How did they find out about us? How did they know we were here? How did they get that many people together so fast?
I was starting to realize there was much more to The Organization than I'd known.
I could feel my pulse pounding through my body. I could feel it in my throat like my heart was trying to make climb out. When I couldn't wait anymore I got up and made my way back toward the bathrooms, trying to keep my eyes from looking at the people.
I leaned toward the women's bathroom but then quickly ducked inside the men's. I didn't see Jared and my heart sank.
I was jerked around quickly and I bit back a yelp. I looked up into Jared's terrified eyes. I could feel the tension rolling off him in waves. He kissed me hard and brief, all of his fear thrown into it.
"What's going on?"
"I don't know. I've never seen anything like this before. There are so many of them and I don't know why. There are probably fifteen in here, and that's just inside, there could be more outside. I have no clue what's going on."
"Are they here because of us?"
I just shook my head, disbelief coursing through me. "I have no idea, but it would be better if we just get out of here and not stop to ask them."
"Right."
I locked the door to the bathroom, making sure no one else would come in, and I set about looking around.
There was one window behind the sink. I scrambled onto the sink and reached up. I was still two inches short of reaching the ledge. I nearly slipped, but Jared caught me. He boosted me up and I unlocked the window and pushed the patterned glass up, opening it.
I used my arms to pull myself up and I slipped through the window, landing ungracefully on the dirty ground of the alley.
I glanced around, looking for any signs of The Organization's people but saw no one. I knew better than to assume that there aren't around just because I couldn't see them. I knew it was entirely possible for them to seeing me without me being able to see them. I just had to hope there really weren't any around.
A moment later I saw the top of Jared's head as he worked up and out of the window. I reached out my hand and braced myself against the brick wall. He took the offered hand and I pulled, I was fairly sure I was just providing him an anchor though.
In no time he was on the ground next to me. I looked around and heard a small sound. Nothing that would normally alert me, but I was too on edge. Jared heard it too of course, and we were on our feet and running down the alley.
I heard the voices behind us, and the footsteps on the concrete. They weren't bothering with being quiet anymore.
I heard a small pop and the chip of brick near us. They had guns. I looked back and saw a silencer on the gun of the person leading.
"Faster," I said, pushing myself. Jared was only happy to oblige. He kicked it up a notch but I knew he was holding back. He could have been gone, he was holding back because of me. I gritted my teeth at that. He was the one they'd kill on sight; they wouldn't gun me down.
"Go," I said sounding harsher than I intended.
He looked back as another bullet went into the brick wall.
"No."
"Jared, just go. They aren't aiming for me, they're aiming for you."
I positioned myself so that I was protecting most of him as we ran. There was just one place I couldn't protect; I wasn't tall enough. While they wouldn't be able to hit his body, they could still make a head shot. I closed my eyes, hoping they wouldn't take the shot.
We made a turn. A very wrong turn.
We came face to face with a short wall that cut across the alley. We had to climb it; there no use going back, we wouldn't be able to make it that way.
"We have to climb it." I looked over at Jared, his breathing still even. I fought to pull oxygen into my lungs. "You go first."
He shook his head and got ready to help me up.
"I'm not the one they're going to shoot," I said again. "You go first."
I could see the hard look in Jared's eyes and I knew he was about to argue, but we heard them coming up behind us now. It was now or never and I heard what sounded like a growl before he jumped up to grab the top. He pulled himself up and onto the top of the wall.
I pull the phone out of my pocket and tossed it up to him, the scrambled map shining bright.
"We need to get that phone as far away from them as possible. When there aren't any more around us, the map will clear. It will lead us to a safe house."
"You can lead us there," he said getting ready to toss the phone back. I held up my hand telling him I didn't want it.
"I know where it's at, I don't need it. There is arrangements set up for us."
The hunters were now in front of us. Jared was still sitting on the top of the wall and I clambered up just enough to push him onto the other side before falling back to the ground.
"Now Electra, why on earth would you do that?"
I recognized the voice and I cringed slightly. Ian. Of course out of all the people, it would be Ian.
My dad! I thought suddenly. Oh my goodness if he was there with them, if he knew about this.
My mouth went dry.
"We're after the wolf," Ian said simply.
"Why are there so many of you here?" I asked slowly.
"Because there are a few different things in mind. And we've got clean up with us.
"It's the middle of the day," I pointed out.
Ian shrugged.
"You're not going to get him."
"Oh yes we will," he said evenly. His voice was cold, so cold. "I know you're still over there, wolf. I'm going to shoot her unless you come back."
"No you won't." I said with a roll of my eyes.
"Do you really want to test me, Electra?"
With the sneer of my name and the look in his eyes, I realized that he probably would. I'd turned him down, multiple times, and it appeared that he knew there was something between Jared and me. He was disgusted that I'd refused him for a werewolf. He would do it.
I couldn't let Jared think that though. I needed him to keep running, to get away from here, so I did what I do best.
I lied.
"I know you won't, Ian. You couldn't do that, not to another human." I put in all the sincerity I could. Gone was frightened Electra. Electra Jaeger, hunter and liar extraordinaire, was home.
Ian aimed the gun and I could see where it was pointed. My right shoulder. He wasn't aiming to kill; he was aiming to wound. That was when I realize that even if I was involved with a werewolf, I was still human and they wouldn't kill me. They wouldn't have any issues with wounding me; I'd heal. They were just trying to get Jared back.
I didn't hear any movement behind me and I hoped that Jared had actually listened and he'd tried to get away, that if he was still there, he heard me and believed Ian wouldn't actually shoot me and he'd stay away.
I saw Ian take his breath, stilling himself, and I took my breath with him, preparing for the shot. The trigger pulled and my eyes squeezed closed, but I never felt it.
I didn't feel anything until a body stumbled into me. I opened my eyes and saw Jared's back leaning against me.
"No!" I shouted.
He groaned and moved, but no more bullets came at us. I quickly turned us around so he was propped against the wall with me between the hunters and him. I scanned him quickly finding the wound just under his ribs.
"I told you to get out of here," I said through clenched teeth, holding back my anger and tears.
"You also said he wasn't going to shoot you," Jared pointed out.
I heard Ian talking to the two others that were with him.
"Can you move?"
He nodded.
"Alright, go now. Together."
We both worked on hoisting ourselves over the wall. I heard another bullet hit, but I didn't look back.
Even with his injury, Jared was able to hoist himself up and out of the way faster than I was. He was up and over while I was still working on the up.
I felt a tug on my foot and looked to see Ian grabbing my leg.
"Let go," I said quiet and cold.
"Why would I do that?" Ian asked with a dark smile, tugging harder.
"For your own good," I muttered and kick back with my other foot hitting him square in the nose. He released my leg with a scream and a curse. I scrambled up higher and Jared grabbed my hand, pulling me the rest of the way.
I hit the ground hard but on my feet, a stinging shock shot through my ankles, but I paid it no attention.
"Run. Just keep running. It doesn't matter where, just go."
He did what I said, and set off running. Once again he went easy, making sure to stay back with me. I wanted to tell him to just go but I knew it would be a waste of breath.
"Left," I said, sounding rather short.
He turned and I followed after him.
"Are there any more?" His voice came out normal, completely unhindered by the running or his injury. He must have been running on adrenaline.
"Not sure. Just run."
I felt like I was about to collapse. Every muscle was tense as I ran. I looked at his back as we ran. I saw nothing on the back of his shirt, which meant the bullet was still inside. Assuming Ian actually did what he was supposed to for once in his life, it's a silver bullet. We need to get it out as soon as possible.
Wouldn't it be just our luck if Ian actually did what he was supposed to and it was against me.
I pushed him to go right. He stumbled slightly as he went, my first and only indication that he was weakening.
I pulled the back of his shirt, dragging him to a stop.
"Phone," I said bending over and breathing heavily.
He pulled it out of his pocket and handed it to me.
"I thought you knew where you were going."
"I do," I said standing. "I just want to see if we're in the clear."
I looked down at the phone screen while keeping my ears open to what was around us.
The screen fluctuated between scrambled, clear and back again. Apparently we were on the boundary. There were still hunters around but we were almost in the clear.
I used the moment to catch my breath and studied Jared. His face was getting pale and a thin sheen of sweat covered his forehead.
I start walking down the alley and we were dumped out onto a populated street. There were some stores with souvenir shops, and without looking I grabbed a coat off one of the racks. It was one with a hood and I tossed it behind me at Jared without turning his way.
The way to steal from the small shops was to make it look like you weren't interested in what they had; just keep moving.
I kept walking and grabbed a hoodie off another rack and tied it around my waist until we got far enough away.
When we were down a block, I took the hoodie from around my waist and pulled it over my head. I turned back, seeing Jared had already put the coat on to hide the wound, and he has the hood pulled over his head. Good.
I hid under my hood and kept walking. We got a few more blocks until I stopped under a bus shelter, mingling in with the people. I looked at the list and found one bus that would take us in the direction we needed. It wouldn't get us too far, but we could figure out what to do once we had to get off.
It seemed like a stroke of luck when the next bus that pulled up was the one we needed. I pulled Jared's arm without saying anything and we boarded the bus. I searched around in my pocket pulling out change for both of us and we took a seat.
"We're going for five stops," I said quietly. I spared a glance at him and he didn't look too great. I could tell he was trying to fight against the pain.
"Is it-"
"Just plain silver," he said under his breath, answering the unfinished question.
"Should you be sitting?"
"I just need to stay still."
I sat quiet for a minute, feeling the bumps as the bus went along the road.
"You should have just gone like I said," I said sharply.
"And left you to get shot?" The question was a hiss under his breath.
"For Christ's sake! He was aiming at my shoulder. It would have hurt like heck, but it would have been better than what you have. You now have a silver bullet in a very precarious spot."
I shut my mouth and stared down at my shoes, having attracted the attention of some of the passengers around us.
My phone vibrated and I picked it up.
"Thank God, where are you?" Trevor's relieved voice asked.
"On a bus. It's going the direction we need but it won't go much further."
"Where are you getting off?"
I gave Trevor the address of the stop where we'd get off. He gave me another to walk to, where he would have someone waiting for us.
I hopped that my phone hadn't been bugged or anything.
"Do you have a first aid kit?"
"What happened to you?"
"Not me," I said shortly. "Silver bullet."
"Got it."
We hung up and I looked outside at the surroundings. We still had three stops to go. I didn't say anything else to Jared until we got off the bus. I looked around and didn't see anyone that looked like they were from The Organization.
"Straight," I said, letting Jared go in front.
We got about a block when I heard the pop and felt the shock of pain in my left shoulder. I let out a scream, biting my lip to muffle it slightly and turned, seeing someone holding a gun. It was Klarke. Her steely eyes locked on me and I felt Jared with his hands on me. I could tell when he finally realized what happened, when his eyes found the wound.
It really hurt. What was surprising was that I hadn't felt much after that. The adrenaline blocked off the pain and we started running again.
I heard Klarke after us, heard her calling after me, and I saw a blacked out car up ahead, not plated. It was running from what I could tell, and I threw the door open and dove in with Jared right after me.
The car sped away and I let out a small sigh. It was all I could manage before I felt the spreading pain with the motion.
I sat, letting my left hand hang limply at my side and on the seat. I reluctantly turned so that my shoulder wouldn't touch the seat. I didn't know whom the car belonged to exactly and I really didn't want to get blood all over it.
I could feel Jared's eyes on me, I could tell he wanted to say something, but I was glad he kept quiet. I really didn't have anything to say back. We just needed to get to this place and take care of our wounds.
********
So they managed to escape, though they didn't get away without a scratch.
Remember to leave your comments below and if you liked the chapter then please give it your vote! Thanks! :)
~Red