pistol at her side until she realized that there were no Feymon chasing after us. She relaxed slightly, but worry showed across her face as we passed her to get into the back of the truck and she saw the fearful look in all of our eyes.

"We need to get back to the compound now," Ezekiel said to Ashley as he jogged by her. "They have it."

The colour drained from her face and she nodded once sharply before climbing into the truck. We all hoisted ourselves into the back and sat at our seats in which we were in when we were driving here. I felt the rumble of the engine turning on and then the momentum of the truck going forward which jerked me sharply to the right. After straightening back up I looked at Xian and Ezekiel, both of whom looked really sick.

Ezekiel's forehead was still covered in sweat, and the colour never returned to either of their faces. Ezekiel leaned forward, rested his head in his hands and I looked away.

I myself felt sick as well.

What if they had attacked the compound? What if Zack was gone? His flesh ripped, torn, pulled from his bones – exactly like what happened to Ace.

I closed my eyes, –in hopes of shaking the fear away from me– but whatever I did, the feeling of worry continued to prick at my insides uncomfortably.

* * *

As we rounded the corner onto which the compound was located, the temperature seemed to drop substantially, along with my heart. I could tell they were here. There was no doubt about it.

The truck suddenly came to a halt and I bumped into Willow. I mumbled a quick apology and then looked up at the two boys across from us as the engine turned off. Ezekiel's head immediately snapped up and his eyebrows furrowed as he looked toward the front of the truck.

Xian did the same before looking at Ezekiel. "Why did we stop outside the compound?"

Ezekiel's face remained the same as he shrugged and stood up, picking up his weapon in the process. He then nodded at the three of us who were sitting on the left side of the truck to indicate that we were going to follow him.

We each nodded our heads, stood up, and did as he gestured, staying close behind him as we hopped out of the truck.

It was darker outside than it had been before. The sun was now hiding behind the thick grey clouds that loomed over us, which overall didn't help with the chill that the Feymon had brought.

I noticed that the truck had stopped just before the edge of the forest, so we were protected by a coverage of trees to where the compound was. Hopefully the Feymon hadn't seen or heard us coming.

Ezekiel walked a little to the right of the narrow road and we followed so we were in better cover. Once we had come to a stop, I decided to take a few steps closer to the compound and have a look through a few of the trees, up at the tall building.

Like with Ace's place, there were broken windows everywhere and flickering lights coming in from most of the windows, but there were also many things different about the place. I could see red lights emanating from within a few of the upper levels and I could also see a few dark shapes, no... dark figures on the roof. Their faces looked to be turned away from us and they paid no attention to the truck.

Good. They must not have heard it.

Ashley got out of the truck, a large gun similar to the one in Ezekiel's hands in her own, and without bothering to close the door, she walked over to us. Xian glanced up at the top of the building and then glared at Ashley who stopped beside all of us.

"Why the fuck did you decide it was a good idea to park way out here?" Xian hissed quietly at her. "We're now going to have to get by without them noticing us."

She sighed. "The button didn't work to open the garage, and besides, it was a good thing that it didn't end up working." She looked up at the Feymon who were on the roof. "The noise would have drawn too much attention. We would have been immediately attacked."

Xian clearly didn't want to agree with Ashley, but he didn't say anything back at her, instead, he turned around and walked a few steps deeper into the forest while running a hand through his dark hair before walking back to join us.

"Okay then, so what's the plan?" he asked.

Ezekiel looked through the partially dense bunch of trees and then pointed towards the door that was located beside the garage's large entrance.

"We'll just make a run for it," he said, dropping his raised arm.

Matteo's eyes widened and his eyebrows raised. "That's the best you guys got?"

WIllow nodded along with him and frowned as she stared up at Ezekiel. "That doesn't really sound like a good plan."

Ezekiel's hands tightened around his weapon. "Well, it's the best one we've got."

"No."

I looked over at Ashley who had spoken up. Her eyes were cast down at the dirt and grass on the ground and she was chewing on her bottom lip in thought.

"I have an idea," she said, looking up. "I'll go to the other side of the building, or at least far enough that they wouldn't notice you all and then once they come after me, you all can run to the door."

Before she could even finish, Ezekiel was shaking his head.

"That's ridiculous," he said, looking at her as though she were crazy. "Absolutely not. We need you in there with us-"

Ashley held her hand up to stop him. "The longer we argue out here, the more people are getting killed in there. I am going, okay?"

Ezekiel opened his mouth again to say something else, but Ashley had already turned away from him. Her attention was now on Matteo, Willow, and I.

"I need you to go in there and try and get as many people out as you can. Lead them to the garage where you saw the large bus and get them out. You'll first probably need to open the garage door manually, but once that's done then drive away."

We nodded our heads in unison and Ashley smiled, determination in her dark eyes. She stood straighter than before while turning to face Ezekiel and Xian. She gave them each a nod before disappearing through the greenery to the right of the building.

Now, we just had to wait for her to draw them away.