Blood and Bone | 1

5 | 2

      I turned to glance to my right, where Jake was seated across the aisle. Jaxon was talking animatedly to him and he seemed to have his attention focused on the blonde boy.

      "True, he does seem to only work for himself," I agreed with Finn. "But Jake did help rescue you from Hundsen. He singlehandedly took on Hundsen's men as I unloaded you six from their trucks."

      Finn gave Jake a worried glance. "Be that as it may, he's still not trustworthy. He's a different kind of dangerous; not the kind that openly shows off its power in great displays, but the kind that lurks in the darkness and strategically destroys what's stopping it from getting what it wants."

      "You don't think I'm like that?" I asked in a low voice, curious to hear his response.

      "Oh, I think that you're dangerous," he assured me. "But I think you still have your morals. I think you have limits to what you'd do in order to get what you want."

      I heard my mother's faint screams echo in my ears. I thought of a blazing fire, quickly turning everything I hated to ash, and didn't know if I agreed with Finn anymore.

      I opened my mouth to respond, but I was cut off by a large booming sound up ahead. Suddenly, the train creaked and groaned as it tipped over, car by car falling off the tracks. Screams erupted from the frightened passengers as the train flipped over.

      When the train stopped moving, I pushed myself up from the floor, dizzy from the sudden jerking movement. "What was that?" Finn asked in disbelief as he got to his feet. He wiped away a trickle of blood oozing from a cut on his brow bone.

      "I don't know," I said in a voice so low I was almost whispering. "But I have a feeling that we're about to find out."

      Just then, another explosion rocked the already-ruined train. I grasped onto the seat in front of me to avoid stumbling into Finn as the compartment lurched. A few passengers screamed again in shock and fear.

      "What the hell is happening?" Jaxon asked no one in particular, wiping his bloody lip on his sleeve.

      Jake stood up. "Step back," he told Jaxon as he wielded a dagger-like icicle in his hand.

      Jaxon swiftly obeyed. "What are you-"

Jake cut him off by smashing the window open with the icicle in his hand. When the glass had all fallen in pieces to the floor, he climbed out the window and disappeared. I crossed the aisle and followed him outside.

Upon my first look outside, I saw nothing unusual. The train was stopped in a small valley. Steep hills on each side of us were lush with greenery. It was a beautiful place, but could easily conceal something or someone from above.

I knew I was correct when gunfire suddenly rang out in the air and bullets fell like metal rain around us. Sweeping my hand through the air, I tore up a large chunk of the concrete ground and used it to shield myself and Jake from the onslaught of bullets from our attacker's machine gun. I held it up long enough for the others to exit the train. When they had, I sent the chunk of concrete flying into the area where I estimated our attacker was. The gunshots stopped coming, so I knew I'd either met my mark or some close enough to scare them.

My eyes gazed frantically over my teammates, looking for our strongman. "Kane, we have to get the train back on the tracks."

He nodded solemnly, understanding immediately. The others covered for us as the two of us ran back to the train. With my hands seeking any groove or niche on the side of the train to lift myself up, I climbed up and over like a spider. I dropped down to the other side and my feet hit the pavement below.