Is This the End?

Chapter Thirteen

Nate

The wind blows through my locs and sends a shiver up my spine. I grip onto Vanesa's arm with one hand, and the other is scraping against the side of the cliff we had dived off of. My who body jerks as finally we get lucky, and I catch onto a chunk that's stable enough to hold both of us. My breath comes out in little huffs, and my body trembles. Oh, Goddess, that was close. I lean my forehead against the rocks, and after a second look down.

Vanessa's eyes are blown wide and keep fidgeting from where we fell to my face. She goes to open her mouth before I see a beam of light coming from up above. I flatten as to the side of the cliff as much as I can. I swing Vanessa against it and hope that I didn't bang her up too much.

"You see anything?" It's the man, Marcus, from earlier.

"Negative, sir."

"Dammit, the Commander's going to have our asses. All right, everyone pull out in five."

"Copy, sir." The answer echoes from up above.

"So which one do you think did that to Wasp?" The footsteps are further, and I can still clearly make out what they're saying.

"Had to have been the shapeshifter. We checked the girl for weapons. Not our fault if Wasp made the rookie mistake of not checking."

"Right. Besides y'all forgetting one fact." This one sounds like Sloth.

"What's that?"

"He was a Shapeshifter."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's that dumb thinking that got Wasp killed." Marcus joins back in, and I can hear his footsteps as they come closer to the edge. "Weres can have superior strength in their human forms. Some do, and some don't at least it appears that way. He could have done that with a knife, but for all, we know he struck his hand through him."

"Are you serious? They don't tell us that in training."

"There's a lot they don't tell you in training. Alright, let's get going. Rather not lose another man tonight. Jeez, can already see all the damn paperwork I'm going to have to fill out."

"Grab Wasp's body, Sir?"

"No, leave him for the Ghouls. At least it'll distract any from coming after us." I hear his heart skip a beat at the slight lie he just told his men. So dear Marcus knows more than he's saying.

"Ouch never pictured that Wasp would become Bobby chow."

"Rat, please, if you must make fun of the dead, at least use the proper term."

"Sorry, Sir." They all trudge away, and I hear several engines roar to life. I wait for a long while before I dare to move. Gently I bring up my arm that Vanessa limply hangs from the end of, and bring her to my back. She doesn't grip my shoulder, and I have to shake her to get her to respond.

"Nessa come on; I would rather not stay here all night." I heave a sigh as she tightens her hold on my neck. I reach up to my now free hand and try to find a way to grasp at the wall. None of it's smooth, but everything is either too hard or unstable to continue up. In frustration, I slam my finger into the wall and groan once they go through a little bit.

I lean against the wall, but soon enough, start the slow destination upward. Over and over again, I burrel my fingertips through the hardened rock and dirt. Pausing, I pull my hand away and grimace at the slippery blackened blood that stains the wall. Great, we're off to a beautiful start. We're near to the top, and I take a slight break to catch my break.