Harry
"Here" Aaron says, leading us through an opening, before putting his bag down. "We can stop here and eat something. We'll probably reach the exit of the tunnel by evening."
"Are you saying we made it?" Dove asks him, her clear blue eyes widening in surprise.
He nods. "We did, Winters. We only have to be careful now, who knows how much of our plan got out. They could be waiting for us, for all we know."
"I thought they never exited the city?" Dove asks curiously.
"They don't, but they seem pretty determined, they could make an exception. They surely won't go too far, though. They'll never reach the house." Aaron opens his backpack to take out the map.
I sit down on the floor next to Dove. "Where is it? How long will we have to walk once we get out?"
"About an hour away. Have you never been to the Styles countryside Mansion?" He replies, and I frown.
"Never even heard of it, to be honest. I also never exited the city" I say truthfully, taking the apple Dove is handing me.
He takes a bite of his own. "Understandable, Mr Styles wanted to keep it a secret. One safe place the family could've hidden in if things had gone badly. I thought he would've told you at least, though."
"He didn't." I look down at the apple in my hand, it's deep red, a spot of light in the dark colours of the tunnel. Even though I don't want to admit it, it's understandable that he didn't tell me. He hasn't told me anything since my sister passed away. To be honest, the communication in the Styles household has been shitty since my mother went missing, and her death just happened to be the last blow to an already lacking system. Since then, it all went downhill, and my father only cared about me knowing how to defend myself. I scoff. Pretty sure that worked out well, hasn't it?
"Is everything okay?"
I turn my head and see that Dove is looking at me, with wide, curious blue eyes. Looking at her, she doesn't seem the kind of person who would go around carrying a knife all the time. And threaten to murder me about a thousand times. I feel like chuckling at the simple remembrance. I used to love pissing her off so much.
"Yeah" I say looking away, not able to stand her ocean gaze.
"Here" she says, and all of sudden I feel something weighing down on my hand.
I look down at it with a frown. It's the small bag with the money. "Are you not coming with me?" I ask her.
"I am!" She replies, "But I can't leave my parents. So I suppose I'd have to go back in the city. And we also don't know if everything will go smoothly from now on. So you should keep it. If we were to be separated, I could still go back in the city, I wouldn't risk more than anyone else. You on the other hand, can't. So you need it way more than me." She puts her hand on mine and closes my fingers around the little bag, pushing it lightly towards my chest.
"Alright" I say, tightening the cord around the opening to close it and tying it around my belt.
"And Harry" she whispers to hide her words from Aaron in case he's listening, "No matter what happens, don't be an idiot and get into the city again. I'd like to see you alive."
I chuckle. "Don't worry, I have no intention of dying." My mind goes back to my father. I know he cares about me - he wouldn't have set up this whole trip if he didn't, but do I really want to stay with him? In my town, the wealth he gathered for our family on the shoulders of our people allows me to have everything I want. The Styles Mansion is flooded with gold, everything seems possible, living there. But the house that was once so full of life is dead now, the only people living there being my father, who spends his days hidden away in his study to play with people as if he was playing chess, the endless stream of servants, the even larger amount of guards surrounding the perimeter 24/7 to make sure nobody will bring harm to the ruling family, and me. Occasionally going out and spreading terror, just because it's fun. And now, the same fun we had in the city is retorted towards our family, two members of it down, two more to go. They won't stop until there won't be a living soul carrying the Styles name, I know it. I know it, because that's exactly what my father's father did to get him in the place he is now. If I stay in the city, our futures are tied. If I fall, he falls. And if he falls, I'll fall with him, and our family will be swept away like ashes in the wind. Do I really want to stay? For the first time, it doesn't feel as weird to say I don't want to. "And I also have no intention to remain" I add. What's the point in staying on a sinking boat? I wonder if it makes me a coward.
I glance at Dove, she's untying her braid. I watch how she puts her dark locks into a bun with a sinking feeling in my chest. I feel like she thinks I'm way better than I truly am. I can just hope she won't drift away when she'll get tired of me. My chest tightens.
"Okay, time to go" Aaron says all of sudden standing up, and I do the same.
I offer my hand to Dove to help her to stand up. She raises an eyebrow, but she takes it nonetheless.
"I still like you better when your hair's down" I whisper into her ear as she passes me, enjoying the half shocked look she gives me at the unexpectedness of my words.
But she gathers her thoughts fast. "If my hair was down, it would also be in my eyes and I wouldn't manage to save your ass if someone decided it's a good day to send you straight to the other side."
I snicker at the reply. At least she isn't saying that I'd go straight to hell now, which is a considerable change. I give her a glance as she surpasses me, not waiting for me to say anything. To be honest, I don't even know if she actually likes me. I'm pretty sure that she doesn't hate me, but I'm even surer that her decision of coming with me has been taken thinking about her parents, to get them out of that place. Curiously, I don't really mind.
"Are you coming?" She asks me turning around, and I hasten my step, stealing a kiss from her right before surpassing her, aware of the fact that Aaron is looking in the opposite direction.
"You need to stop doing that" she whispers, but the little smile her lips inadvertently curve in tells me she doesn't mind that much.
"Are you done there?" Aaron asks, and my eyes widen as I wonder if he saw something.
"Don't know what you're referring to" I reply, making sure my voice is as steady as possible.
He huffs. "Stop bickering, Winters and you, Mr Styles. We're nearing the exit, silence would be better" he replies, and thankfully, he didn't. "I don't even know how you two managed not to murder each other."
He takes a turn, and we follow. I glance up to see a golden light right in front of us, and I stop in my tracks.
Dove, walking behind me, notices me, and nears me. "We're almost out... Styles." I glance at her at the mention of my last name, there's a smile on her face, she probably noticed it as well as it slipped out. Her eyes are of a weird, warmer shade of blue in the light of the sunset.
"We are" I whisper back in amazement, realising that our trip has finally come to an end.
We start walking again with more resolution, reaching Aaron, that stops a few feet from the entrance.
"Alright" he whispers to us, "Remember, there could be someone waiting for us. We have to be careful, is that okay?"
I nod, my hand already reaching to grab my gun as Dove slides her knife from her belt.
"Let's do this" she whispers, and soon enough, we step out.
The first thing I notice is green. Everything around us is bright green, the grass, the leaves of the trees, the bushes, and everything is bathing in the golden-reddish light of the setting sun. I've never seen that much green altogether, wild and natural, not even in the gardens of the Styles Mansion, and it's beautiful. I look at Dove, my same amazement is reflected onto her face, telling me she's never exited the city as well. But then again, a really few people have, and they usually don't come back to talk about it. I understand why, now.
Following Aaron, we step over the grass slowly, following the path on the map. I near Dove again, brushing the back of my hand against hers, making her look up at me.
"We made it" I whisper to her, and she smiles at me.
"Still can't believe it." A few strands of dark hair fall out of her bun as she looks up to the pink sky. "It was never this bright in the city" she says, and I nod in agreement.
After a few seconds of hesitation, I take her hand into mine, my heart skipping a beat when she doesn't push me away.
All of sudden a gunshot is fired through the air, and I turn my head up fast letting go of Dove's hand and taking off the safety of my gun, seeing Aaron do the same next to me.
We hear more gunshots and we kneel down, realising that we have nowhere to hide. We're in a clearing, and aside from the lonely trees every here and there, there's no place to take shelter behind.
Suddenly the gunshots stop, and about fifteen men come out from behind the tunnel entrance, their guns pointed at us, surrounding us. They don't wear cloaks, making their identity obvious.
We're dead, I think. There's no way we'll manage to make it out of here alive. Aaron slides closer to me. "The man in front of you has no bullets" he whispers, "You know what to do. Count to three."
I nudge Dove with my elbow, letting her know that I'm about to do something. She glances at me and says nothing, but I know she understood.
I count to three, and then I shoot the man, bending down fast as he falls on the ground, going over him to get out of the circle of men. I turn around and shoot the man in front of Dove and the one next to him as well, hitting them on first try, allowing her to jump over the man next to her and stab him. She takes his gun as he falls, turning around and shooting the one in front of her. Aaron fires two other gunshots, and two other men fall. Their circle breaks, and I shoot the first one I see pointing his gun at Dove, and the one I see trying to hide behind a tree. I recharge fast as Dove shoots the one coming towards me, and I look at her in the eyes, giving her a nod. I shoot into the scuffle, and another falls. With the corner of my eye I see someone else coming, but I don't really mind right away. I shoot another, watching him fall.
There's a few seconds of silence, and then, all of sudden, a single gunshot is fired. I turn in the direction it came from, just in time to meet Dove's ocean blue gaze before she falls to the ground.
Behind her there's a man, his brown eyes staring right at me with an amused look on his face, his gun still pointed in her direction. He says something, but I can't hear him over the shouts. Without thinking twice, I point my gun at him and empty my clip into him. He gives me a surprised glance before falling. My gun falls out of my hand onto the grass, my eyes still pointed in his direction.
"Styles!" I hear Aaron roar as he reaches me, "We must go!"
"We need to get her, she might still be alive!" I reply to him, but he shakes his head. "We need to!" I shout, but he tightens his grip around my arm.
"I'm sorry Mr Styles, but my job is to protect you, not her" he says before running away and pulling me with him, leaving the sound of gunshots being fired behind us.
I don't even know how we reach the house, but all of sudden I'm being pulled in, a heavy wooden door being shut behind me.
"There's blood on his clothes, what happened?" A voice says, and I look in the direction it comes from, meeting two familiar blue eyes.
"You" I hiss, and he gives me a smile.
"Good evening Harry, my name is Louis Tomlinson."