Naihabi Ridge

Chapter Sixteen - Escape

Oriole

"Kill me."

That's what the boy had said, before he died. I watched him draw his last breath, which brought back painful memories of the resistance before it broke down. My eyes widened with realization. All of them were summoned. Would that mean...?

I swiveled around to face the rest of the room and ran forward to the nearest body, then I stopped.

Would they want this? Would they want me to see them now? If they really were in the same state as the rest of this room, then I was sure they wouldn't. The boy's last words rang through my head again, and I took a shaky breath, turning around again, and I ran forward. The warden was shaking Avi by the shoulders.

I stopped a few feet away from them to fully assess the situation. Avi had a horrorstruck expression, and I looked at the ground. I understood perfectly what was going on. I faced the boy's body and replaced the cloth with the solemn knowledge that he wouldn't rustle it again. I hoped he would rest peacefully.

"Itoma!" The warden called.

It looked as if he had fallen unconscious. I came up next to him as she put her wrist to his forehead and cursed. "Fever."

Then she looked at me. We made eye contact, and I shook my head slowly, "You don't mean..."

Her face was grim. "This rescue mission is forfeit. Now let's try to get back out with our lives," she sighed, her face betraying a small, strained smile, "and you're the one who suggested it."

+++

The warden grunted as she downed the last soldier in the group, then she motioned for me to follow. I shifted uncomfortably and ran forward.

Avi was a lot heavier than he looked. Maybe it was just the deadweight, but my back was hurting and we'd only been running for a half bell. I had positioned him firmly on my back, but I still almost dropped him when I made a turn. Not to mention that whenever he breathed on my shoulder, my face heated up and it became several times harder to manage keeping his upper half on my shoulders. It was so incredibly awkward and I couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like if he were conscious.

I sighed as we came upon another group of collectors. I went up against the wall as the warden struck a third of them down at once. She was slowing and I didn't know how long it would take to get back to the exit.

She motioned me forward after a few minutes and I asked how far we were from escape.

"At this point, it would be best to try the hole we came through, meaning we're going to have to climb up through the ceiling," she glanced at Avi, then back at me, "that should be only another two hallways down, but if this crazy amount of troops continues, I can't guarantee I can take them all."

I nodded, then we were off again, the warden in front and I in close pursuit. We stayed close to the walls, and I tried running as quietly as I could manage. We ran the length of one hallway, made another turn, and started down the next hallway, and I recognized the space as we got closer to the hole. We made the turn down the last hallway, then we began down it. It was the last stretch, and I saw the light pouring in through the hole.

We stopped under it, and the warden quickly began plotting a way to get up, "Okay, so I'll go up first, then you hoist Avi up to me. From there I can pull you up, and I can carry him from there." She seemed certain, and immediately brought out the rope from her bag. It took her about a minute to get the rope to latch to the side of the hole and climb up, and she reached her hands down for Avi.

With a grunt, I laid him down on the ground to get a better position to lift him with, then my head snapped up at the sound of several people running down the hallway.

The warden must have heard this, too, because she hurriedly motioned for me to bring Avi up. I picked him up from under the arms and lifted him toward her. I was now certain the people were running toward us, because I soon heard their angered shouts and orders to each other. They sounded like military.

"Hurry!" The warden hissed as she took hold of Avi and quickly pulled him up with her.

I took a hold of the rope and started climbing as fast as I could, igniting the burning pain in my arms and legs from running and carrying Avi. I took a hold of the side of the hole, and the warden took my other hand to pull me up. She helped me get up to all fours on the roof, and I was panting. We had to get away from here.

I started to stand, "We need to—"

Then, before I knew what was happening, I was being yanked back through the hole by my ankle. A scream escaped my lips, then my head hit the side of the hole, pain erupted from the point of contact down to the point I was being dragged down by, and the air turned black.

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