Elysia: Ignite [Elysia Trilogy Book 1] (EDITING) ✔

CH11: The Deal

Erik

"We have no chance," the doctor grimly stated. "Against raiders and your armed tail, no." Enraged, he pounded his fist on the ground once, making all of us jump. "You never told us about this. Not one word. When we all agreed to blindly follow you."

"Hey," Josiah interrupted. "This argument is irrelevant right now. We need to cooperate."

"Cooperate? Do you really think cooperation will get us out of this nonsense, Nolett?" Mikhailov was far more exasperated than necessary.

"I mean we shouldn't tear each other apart when there's our common enemy prowling outside," Josiah explained.

"No! That's Miss Garcia's enemy, not ours!"

"You don't know the history behind--" Josiah closed his eyes and lowered the volume of his voice. "Never mind."

"Illya, stop it," Nikole added. She softly whimpered under her uncle's weight. She was suffering from an incurable disability, after all. Mikhailov moved his arm from his niece's back and clenched his fist.

I looked at Jessica, who was speechlessly absorbing in the fury directed at her. She slowly pulled out her gun from the hidden holster in her jacket and loaded the empty slots with bullets, lips pursed to form a decisive thin line. There was a complex maelstrom raging in her eyes; now I wasn't a great observer, but it didn't take much talent to catch the guilt, vexation, and slight terror melded in her blanch complexion. Jessica met my eyes for a fraction of a second. I sighed. I knew what was coming.

"You all stay in here," she voiced in an authoritative tone. "Yeah, it's my fucking fault, so let me right this." She rose to her feet and straightened the jacket. I got on my knees and gazed up at her.

"They'll kill you," I said.

"There's no other choice," she snapped back. "And I won't die."

"Fucking right," Soeun sniffled miserably and dug his face in his boyfriend's shoulder. "We're all going to die."

"No one's dying, babe," Josiah hushed him.

The shrill cry of a woman boomed from outside, cutting off our conversation.

"And we want that son of a bitch who shot our Fritty!"

With widened eyes, I glanced at Jessica, tilting my head. "Do you suppose that means..."

"...Yeah, I think it's you," she admitted.

"Okay great."

I, also, scrambled to my feet, disregarding Josiah's quizzical stare that seared my face. He grabbed me by the ankle and tugged at it once.

"What are you doing, Erik?"

"They clearly hold a grudge against me," I muttered. "Let me go, Josiah. Maybe...maybe Jessica and I can pull this off." I shook his hand off my leg and headed for the door.

"Splendid. The very two people we need to get to the promised land," the doctor remarked to himself for everyone to hear.

"Not helping!" So his niece admonished him.

"Look, I'm sorry for not informing either of you--," Jessica pointed at Doctor Mikhailov and Nikole, "beforehand. But...give me-us, a shot. Pray that we get back on this trailer."

"You don't need more arms?" Josiah asked.

"It won't even matter," she said.

"...Best of luck, Sica." The man gave a short nod, renouncing his attempt to stop her from confronting our vengeful foes with hardly any means of defending herself. Soeun murmured something under his breath, something containing the word 'Erik' so I could infer that it was perhaps a word of encouragement from him. From Soeun Jeong. That was something.