The Impossible War

Chapter 7

My group and jumped behind a pile of broken wood and waste from previous battles. We didn't have much to work with. We only carried slingshots on the typical days. No one was prepared for this, no one has ever tried anything like this. "Let's get the hell out of here!" yelled Armor on my right. "Come on! We move on three!" "One!...Two!...Three!"

We ran deeper into our territory towards a nearby tree. My calf shot a sharp pain all the way through my body but I tried to hide my wincing from the group. I looked at my friends, "What the fuck is going on?" "Another battle, obviously." Hero said in attempt to lighten the mood. I face palmed and then punched him in the shoulder while laughing, "Nah, I thought it was a party." The rest of us laughed. As the battle raged on behind us we just looked at each other. Finally I spoke up, "Okay, we need to get out of here. Without any weapons we'll be killed." "Agreed but we need to be smart about it." came Armor. "Yeah, we should try to get back to camp and assemble an organized unit to fight back." Hero chipped in.

We looked at each other and for the first time in three years, we had no set plan and we were afraid to die. "Does anyone have any idea on how to get back to camp while still in tact?" Raine said while looking between the three of us. We all just stared blankly. "Okay then...this is just great." She said sarcastically. I thought for a moment, "Help me get up this tree." "What?" Jewel questioned. "Just hurry up and help me." They looked at each other, shrugged and helped me up. Once I was in the tree I continued to climb. I looked around at a horrifying sight. Bloody bodies from both sides were everywhere and more were dropping. On our side of the field, there was a pile of rocks we could probably make it too if we ran. I thought to myself, I'm gonna just slow them down right now but I know I can't get them to leave me behind even if their lives depended on it.

Slowly I climbed down doing my best to be careful. I was almost to the bottom when my calf caught on a branch and reopened the wound. I could feel the warm blood rolling down my leg. Holding back a cry of pain I jumped to the ground. That was a mistake because that only made the pain worse but I didn't say anything. I sat there and looked up at Armor. "There's a pile of rocks we can go to so we can get further from this. Armor, you and Hero should lead the way, Raine and Jewel can follow. I'll bring up the rear." "Will do. Hero, we move on three." The boys looked at each other. "One." Armor said. "Two." Hero responded. "Three!" They said together. With that the boys ran.

I looked at the girls. "Ekon, why aren't you coming with us?" Raine asked. "Because...I'm trying to keep us from getting noticed." I lied. Jewel looked me in the eyes. "No, you're lying," she turned to Raine, "I bet you her wound is reopened which is why she hasn't gotten up yet. I mean, I don't think the pant leg was originally that dark." Raine looked down at my leg, "Ekon, lift you pant leg." I looked back and forth between the girls and then sighed, knowing that I wasn't going to win this. Slowly and painfully, I folded up the jeans revealing my bloody leg.

Both girls cringed at the sight of it. Raine started taking off her jacket to wrap my leg but I took off my belt. "Just use this to cut off the bleeding and we can deal with this when we get to camp." I stared at her. Raine stood there for a moment considering how she should approach the situation. "Okay, but as soon as we get to camp we're cleaning it." We locked eyes, "Fine." She knelt next to me and Jewel stood beside me as Raine strapped the belt around my leg. They helped me to my feet, throwing my arms over their shoulders. "Ready?" Raine looked over at Jewel. "Ready." Jewel responded.

The girls started dragging me along as fast as they could without falling. "Why didn't you say something before the boys left, that way they could've carried you." Raine said jokinging around. "Ah, shut up," I laughed, "I wasn't going to say anything in the first place." Simultaneously the girls smacked the back of my head. "Bad!" Raine said as her and Jewel laughed and high fived. I just shook my head, "Jeez, thanks guys, I feel the love." I said sarcastically. We all laughed.

Eventually we made it back to the boys while we somehow managed to stay in one piece. They seemed to have been in a heated discussion just before we walked up because they were both tense and heated. We didn't ask any questions in fear of another argument occuring. Suddenly the boys lost their tensions as they saw that I was being carried. Before they could say anything I answered their question, "It's just my calf, I'm okay. You know how I don't like asking for help." They looked at each other and nodded in agreement to my last statement.

We all stood there for a moment in silence until Jewel pointed out the fact that we should keep moving. Hero climbed on top of the rocks to see where we could next run too. When he came down he had a worried look on his face, "We need to move and we need to move fast. Jaunty is closing in on us. The school is just over the hill, if we run we can make it." The group looked at me, every one of them knowing that one of us was going to get caught. I stared at them, "Armor, lead them out of here. Please keep them safe." He tried to reject the idea but I cut him off before he could say anything, "No. I can handle this. Just go and don't worry about me. I got this." I stepped away from Jewel and Raine. They all looked at me wanting argue about my decision but they knew it would be pointless. With the straightest face manageable, Armor replied, "Okay."

I stood there and watched as my only friends in this whole mess took off towards safety. Assured that they were going to be okay, I ran as fast as my leg would let me in the other direction making as much noise as possible to get Jaunty's attention. I watched as I got their attention and they started to follow. I heard a gunshot but didn't turn around to see where it came from. The last thing I remember was pulling a dart out of the back of my neck.