The Carnelian Islands

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I raise my hatchet, tightly gripped in my right hand and Firecracker raises his bat.

„Ticking.“ He exclaims, just like I missed it, but I heard it from the first sound it made. „Ticking.“ I agree.

The ticktocking becomes more and more louder and Firceracker sighs. „One of us has to die. You know what happens when we both live.“

I nodded. The ticking would become louder and louder, just to us two, until it bursts our eardrumms, leaving us both deaf and very open to any attacks. The ticking would subside, if one of us kills someone, but knowing how loud and how quickly the noise can get, one of us has to act fast.

„I trust you...“ the boy in front of me whispers and lowers his bat.

„But not enough.“ I end his sentence, as he raises the bat to his head level and comes running at me.

I block the metal moving towards my ribcage with the head of the hatchet and start swinging it around. Firecracker screams and tries to hit me in my head, but I duck, run to the other side of the supplies and aim the hatchet at his head. He is defencless,  bat is still in his hand, but if I send the blade through air, he will be dead before he can even react.

I move my hand behind my head and with a growl I lunge it over my head, so it goes flying straight at his head.

„Duck!“ I shout and the poor boy, hoping to escape death does that.

The ticking stopps.

BANG!

Blondie falls to the ground, hatchet deep in her chest, the dagger still raised in her hand. She was six feet from Firecracker, obviously trying to assasinate the weakest member of team Gamma.

I walk to the girl, pull the blade out of her hand, hide it into my pocket, after wrapping some of the cloth I cut from her shirt around the sharp edges and turn to Firecracker.

„Go. We have more surviving odds alone.“ I tell him, knowing it’s a lie.

„You just proved to protect me, I owe you my life.“ He says with ashtonisment and I shurg. „Let’s get away from here before Christian comes. I do not want to mess with him.“

Firecracker agrees with me and we run towards the woods, as fast as we can, not stopping until we hear another bang about five minutes later. We are securely hidden up in the trees and Cracker suggests we look into our backpacks.

He opens his first, grinning like a fool.

„Candy!“ He shows me a packet of blue, green, purple, pink and yellow pills and I stop him.

„Are you sure? We should try one of them.“

Firecracker laughs and brushes one hand through his fire truck coloured hair. „Girl, it says ’candy’ on it. Just trust me for once.“

I shrug and he pulls out a hunting knife and flicks his wrist, so the blade cuts through the air. He almost contacts my skin and I frown.

„Keep it off me.“ I growl and he throws his hands in the air in defeat. „Sorry, sorry.“

Then he pulls out a mirror and I laugh. „Wow, you really needed that.“ I raise my hand and mess up his hair even more, and he fakes a sniffle, looking at the reflection. „I look horrible! My life is over!“

I open my own backpack smirking, hoping to find something usefull there, but as soon as my fingers enter the insides, I feel cold metal surface coming in touch with my skin.

„What on earth?“ I mumble, pulling out a copper plate, carved and beaten into an exact image of a smaller chest. It also has some strings attached to the holes in it’s sides, which are made for what? I raise it to my chest and see, the fitting is almost perfect.

„I can’t belive, you got an armor plate! They are rare!“ Firecracker teaches me and I raise an eyebrow. „How rare?“

My companion shrugs. „I think the last time one of these beauties was seen about... Four years ago. So very rare.“

As I inspect the plate, Firecracker pulls out a black blanket from his bag and he smiles. „Cool, I won’t be cold in the night.“

„I won’t be stabbed.“ I smirk, strip from my jacket and shirt, to which he closes his eyes and I tap his hand gently. „Could you please tie the ends together?“

His cool fingers caress my back, but he ties some knots quickly and effectievly. „There ya go, now pull some clothes on, before they think we are going to make love in the first damn day.“ Firecracker whispers into my ear and helps me put on the shirt and my jacket.

„It’s uncomfortable.“ I whine and he laughs. „Better feel bad then...“

„Dead.“ I finish and he nodds. „Exacly.“

He fishes into his backpack once again, just to find a canister of water, a small container, to eat or to store food in, package of protein bars, the label says, there are 10 of them in there. Last, but not least, he has a small package to make blueberry panncakes.

„Well, I can survive for a while.“ He smirks and I open my storage.

„Water, okay.“ I say, as I see two bottles. I see similar metal can, as my friend had and it is half filled with scrabled eggs with beef.

„Eew, eggs!“ I push the container into Firecrackers hands and try to smile. „Trade you few protein bars and some of the mix for it.“

He laughs, but accepts the trade.

We pack our things together again and he climbs down the tree, making sure nobody is around us.

I am ready to follow his steps, when he stopps and raises his bat. There is no ticking, but he still tells me something important. „She has a bow and arrows. Thank god she hasn’t seen us yet.“

I do nothing, stay put and hope that the ticking sound won’t come on.

Suprisingly, it doesn’t.

Instead the little girl turns over, her black hair twirling in the air and smiles to us. „Hey, I’m Blessie, let’s team up!“