Losing Time (boy x boy) [COMPLETED]

Chapter Fourteen

A/N: Here's another chapter, cookies! Enjoy!

I awake to the sounds of screaming and gunfire. I'm out the door, dressed and with my gun, in only a few minutes. I see the ministry's guards slaughtering everyone as they sleep. I shoot the one in the hallway and move into the cafeteria. It's a bloodbath and the sight sickens me.

"Jaxon!" Julia screams.

I turn around. "Julia! Where are the others? Lis, Dev?"

She shakes her head and sobs. "I don't- I don't know. Oh, god."

"We need to find them!"

"We can't!" she replies. "This place is about to come down on top of us! We have to leave!"

"We can't leave them!"

"We have to! They may have already escaped." I turn away and take off running. "Jaxon!" I ignore her. I search through the chaos. Where are they? I think. I hear a familiar voice and follow it to the owner.

"H-help. P-please."

I crouch down and touch the shoulder of my comrade. "Ethan?"

He groans. "Ja-xon?" He's covered in blood and missing a leg. I can see the shattered bone protruding from the mangled flesh. I have to swallow hard to keep the bile back.

"How...how bad is it?" I try to find a nice way to say it. "That bad...huh?"

"Yeah. Have you seen Lis or Devon? Please tell me they're ok."

"I...don't know...Jaxon. It was...so chaotic."

"It's ok, Ethan. Just rest."

"Ashlynn, I'll...finally...see you again." He gives his last breath and his body goes limp. Somberly, I closed his eyes. I can feel the rage, but I force it back. Now is not the time.

I jerk my head up as a girl, about ten years old, comes tearing down the hall. Her face and clothes are spattered in dried blood. There are a couple of guards chasing her. Quickly, I shoot them down. I see something roll out of one of their hands.

Realizing it's a grenade, I scream, "Move!" and shove the girl into the nearest doorway. I barely get the door closed before an explosion rocks the doorway.

I stare at the girl. "What's your name?"

"Annie."

"I'm Jaxon." I smile at her. "Are you injured?"

She glance at her bloody shirt and tears up. "It's not mine." Some of the roof crumbles and falls next to me.

"We have to get out of here." I hold out a hand. "Come on, let's go." She simply stares at me so I squat down. "Look, I understand you know nothing about me and don't trust me. But if we don't leave, we'll die. If you come with me, I promise not to let anything happen to you, ok?" She nods and takes my hand as I stand.

I don't want to leave, but I have to. Not only for save my life, but little Annie's, too. Reluctantly, I lead her out of the complex and into the forest. I glance back to see the place in ruins, some rubble still burning. And I know, under that rubble are a lot of my comrades-maybe even my love and my sister. I force the tears burning behind my eyelids back and turn away from the destruction.

~*~

There's another complex nearby, hidden in a cave. I just need to get us there. The problem is it's days away on foot and we have no food or water. The food I can get, if the animals haven't been scared away by the noise. Water is the problem as there are no streams around, not for miles anyway.

"Jas," Annie says, "I'm hungry. And thirsty."

"I know," I reply. She can't pronounce my name so she's taken to calling me 'Jas' instead.

"Is anyone else alive?"

"I'm sure there are others."

"My mom and dad?"

"Probably. We have to get to the complex and then we'll search for them, ok?"

"Ok. Are we almost there?"

"No. We're still a while away. Can you be a good girl and stay right here while I find food?" She nods enthusiastically. "Good. Don't move from this spot." Reluctantly, I leave her standing there and move silently through the forest. Flashes of memories follow me. I see myself showing Devon how to track in these very woods.

Then I see Dylan showing me the same thing. I'm only sixteen and I'm very clumsy. He simply chuckles and helps me up. Next, I see my eight-year-old self's panicked flight. There are screams and sobs at my back.

Another flash; this one of me chasing Lis through the same forest. In front of my eyes, I see a tree with a skull shape in it. In the memory, my child self streaks by the same tree.

Suddenly, the memories stop. I stare at the skull tree, realization dawning. We'd lived near here as children. If we'd lived here and our parents were killed by the ministry, does that mean our parents were members of Arrow?

I shake the thought away. This new knowledge is not needed right now. I need to survive first, then find out if it's true. If it IS true, what would change? They'd still be dead and I'd still be a member. Who knows what would be different if they hadn't been part of Arrow. Maybe they'd still be alive, maybe not.

Rustling draws me out of my reverie. I look up to see a group of deer eating grass in a clearing. I draw my pistol, silenced. Our weapons are always equipped with silencers. I aim for the eye of the largest buck. One shot, right into the brain and it'd be dead.

I pull the trigger. The deer drops and the rest scatter. Quickly, I drag the body into a crevice and pile leaves and wood on it. It would be safe until I return with Annie. When I return to her, I find her laying down staring up at the sky that peeks out between the trees.

"I've got some food. Come on." She follows me back to my kill. "Stack wood up over there, would you?" She complies. "You know how to start a fire?"

She nods, smiling. "Daddy taught me." She begins arranging the branches. Meanwhile, I skin the deer. I take off my jacket and begin cutting the meat off, placing the scraps in my jacket.

I turn around to see a fire blazing and Annie smiling proudly. "Good job."

"Thanks!"

"Now, let's eat some food, shall we?"