Chapter 18
Timothy’s POV
We dodge a small group of men, as we roll off the crumbling road, into the woods. My body still feels numb from the loss of everything I was fighting for. I don’t know what I’m going to do now that he’s dead, but I have to do something. Seth gently pulls me farther and farther away from the men, hunting for us. I wish there was some way that we could go back and recover the body of the man I love. I think back to those last moments, before he died.
Those last few moments, when he told me he loved me, and then he began to choke. The image is still fresh in my mind, so I suppress them, as we trundle deeper into the woods, while veering in the direction of our ship at the same time. Everything still seems weird, like the colors around me are off. Everything is a little darker, and nothing seems alive. I knew that people would die in this war, but I never stopped to think about what I would do, when the time came to let go of someone.
I remember the incapacitating pain I felt, when Alex was lying limp, and dead in my arms. I long for that pain right now because the pain I’m feeling at this moment is deeper in my soul, and far more powerful than anything I’ve ever experienced before. I’m still thinking about everything that just happened, when ten men come into view. They’re waiting for us, and their guns are ready. Seth pushes me to the ground, just as the shots ring loud and clear.
The shock of the gunshots, cut right through my train of thought, and I feel my limbs reacting out of instinct. I ready my bow, and dart behind a tree, preparing to take the men down. I know that my insides are collapsing, and there’s an internal war waging inside me, for my sanity, but right now my pain, and anger for Sean’s death is feeding me to fight. I aim right at the men, and shoot on of the oddly colored arrows, I grabbed from the armory. I watch dejectedly, as the arrow soars the distance and pierces the man in the heart.
What comes next, is what truly surprises me. There’s a muffled beeping sound, before everything goes red. I’m thrown off my feet, from the force of the explosion, and I hear a tree heavily cascading to the ground. I must’ve grabbed explosive arrows, without realizing, I look up, and see that all the men are dead, their bodies smoldering, from the explosion. I hurry to my feet, and look for Seth. My eyes instantly find him, ducked behind a tree. He’s unharmed luckily.
He runs over to me, and we begin to walk, but with my first step, I can tell that I’m injured.
“Go on, and warn them, I’m just slowing you down” I say, but Seth just frowns, before lifting me off the ground.
“You’re not giving up that easily Timothy, now come on” he growls under his breath. We slowly limp across the demolished forest floor, my leg is burnt, and probably sprained. We’re almost out of the woods, when I hear something else.
Another group of scouting soldiers, is just beyond the line of trees, but this time it’s a bigger group. There’s no way, we’d be able to fight twenty men. I know Seth could make it safely to the ship, if he would just leave me behind. In that moment, I make a decision to save Seth, instead of letting someone else die on my watch. I roll out of his arms, and leap off the edge of the bluff before us. I prepare myself for the impact, but it doesn’t make the pain any less, when I land on a pile of slippery rocks twenty feet down.
“Go, I’ll be fine down here. I’ll get there on my own. Seth go NOW” I hiss, before he disappears from the edge of the bluff’s edge. I groan in pain, as I roll off the pile of rocks, and into the cool water. I wade into the deeper water, and begin to swim slowly down the middle of the small river. When the spot, where our craft is come into view, I hear the pepper of bullets hit the water behind me. I have absolutely no cover, and I’m swimming. Hurrying to the edge of the river, I roll onto the bank.
I hurriedly limp to the other side of the trees, and dart behind one just in time. Bullets fly past me, but I’m safe for now. I wait for the shots to cease, before taking off at a run, for a deeper layer of the forest. Half way there, my arm erupts with agony, as a bullet collides. I have been shot twice today. I fall to the ground, from the impact, and soon the soldiers are upon us.
“Get the hell up” a voice commands, and I’m forced in a kneeling position.
Just then, the man in front of me gasps, as the end of a sword protrudes from his stomach. He falls to the ground, and I meet Wesley’s gaze. He looks around for Seth and Sean, but then his attention is taken by the other men. He quickly kills four of them, but there are still fifteen for him to fight, so I decide to help him. I quickly snatch the dead man’s gun from his limp grasp, and pull the trigger. Within seconds the men are all dead, and Wesley is scooping me into his arms.
He quickly sprints across the open stretch of field, and hurriedly opens the invisible door, before we’re both inside. I look around, but my vision is growing blurry. I feel woozy. That’s when I realize that I must be in pretty bad shape. As Wesley carries me to the medical room, I tightly clutch the necklace that Sean gave to me. When Wesley lays me on the bed, and begins to search for a shot of some sort, my consciousness is finally gone, and I slip into a wonderfully comfortable sleep.
