Chapter Twenty Eight ~ An Explosive Battle
Days passed, turning into weeks, where nothing had happened. Everyone had grown lazy, even the living dead, no longer on high alert of an attack. Fox had not arrived with his army nor had Jett returned from the day he stormed out.
Eva was becoming jittery and Jax was growing impatient. They could do nothing but wait; that was the only option they had left. In all the midst of uncertainty, no one paid attention to the doings of Max. He had once attempted to approach his mother, who immediately recognised him, but on close inspection, he was frightened by her appearance. The decaying of her body continued but nothing ever really dissolved away. Max had run back into the house, up the stairs and into one of the rooms. He edged himself into the corner of the room and never came out, the image of his mother forever indented into his memory, traumatising him into silence.
Just as Jett had been, Tobias was suspicious of Darren and so kept a close eye on him. The amount of times Darren could have reached over and taken the Crest or attack Eva another way was prevented by the mere fact that Tobias was on constant watch of him. Jax was too deep in the mission to notice anything with Darren and his vision only filled with victory.
The days had mixed into one another and they could no longer tell what day it was. The living dead busied themselves with chatters and such, forgetting to guard the building in case of an attack.
That's why, in a day such as that, after careful monitoring of their actions, Fox had decided it was the perfect day to do as they had wished. He had to be careful and strategic about it as they had no sacconium left to protect themselves. Each day he had sent one of his men to watch their condition and tactically desired to wait until they were no longer driven to fight and so an attack would be in their favour.
So when Fox turned up with many, many of his men, more than any of them had anticipated, everyone scrambled to take their practiced position. In the process of preparing themselves, some of the living dead had already been attacked. Screams and shouts of orders filled the air, no one really listening to one another. Those were the screams that caused Eva, Jax, Darren and Tobias to jump to their feet with shock filled faces to the expectancy of the battle.
While the others ran outside, grabbing the gloves Jax had made on their way, Eva had jumped to the window, using that as a vantage point. She pulled the Crest out and opened the window. Fox's men were approaching fast and it was evident that their own army was useless against his. She began using the Crest, aiming at a group of enemies all the while searching for Fox. His men kept coming while many of the living dead's bones were piled on the floor.
Eva's heart beat hard; they were surely at a loss.
She could see what the others were doing; Tobias was using his strength to fight groups of enemies, while Jax used his slimness to weave in and out of the enemies, making his way to the piled bones. Darren had a rod in his hand and used it to hit the enemy as he followed Jax in order to protect him as Jax dodged in and out. Jax was not much of a fighter, however, the drive to defeat Fox gave him a certain motivation that took away any fear he may have had.
During the quiet period, while they waited for the battle, Jax had secretly been working on a chemical to bring the living dead back just in case they had been attacked and defeated. He was running to the piled bones, hopping from one area to another, just pouring three drops over each pile. He would not wait for them to move before he went onto the next pile and so he didn't even know if it would work. He was only testing it out at that moment, hoping that it would be a success.
The enemy was getting closer and closer to the house and Eva's heart began to race. She was sure that they were losing. They were fast approaching and it was becoming harder to aim at the enemy without getting her own as they all began to mingle within each other. Standing on the top floor by the window was no longer an advantage.
She decided to go out with the others, running down the stairs but before she could make it past the entrance, Darren had appeared in front of her, blocking the way.
"What are you doing? Get out of the way!" Eva shouted, attempting to shove him out of the way, but he stood his ground.
"You can make this easy for the both of us," he replied, using the rod to claim some authority. He smacked the rod on his other hand in a threatening way.
"What are you talking about, Darren? Get out of the way, they need us. We need to find Fox!" She shoved her shoulder against his chest, but still he made no movement.
"Why do I care about what that man does?" His voice was very menacing and he took a step forward, causing Eva to take a step back into the house. Then he did it again and again until they were in the house and he shut the door. "Just hand the Crest over to me and everything will be fine."
"Fine for who? Seriously, stop playing games, Darren. You're only here because of my mercy! Where's Jax?" Eva pointed the Crest at him and he began to laugh.
"If you were going to use that on me, you would have done it a long time ago. You have a soft spot for me, Eva, I know that and that's going to be your downfall! All this time, I tried to figure out a way to get that off you but something always got in the way, but now, now there is no one to stop me. You will give me the Crest," he cackled.
"Where's Jax?"
"Throwing that useless chemical all over those useless bones, too distracted to save you now. I doubt it will work anyway. They haven't moved a finger even. Now stop wasting time and give me the Crest!"
"Why? What do you want from me?" Eva's hand shook, battling against herself to hit the button or not. Her anger with herself was growing as she didn't understand where this weakness had come from. She should have used it then and there but she just couldn't.
"I told you ––"
"Stay over there or I will use this!" Eva cut his words off as Darren was advancing towards him. The boom and confidence in her voice caused him to halt on the spot.
"You killed my father! I will not let you live in peace. I am going to k ––"
This time he was interrupted by a massive thump on the door, causing the whole house to shake. While Eva was distracted, Darren hopped towards Eva and grabbed the Crest. At the very moment, the door broke open with another thump and fell to the floor, revealing many of their enemies.
"No!" Eva screamed, not because she saw Fox's men or because Darren had taken the Crest, but because of what would be the consequence of touching the Crest without its permission.
Even though Eva was not touching the button and neither was Darren, coloured rays of light which was so bright that everyone around had to cover their eyes had come out of Eva's chest and travelled to Darren. He was engulfed by the light and the pain drove him to his knees. He shouted in agony, asking for it to stop but she didn't know how to. Eva wanted it to stop but she was not touching the Crest in order to stop it.
Suddenly the light had absorbed into Darren's body and just as quickly escaped his body, causing a large explosion. Darren's body had ripped into pieces and the light spread out of the house and across the forest, taking everything in its way. The Crest had fallen to the floor and rolled across to Eva's foot.
Fox's men, who were only moments ago stood by the door, were on the ground. Their bodies were slowly covering in ice and Eva, at that point, came to her senses. She knew each and every one of those men who were in proximity of the explosion were going to explode themselves once the ice completely covered them. She picked up the Crest and ran up the stairs as fast as her shaken body could take her and sought refuge behind a sofa in one of the rooms.
She was the only one that wasn't affected by the exploded lights as the power of the Crest lived within her and since the day that she had picked it up, with permission from the keeper of the Crest, she was protected.
Once again, the house shook and some of the ceiling and floor crumbled down. That's when Eva heard a little whimper and when she turned to the noise, peeking over the sofa, she saw Max curled up in a ball in the corner of the room. Eva didn't move just then. She waited, listening out for anything and when the silence was confirmed she stood up and peered out of the window to view what had happened outside. There was a certain circumference around the house that the explosion had affected and everyone within that vicinity was either in piles of bones or shattered ice crystals. Beyond that, there were more men and living dead fighting, but the advancing towards the house had stopped.
Eva searched in the distance, where there were still some movement and noticed that there were less of Fox's men around than there were of their own army. She saw Fox. His silver hair shining brightly and noticed two others fighting him; when she squinted she realised the two were Jax and Tobias. Tobias was fighting with his strength, while Jax mainly dodged Fox's blows.
A second whimper distracted Eva and she turned towards Max again. His eyes were wide, staring at Eva. She ran towards him, picking him up and holding him close to her chest.
"It's okay, Max. Everything will be okay. I need you to stay here, out of danger and I will be back for you, is that okay?" She stroked his hair soothingly.
Max nodded in response while Eva stood up and carried him over to the sofa. She kissed his forehead before leaving the room, walking around the holes on the floor. Luckily, the stairs were still intact and she cautiously made her way downstairs, racing to where she had seen the others fight.
Her surroundings went by in a blur as she concentrated on where she had seen Fox. It was his entire fault, everything was. She had very little left and she needed someone to blame. With this filling her heart she ran as fast as she could, using the Crest to get rid of anyone who came to attack her.
She slowed down as she came close to them. Just as Fox had hit Jax and he fell back, Eva broke his fall as she stood behind him. Once Jax was stable, she pushed him to the side and with determination strides towards Fox, keeping some distance.
"Fox!" She yelled to catch his attention.
Fox halted and turned towards Eva, distracted from the blow Tobias had just thrown. This threw Fox off his balance, falling back towards the ground.
"Grab him quick!" Eva ordered Tobias.
Tobias grabbed him by the arm, pulling him up and placed both Fox's arms behind his back to hold him in place. Fox struggled in his hold.
Eva held out the Crest, pointing it towards him.
"No, Eva, don't do this. We don't want him dead. Please," Jax pleaded, weak from the earlier hit.
They could all see the intention in Eva's eyes. There was no one who could stop her, not now.
"I'm not going to kill him."
"You're not?" That was a question from Fox.
"Look around you. You've lost, Fox. You have barely anyone to fight for you. I can get rid of them all and then who will you have left?" Eva questioned, keeping her distance still. "Did you really think you could get away with this? I have the most powerful thing in my hand that could wipe out your whole species and the only thing you can do is delay that, you can't really stop it. You've messed with the wrong person! We, humans, may not have powers but we have something more powerful than what YOU––"
"I can overpower you any day!"
Eva laughed. "You can't even overpower your own men. You're so greedy and selfish and that's what will make you fall deeper than we ever would. Remember that good always overpowers evil!"
"And what do you know about good and evil. You're all evil. You have no heart," Fox retorted.
One of Fox's men came up behind them, ready to attack, but Jax had been anticipating this and hit him before he could do a thing. And so Jax was occupied in a fight.
"She has more of a heart than you. It may have taken a while, but she understands that having a heart and having mercy is not a weakness," Tobias spoke up.
"Let's get back to the point, if you're not going to kill me, what are you going to do?" Fox asked, half out of curiosity and the other half out of annoyance of wasting time.
"Tobias, transport him to the cave. He can't escape so easily," she instructed.
She turned away from them, taking in her surroundings, to see whether there was still more of a fight going on. There were very few who fought and they were all within hearing distance. The living dead, the ones that Jax had poured his chemical over were active and stronger than they were originally.
"Listen up, you all!" Her voice boomed across the field and they all turned to her, halting their fight.
"We have captured your leader so stop your fighting. If any of you try teleporting, we will penetrate your home and search for each and every one of you." Eva held so much authority that no one dared disobey her.
"He's fighting the teleportation, I can't get him there," Tobias said through gritted teeth.
"Jax, go help him. Two must be stronger than one!"
Everything was happening too fast and so he quickly held onto Fox along with Tobias and not a second later had they disappeared.
That left Eva with all the others.
"Move and I will use the Crest. You all will be dead within a second."
***
Fox was held in the same room in the cave that Pandora and Eva, herself, had once been held captive. Fox was tied up against the chair and Eva never really entered the room. She left the collection of information to control the core up to Tobias and Jax. He'd been held captive for days now.
While Eva sat in the control room, watching the events of the torture, her thoughts constantly drifted to Jett. She still had yet to hear from him. At that moment, she wished she could have left with him and set up a new home together, somewhere away from all this. She had grown to hate the power she had, realising all the harm she had caused. She was no better than Fox. She despised herself as much as she despised him.
There was a knock at the door and without gaining permission, someone walked into the room. Eva turned to see Tobias.
"Ma'am, they know Fox has been defeated. We are in control of the core now. Who will rule?" Tobias informed her of the one thing they'd been waiting for since they captured Fox.
"Jax."
~
A/N ~ So that was the final chapter of this story. I am so sorry for the delay and also the lack of excitement. I want to say thank you to all those that have supported me throughout this story, y'all are the reason for my motivation and I hope this story has lived up to your expectations. Thank you Cherry_nerdz, CherrySarah2003 and ImNotOneEither for your great support. I can't even thank you enough. You all are amazing and I'm glad that i have had the privilege to speak to each and everyone of you guys.
I'm so happy that I was able to finish the story because there was a time where I wanted to give up on the story as I had lost motivation to write it, but I'm glad you all had encouraged me to continue it.
I may go back at one point and edit the story... maybe change things here and there.
Anyways, once again, hope you all enjoyed the story and maybe when I upload my new story, you may read it?
~ Zana