Our fire was still alight when we had returned, and our kills hung ominously from the wire, having de-bowelled them all. Cyrus and I crowded the fire until our hair was dry, and I was warm to the core.
We then made our way to the tent where we shared a large sleeping bag to keep each other warm.
By the time we had fallen asleep, I assumed it was almost morning time, because when we woke up, the sun was beginning to set.
“Holy crap.” I said, in awe. “I can’t believe we slept the whole day away.”
“It must have been the hike up here and then hunting for the day.” Cyrus supplied.
“Must be.” I replied.
We mutually agreed that we were going to go back to the cottage even though night was approaching with haste. We gathered our game, our tent, our packs, and our blankets.
The trip took longer on the way back then it did on the way there, since we had the burden of several dead animals in addition to our usual luggage.
I had become extremely familiar with the woods within a mile radius of the cottage in my time there, so I knew when we were close to home when I saw my rock. It was the same rock I went to when I needed to draw, or write, or even just think.
I would probably be there the following day to think about Axel’s proposition, matter of fact.
“Hey, Aspen. It’s snowing.” Cyrus noted.
I looked to the sky to see dainty white specks floating slowly to the ground, and falling into Cyrus’s hair.
“The first snow isn’t supposed to be for a few weeks, though.” I replied.
“I know, that’s why I was surprised.” he said.
Something about the snow seemed suspicious. I stuck my tongue out to catch a flake on my tongue, but when one finally landed there, it was warm, and tasted burnt.
Then, as I inspected closer, I noticed that the so-called snowflakes were floating just above the ground in a whirlpool-like fashion.
That was when I realized, they weren’t snowflakes. They were ashes.
“Cyrus, this isn’t snow, it’s-”
“Ashes.” He said, completing my sentence.
Something about this made my stomach flip, and Cyrus was thinking along the same lines, because he dropped everything and ran the remaining distance between himself and the cottage, which wasn’t yet visible.
I tore after him, at first attempting to bring my load, but then realizing I would have to ditch my things as well. Hopefully, my instincts would be right so that we wouldn’t have to go hunting again, but at the same time hoping they were wrong so that the cottage would be okay.
Once I was close to the clearing, I saw jittering shadows casted by an orange light. The shadows of the trees were a little nerve-wracking. And then I smelled it.
A burnt, charred scent.
Something was burning.
Immediately I called out to Cyrus and burst into the clearing to see the cottage.
But the cottage was nonexistent now, now the cottage was a motley of huge, roaring flames that seemed to reach like fingers into the sky.
Tears leaked from my eyes; probably a combination of the smoke and then the realization that Aurora, Jensen, or Kian could be in there.
“Cyrus!” I shrieked, panicking for the first time in a long time.
“Cyrus!” I shouted, more wildly then the first time.”
After moments of painstaking silence, I heard him.
“Aspen!” he called. “I’m over here!”
I followed his voice and found him standing before where the door would have been. In his hands was the “Welcome Home” mat, except now it was charred.
“Where is everyone?” I asked, hoping for an answer I would not get.
Cyrus looked up from the mat and I saw tears falling down his face, snot running from his nose, and his eyes red and puffy.
“I don’t know.” he said, not wanting to believe it either.
“I don’t know.” he reiterated.
I lost it then, I began to sob. “Oh, Cyrus.”
Then, as I listened closer, I heard something else.
I thought I was hearing things at first, but then I shushed Cyrus, and he heard it too.
An engine. The sounds of a car engine, revving up, getting ready to jolt to life.
“No way.” Cyrus said, making the connection.
“No. How could they?-” I began, but then began sobbing again.
“We escaped. They can’t do this. They can’t take us again.”
I fell to my knees with grief, sorrow, and fear, wrapped into one.
“But they can, Cyrus.” I said, accepting our defeat.
HQ had found us.
HQ was coming for us.
We were going to die.
If we were lucky.
Thinking of Dream Land, I screamed at the top of my lungs, unable to think of doing that ever again.
All was quiet, as we listened to the sounds of more engines coming to life, and the shouts of soldiers, and the roaring of the flames.
“Aspen, we can beat them. We can fight.” Cyrus said, tugging at my arm.
“No we can’t.”
“I’ll go commando on them, and you can shoot, Aspen. You’re a better shot than I am. We still have a chance.”
The idea sounded pretty good at first, as much as I hated the idea of seeing Cyrus in a murderous rage again, it would work. I usually could get a headshot within 100 feet, and a fatal shot within more than that.
But then I remembered that we had left our bags, along with guns and ammo, back almost a mile away.
“We have no guns or ammo.”
Cyrus smiled, creating a bittersweet effect on his tear-stained face. “Think again.”
He whipped out a pistol and a few extra rounds of ammo. Pistols weren’t my first choice, but it was better than nothing.
“Okay.” I said, trying to be hopeful. “Let’s do it.”
I took the gun from him, and pocketed the extra ammo. I found that I also had a knife sheathed at my waist, which comforted me to know as well.
Once I was situated, I looked to Cyrus who had two knives of his own. At this point, the sound of engines was deafening, and the headlights of several HQ vehicles were blinding us. The cars lined the whole half of the clearing that we stood at, so luckily, we wouldn’t be surrounded completely.
We could use the fire to our advantage, if we stayed close to it. That way nobody could sneak up behind us, and we could throw people in if we needed to.
I felt like Cyrus as I thought such thoughts, but had no time to analyze it because men began to pour out of the trucks. This was the platoon of soldiers we had fought in the woods upon escaping times ten. The odds weren’t in our favor, even if they were inexperienced.
“Shoot to kill.” Cyrus said, as we inched our way closer to the burning cottage and pressed against each other; back to back.
“For Aurora.” I said, accepting her death.
“And Kian.” Cyrus said.
“And Jensen.” I added.
“And Jensen.” Cyrus repeated.
Then I fired the first shot at a woman wielding a bow and arrow. She dropped to the floor, dead.
I felt nothing.
Then I shot a man with a sword.
Oh god, I thought to myself What am I becoming?