Chapter 18: Ground Troops
(Author's Note: Picture of Jax's Jet above. Please let me know if the picture isn't visible.)
Britt's POV:
My head pounds and my eyes throb in my head. My lungs burn and my arms and legs feel like I just got through with lifting weights.
I'm laying on a mattress, I can feel that. My eyes open to an unfamiliar and dark candle lit room. It's large, about the size of an average classroom, no windows, but it has old unpolished wooden floors and log walls; must be a cabin. The smell of moisture invades my nose as I turn my head to look around.
Everyone is in here, leaning against the walls, asleep.
I can't exactly think straight, I'm having a hard time comprehending my thoughts.
The mattress is the only piece of furniture in the room. The right side of it is pressed against the wall, and the left side, the side I'm facing, has pieces of cloth laying on the ground beside it. On the cloths is a dried up black substance. I'd bet anything that's my blood.
I look down and see that all I have on is a T-shirt and underwear, a blanket covering my lower body. The room is dead silent, so I hear every motion I make to move the blanket, revealing about three small sutures in me. Two on my right leg, and one on my left. My skin is sickly pale.
I lay my head back down and let out a sigh.. Keith!
I quickly look up and see him asleep right beside my bed, leaning against the wall. Talon is at the end of my feet with Ashton beside him.
I lay back down and try to stay awake, but my body thinks otherwise.
-----
I jump awake when something hits the floor. I quickly sit up and grip the wall; my body definitely feels better.
"Sorry.." Zoey whispers, picking the fortunately unloaded gun back up.
Everyones eyes fall on me.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" Keith asks with his normal emotionless voice, but his eyes say different. He crouches beside me and I sit up correctly, keeping myself covered with the blanket, leaning against the wall. The front door is open, letting in a bright, welcoming beam of light and fresh air.
"I'm fine." I reply, my voice a little deeper than normal.
I cringe and wipe my mouth when a foul taste invades my senses.
"We got most of the blood off of your face, but we didn't want to choke you trying to rinse it out of your mouth." Talon informs me. I didn't pick up the taste when I woke in the night, but I'm not surprised, I did good to comprehend I was alive.
I can feel my face twist up; it tastes like bitter, thick slime.
"Ugh.." I cringe and snatch the canteen from Keith's hands, quickly standing and jogging out of the open door. I drain the water into my mouth and rinse it around, spitting it out, leaving a grey colored water on the cement layered ground.
I repeat the action three or four times, and it seems to do the trick, even though a dull remanent of the taste is still in the very back of my throat.
The cool breeze hits my sweat coated skin and I breath a sigh of relief. Wait..
I look around and see the ground is soaked, the concrete is a brownish color because of the damp environment. The mountains are now just a hunk of brown rock and the trees are green. No snow in sight.
Everyone comes outside, so I ask, "What happened to the snow?"
"It melted." Ashton replies.
"Overnight?" I ask.
"In three hours." He corrects. How does all of that just melt in three hours?
I glance to the left and see that there is a long stretch of concrete, an airstrip. To the far right is an aircraft of some sort. It looks like a mini jet. "That," Jax says proudly, "Is a Gulf Stream G200 Super Mid-Size Jet."
"It's not very big." I comment.
"Didn't you hear the word mid-size? It only carries twelve passengers. The exact size we need. It will get us to the U.K. within eight hours. What do you think?" He asks.
"I think you must have been loaded." I reply.
"I was relatively.. wealthy. But that doesn't matter. Everyone clean up because we're leaving in three hours." He commands and heads over to the jet. Its lost a bit of luster, but other than that, in perfect condition.
I feel a stinging sensation on the inside of my mouth so I rub the sides with my tongue, only to make it worse. My teeth must have slit my mouth up on the inside when I shifted.
I put my finger in my mouth and rub the probably red and irritated skin. I hear Ashton mumble something under his breath so out of instinct of not hearing what he said, I ask, "What?"
"I said," He growls, "We shouldn't leave."
I let out a sigh and reply, "We've already had this conversation, Ashton, so not right now, please."
"We never finished it." He throws back.
I don't know why.. I don't know how.. but out of no where my temper just snaps.
"Then I'll f***ing finish it." I fast walk towards him, but Keith grabs me and say's, "Calm down, calm down."
Even though there's nothing in my mouth, the taste of blood touches my tongue and the familiar craving comes back.
"Stop, Britt. Now." Keith demands so I stop pushing against him and step back.
He tries to reach out to me and I snap, "Don't! Don't put your hands on me!"
Blood. Flesh. Kill. Maul. Eat.
The thought comes to mind, but it's not near as strong as it was last time.
I take a deep breath and open my eyes, staring Ashton in the eyes, "You either come with us," My voice trembles as I try to control my pulsing heart rate, "Or you stay here."
I stomp off towards the cabin, not wanting to be around Ashton.
"Britt-" Ashton calls, but I want to part of it, "Screw off, Ashton!" After grabbing my jeans and carefully slipping them on over my stitches I head towards Jax.
"What's wrong with y'all?" Jax asks as he yanks the tarp off of one of the turbines.
"He's my brother, that's what's wrong. Where's Ally?" I ask, changing the subject as I tap my foot rather roughly.
"She left with Hades, she was kinda traumatized." He replies casually.
"Oh, right, Hades." I mumble in return.
I lean against the Jet and let out a sigh, "What are we going to do once we get there?"
He stalls, "Let's just.. cross that line when we get there, yeah?"
I grow silent when an odd sound reaches my ears, "Do you hear that?" I whisper cautiously.
"Hear what?" He asks, freezing in place, "Everyone quiet!" He commands so I can hear, catching everyone's attention.
It sounds like something hitting air; and it sounds relative to a car accelerating.. "A plane?"
I jog backwards to see over the trees, "Oh God," I whisper when I see what's coming over the mountains, "They're Air Force Fighter Jets!"
"They came from the East, s***." Jax growls as he abandones his tarp.
"In the cabin!" Ashton yells.
"It doesn't matter! They have thermals, they're Military!" Jax yells.
"So what do we do?" I ask.
Jax watches the three aircrafts carefully. As they get closer, they start to veer to the left.
"I don't think they're looking for the Slaters, if that's what you're asking. I don't know where they're going, but we can't take off with them in our airspace. They'd shoot us down in ten seconds flat the second they detected us." He explains.
"What are they doing?" Keith asks.
"Talon! You used to work with them, do you know?" Zoey asks.
He eyes the plane and his eyebrows furrow. I look back at them just in time to see each plane drop a large crate, each one parachuting to the ground.
"They're dropping supplies.. But it's not for us. We need to leave, now." He say's concerningly.
"Why?" I demand.
"We had this mission planned out years ago, I was supposed to be in one of those Jets. They're dropping ammunition and supplies to the Ground Troops." He explains, pulling his bow from his back.
"Why are they here?!" I ask.
"I don't know! That wasn't my part to know, I was just meant to fly in. They were very secretive about it." He growls.
The Jets make a sharp turn and head back to the same mountain pass that they came from. Jax quickly grabs a rifle and steps up into the jet, setting it down inside, "Now, everyone in, we're getting out of here before they get to us, that drop wasn't far."
Talon tosses me the second rifle and we get ready to leave. I look over at Ashton and see him staring into the trees.
I grow rigid and I stare at him, "You know I wasn't being serious about that, right? You're not seriously thinking about staying?"
His gaze shifts to me and his eyes grow serious.
"You're kidding me.." I scoff.
That's when I feel it. Ashton gives me an answer, but I don't hear it. I feel someone else's presence.
"Shh." I tell him.
He speaks again and I snap, "Shut up! Listen!"
"The radar say's it's a few klicks up here." Someone announces. They're a good one hundered yards away.
"The Soldiers, they're coming." I whisper.
"Wait, we've got movement, about eighty yards up." The same one announces.
"It's probably just another animal." A second one say's.
"No, multiple heat signatures." A third one confirms.
For goodness sake! I just want to get to the U.K.! Is that too much to ask?!