All rights go to the amazing mind that is Cassandra Clare for all the characters in this story.
Jace's POV
I looked over at Red as we heard the screams. "Please tell me I'm not hearing things?" She asked.
"No, I heard it too." We all stopped in place for a moment. Another echoed scream came and we all jumped back slightly.
"Can anybody tell where its coming from?" She asked, looking around.
"I think I have an idea." I said, looking up at the sky and seeing the red smoke. They all followed my eye line.
"It must be a flare." Red muttered, looking back at me. "Come on!" She said as she began to run. We all followed quickly after her, towards the red trail of smoke in the air. As we got closer, the screams got louder. I saw Red looking up at a building that was still half intact before she began running over. "I need to get a better look at what's over there before we go running in. Stay here." I gave a nod as she began climbing. I was slightly worried she was going to fall. She was gone for no longer than a few minutes before she was back again.
"What did you see?" I asked as she jumped down. She crouched low to the floor, looking around wearily. We all joined her at her level.
"Not good, I take it?" Alec asked.
"Remember that little theory I had about zombies surviving the blast?" I gave a sigh.
"Shit. How many?"
"Quite a few, but I reckon we could take em." She said confidently. I gave a smirk. "They're all surrounding the clave building, that's where the flare came from."
"Wait, I thought you said that's where the bomb was set off?" Isabelle asked. We all looked at Red.
"It was. That's the problem." She sighed. "There's nothing left. Its all just rubble, which means that those people must be underground. I don't know how the hell they even managed to get that flare to fire."
"Shit." Izzy said as she ran a hand through her hair.
"There must be a gap in the rubble or something." Alec guessed.
"Maybe, but clearly not big enough for anybody to fit through." I replied. Red sighed.
"One problem at a time. Zombies first, we get rid of them and think of a plan to get the people out when it comes to it." We all gave a nod. She got up from the floor, unsheathing one of her blades as she did. She held it out in front of her and began walking slowly towards where the zombies were. We all followed after her. She stopped at a close building. I looked around the corner of the wall before quickly ducking back behind it. I looked up at Red.
"A few?" I asked, incredulously. "There are over 20 of those flesh eating freaks over there. Do I need to remind you that we have flesh? And I kinda like having it still attached to me." All she did was smirk.
"Don't like a challenge?" She asked. I saw Isabelle looking over.
"We have to do this." She said. "We can't just leave them there." Red put a hand on Izzy's shoulder.
"We aren't leaving them, alright? We'll get them out." Iz gave a nod. I looked over again.
"Okay, so I'm thinking decoy." I said as I turned back around, but as I did I saw Red already walking over to the horde of undead. They all quickly turned towards her with a snarl.
"I swear this girl is crazy." Alec said as we all ran after her. I saw her push back one of the zombies, making it fall to the floor. She ran at it again, jumping on top of it before stabbing her blade through its head. She turned around quickly, seeing us. She started to run backwards away from the zombies, leading them away. She smiled largely as she pointed at herself.
"Decoy!" She shouted. I couldn't help but give a smirk even in the situation. Most of the zombies followed her as she ran away, leaving a few for us to take care of. After a few minutes the street seemed to be clear. Me, Alec and Isabelle all ran over to the rubble that we once knew as the clave building.
Apollo gave a light bark and we all turned, seeing him digging at one part of the rubble. We all ran over and saw the flare. As I looked closer, I could see a small gap in the debris.
"Hello?!" Isabelle shouted as she got close to the gap. We waited a few seconds. Isabelle looked back at me and Alec. She looked to the floor, closing her eyes, thinking the worse.
"Yes! We're down here!" We heard a man's voice. She looked up quickly, relieved. We all gave a smile as we looked at each other. Isabelle faced the gap again.
"Okay, just hold on! We're going to get you out!" Izzy looked back at me. "I just don't know how we're going to." I heard a grunt behind me and watched as Red spun around, slashing her blade forwards and cutting off the head of the last zombie in sight. She looked around slightly with her blade still out before running over.
"Hey." She said, grinning as she crouched down beside us, putting her blade back into the sheath on her back. I looked over at her, blood smeared down her neck and arms.
"Looks like you had all the fun." She gave a smirk.
"I probably enjoyed that more than I should have." I watched her look down at the gap between the rocks. "Survivors?" She asked, more seriously.
"Yeah." Alec said with a nod. "We just don't know how to get them out." Red gave a sigh before moving closer to the rocks.
"Hey! How many of you are down there?" She asked.
"There are 6 of us!" We heard the echoed reply.
"Okay, that's great. We are going to have you out of there in no time, alright? But for us to get you out we need to know the situation down there. Now tell me, is anybody hurt?"
"Yes." We heard the voice again. "There are two of us badly injured!" She gave a sigh as she bit her lip slightly. She looked back at us.
"This isn't great." She lowered her voice. "Two of them are hurt and they could die before we dig them out and that's if we are left alone with no zombie interruptions which is unlikely. They're going to die before that." She sighed. "Not to mention that any kind of death in this world equals a zombie. And I don't have to tell you what would happen if one of them turned down there." We all looked up at her confused.
"What do you mean?" She looked up with a frown.
"You don't know." She said as if suddenly realising something.
"What are you talking about?" She sighed.
"If one of them dies down there, it's only a matter of time before they turn."
"You mean, you don't need to be bitten to turn?" Alec asked shocked. Red shook her head.
"We're all infected already. The virus is airborne and so it's already inside us. You die, you turn. The bite is just what kills you. The infection inside all of us is what makes zombies." We all looked at each other shocked. Red sighed. "We don't have time for this conversation."
"What do we do?" I asked.
"I don't k-" She stopped mid-sentence as her eyes widened slightly.
"I like this look." Alec said. "This is an 'I've got a plan' look, right?" She faced towards the gap again.
"Tell me about the space down there, do you have room to move around?" She shouted down.
"Not much!" The voice called back.
"I need you to tell me how far back you can walk away from this gap."
"Uh, around three metres!" Red looked down.
"Three metres." She muttered. "I mean, I've worked with less."
"What are you thinking?" I asked. She looked up.
"Something crazy. But I don't see another way."
"What's the plan?" Alec asked.
"To make a bigger gap. With this." She held out her hand, the grey smoke coming again for a few seconds before something appeared in her hand. I'll never get used to that. My eyes widened.
"Please tell me that's not what I think it is." Alec said, stressed.
"That's your plan? A grenade? You seriously want to blow them up again?" I asked.
"Two outcomes. One, the grenade blows up just enough to make a small impact on the rubble, moving it out the way and letting those people out. Or two, the grenade blows up, causing the rubble to crash down on top of them. And they all die."
"You're not exactly selling me on this idea." I explained.
"They have a three metre gap. If they move back enough, it's very likely that the grenade will just move the rocks around them, making a hole that they can get out through." She sighed. "Yes, it's a risk but honestly I don't think we have another option. We really don't have time for this." We all paused for a moment.
"Okay." We heard the voice again. I frowned. "Do it. Plant the grenade." We all looked up at each other.
"Are you sure about this, Red?" I asked her, quieter than before so they couldn't hear. She gave me a long look with a small sigh at the end.
"No." She said with a small shake of her head. "No, I'm not." I ran a hand through my hair, pushing it back.
"Okay, we're really doing this!" I shouted down the gap. "You all need to stand as far back as you can!"
"Okay!" The voice shouted back, you could hear the fear in his tone. "We're ready!" I looked up at the others. I went to grab the grenade out of Red's hand. She pulled back, looking at me.
"No way, Jace."
"Let me do this." She shook her head.
"Get back." She told us. I looked at her worried. "I'll be fine, I got this." I gave a nod. We all moved back behind a small piece of brick wall still standing a few feet away. I saw Isabelle take hold of Apollo's collar, making sure he stayed with us. I saw Red take a small breath as she put her hand on the pin before pulling it out. She put the grenade in place on top of the rubble, right by the hole before running away as fast as she could. I shielded my eyes as the blast shoved me backwards, making my head hit the floor, but not before seeing Red get swayed sideways in the air and across the floor.
I got up and ran as quick as I could over to her. She winced in pain as her hand went to her ear. "Red, can you hear me? are you okay?" I panicked. She gave a small nod as she held her side with the other hand. She shut her eyes tight together. I could see she was disoriented. I placed my hands on either side of her face. "Red. Red, are you okay?" I said, worried. She gave a small cough as she began sitting up properly. My hand was on her back as I helped her.
"I'm okay." She said with a small nod.
"Are you sure?" I asked, with a small frown. "How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Those are fingers?" She said squinting. She gave a smirk at my worry. "I'm fine." She said. I took her hand and helped her up. I stayed beside her for a moment to make sure she was okay before we went over to the others. We walked over just in time to see Alec and Isabelle helping the people out of the rubble. I smiled slightly as I saw them, all seeming to be okay. Until the last two. I walked over. I saw Red helping a man to carry someone out of the gap. Red pressed her fingers to his neck before pulling back. She looked up.
"I'm sorry." I heard her mutter. The man gave a sad smile.
"It wasn't you're fault, I think he was already gone when the grenade blew." Red gave an weary look at the man.
"Is he going to turn?" Red looked up at me as she got out her dagger. She brought her blade to his head. She tried to do it as nicely as she could but in the end, death was never nice. The others looked up at Red.
"Thank you, so much for getting us out." Red gave a nod. I don't think she was one for gratitude.
"Listen, we best get out of the open. I'm sure the undead would have heard the blast. They'll be coming." The man gave a nod as he began helping the injured woman to her feet. We all started to walk away. I caught up with Red who was at the front of the group. I noticed she was still holding her side but stopped as she saw me.
"You okay?" She nodded. I looked over at her as I remembered. "I forgot to ask, what exactly do I call you now? Red? Clarissa?" She looked up.
"I always hated Clarissa." She explained. "People used to call me Clary."
"Clary Morgenstern, huh?" I gave a nod as I tried out the name. "Okay, Clary." She looked back at me.
"Or Red is fine. Its growing on me." I smirked. She looked at me again. She frowned as she reached up and touched the side of my forehead as we walked. "You're bleeding." She said, worried. I looked down at her as her fingers brushed my skin.
"Happened when the blast went off. But it's fine. Just a scratch." I told her. I smirked slightly as she dropped her hand. "Why? You worried Red?" She scoffed slightly as she began walking ahead. I gave another smirk as we walked. Clary ended up leading us back to her house, which wasn't far away. When we got inside the house after climbing through the hole we made in the wood, we all stopped in the hallway. One of the men took the moment to hug the two young girls in the group and the other man bent down next to the injured woman, telling her everything would be okay. They were clearly glad for the momentary safety. Clary looked up at everyone.
"You guys all take the time to rest for a while." Everyone nodded and Clary left the room, holding her side again. Izzy and Alec saw me frown and followed me as I went after Clary. We walked into the kitchen of the house, seeing her reaching up into one of the cupboards. I saw her wince as she moved.
"Clary!" I said as she stumbled slightly. I grabbed her arm, steadying her.
"I'm fine." She said. Izzy pulled over a stool for her to sit down. She winced again as she sat.
"You are not fine, Red." I gave her a look. "Show me." She sighed and pulled up her top, letting us see the pieces of shrapnel embedded in her skin. I looked up at her shocked. I looked back at Izzy and Alec. "Can you find something I can use to get this out? And some bandages or something. Anything you can find." They nodded and quickly went away. I looked back at her. "Why didn't you tell me?" She gave a pained smirk.
"Didn't want to make a fuss. I'm more of a suffer in silence type of girl." She looked up at the cupboard. "Grab me that vodka." I reached up and got the bottle, passing it to her. She took a sip as I pulled over another stool for me to sit in front of her. Iz and Alec walked back in.
"This is all we could find." Alec said passing me a pair of tweezers. They left the room, saying they'd give us some space. I poured some vodka over the tweezers then looked up at Clary. She took the vodka and gave a sharp breath before pouring some over her side. She winced and took my free hand, squeezing down.
"Just get it out." She groaned. I kept hold of her hand as I used the tweezers to remove the sharp pieces of debris. After a few minutes she started to wince again. "Just pull it out." She moaned.
"I'm sorry, I'm trying." She took the tweezers out of my hand and looked down at the last piece. It was deeper than the others. She took hold of the piece and pulled it out quick. She held in the scream, biting her lip. She took the vodka and poured it over her again. I got a flannel Iz had found and pressed it against her side. She sighed, relieved as she took another sip of the vodka. She looked up at me, her hand going to my cheek.
"Thank you." I nodded. We just stared at each other for a moment before she dropped her hand and tried to stand. I took her waist, trying not to touch the wound. She looked up at me again. "I'm okay." I let go and we left the kitchen.
***
As we both walked back into the room with the others, one man turned towards Clary. "I'm Chris Whitehill, these are my daughters Moon and Zyra." She shook the man's hand as he held it out. The other man walked over.
"I'm Wyatt, this is my sister Grace." He said looking down at the injured woman before shaking Clary's hand as well.
"Nice to meet you, even under the circumstances. You can call me Clary, this is Jace, Alec and Isabelle." She said pointing towards each of us.
"The Lightwoods?" Wyatt asked us.
"Yeah." I replied. He shook my hand. Clary sat down on the floor of the hallway, right by the door, joining the others as they rested. Me, Alec and Isabelle did the same.
"So, what's your story? If you don't mind me asking." Clary said to the group as she passed a bottle of water to one of the young girls, who had been playing with Apollo. "Why were you in Idris?"
"We came around three days ago I think." Wyatt spoke up. "Before we came there was a big group of us, around 30. All Shadowhunters except one warlock. We decided that it might be a good idea to send a few of us to Idris. We had heard about the bomb that was set off but we had hope that there would be some survivors. We knew it couldn't have destroyed everything. So the warlock that was with our group opened up a portal for me, Grace and Tommy so we could come and check things out. But as you know Tommy didn't make it." I thought back to the moment they brought his body out the rocks. Looking around I could see everyone was thinking the same. "Anyway, when we got here we had heard Chris and his daughters but when we got to them a piece of the building across from us started tumbling down. Next thing we know we are running but clearly not fast enough. We were stuck down there until you came."
"So what was your exit plan? How were you going to get back if the warlock didn't come with you?" Alec asked.
"Well he planned to open the portal again 12 hours from when we arrived but by then we were already trapped under the rubble. They probably think we're dead. I doubt they are still opening the portal. I mean we agreed on a place to meet in case anything like this happened and I know if we get there within the next day or two they'll still be waiting for us but getting out of Idris is the problem." I looked over at Clary. She turned to Wyatt.
"We have that covered." Clary explained. "We have a way out. I say we rest for a while then we can leave in a few hours. Hopefully get to this meeting place you have and find the others in your group." Wyatt gave a smile.
"Thank you." Clary gave a nod.
"Get some rest." Wyatt nodded again before turning to his sister and lying beside her. Chris and his daughters did the same.
Clary's POV
I got up and walked out into another room, deciding to give anyone who wanted to rest some quiet. As I walked in, I heard someone following behind me. I turned and saw Isabelle. She joined me as I stood by the window. I looked over at her. "You okay?" I asked. She gave a smile.
"I'm glad we got those people out."
"Yeah, me too. We saved five lives today. That's something to be proud of." I looked up at her. "Even if we didn't find who we were looking for." Iz looked up at me with a sad smile. After a moment Jace and Alec walked over. They all joined me at a space on the floor over by the boarded up window so I could keep watch. Jace looked over at me.
"So, you're going to just show off your powers to the others when we leave?" He asked. I looked over at him.
"Hell no." They all frowned.
"Then how are you going to get us all out of here? Surely, you're going to need to open up a portal in front of them?"
"Yes, but that doesn't mean they have to know it's me doing it."
"I'm confused." Alec said. I sighed as I looked back out the window.
"I'll figure something out. One problem at a time."
"Why do you keep saying that? And how are you always so calm? Look at the situation we're in right now." Iz fretted. I looked over.
"I had a friend in the mundane world. He was in the Army. And he would always tell stories about stuff he did. One of the stories was about this mission he had in Iraq. He and his unit were trying to get hostages out of this camp then out of the country. So he's in this plane with some operatives who are meant to be giving information about the camp, you know how to get in and where and all that. And the plane touches down for a while to refuel. When they're on the ground, this navy chopper crashes into the plane. So Dave, he wakes up from a nap and sees the plane is on fire. Now he still thinks the plane is 20,000 feet in the air and he can't find a parachute, so he just flings himself out the door, through all the smoke."
"This is all really nice but what's the point of this story?" Isabelle asked.
"Afterwards, the guys in Dave's unit asked him, 'If you thought you were 20,000 feet in the air, why did you jump out of the plane, without a parachute?' Dave just looked at them and he said, 'All I knew was that the plane was on fire, and I figured one problem at a time.'" They all smiled slightly.
"Yeah but the guy woulda died if the plane was in the air."
"But it wasn't. Guess he got lucky." I said. "The point of the story is that even if right now I don't know what I'm going to do, I'll figure it out and that sometimes you have to just let things work themselves out. Do you trust me?"
"Yeah, of course." Jace nodded.
"Then we'll be fine." I said looking at the three of them. "Anyway, you should all get some rest. We're leaving in a few hours and when we do we're going to be awake until we find Wyatt's people, it might be a while before you can properly sleep again."
"Alright. But you should rest too, wake me up in a while okay?" Jace asked.
"Sure." I said as I watched him laid down. But I never did wake him up. He was asleep so peacefully, in a way I had never seen so I left him. He needed the rest, they all did.
***
I looked down at my watch, it was coming up to 1 o'clock. We had only been in Idris for a few hours but I knew it was time to leave. I wanted to find Wyatt's people today and knew it was going to be difficult with his sister Grace's injury. I got up and walked over to where Wyatt slept, waking him first. He looked back at me as I gave him a small shake. "It's time to leave. We need to get everyone up and ready to go. I need you to do that whilst I go and look for something." He nodded.
"Okay, yeah." He sat up. "I'm honestly a little worried about how fast we are going to be able to move with Grace's injury." I looked down at him.
"I think I have a solution to that actually. We'll have to wake everyone up then I'll tell them."
"Sure." He nodded. "Thank you for all this. You went out your way to help us." I smiled.
"Welcome." He turned away and began doing as I said. I walked out of the room and into the hall where the stairs were. I took a small breath before walking up. I was hoping to find some supplies, maybe some more weapons and some steles, but after looking around for a while I realised we must have cleaned everything out the house when we left. I gave a sigh and walked down the stairs. Everyone was ready and waiting by the door.
"Ready to get out of here?" Jace asked me as I got to the bottom step. I crossed my arms as I gave a sigh. "What's wrong?" He asked.
"Yes. There's just one more place I need to go. Then I promise we can leave. I think it's best if you all stay here whilst I get it. I won't be long." I said walking towards the door.
"Hey, wait." Jace said as he picked up his blade. "I'll come with you."
"You sure?" I asked. "You really want to go back out there?"
"Who else is going to protect you?" He smirked. I rolled my eyes and looked at the group.
"We won't be long." I assured them. Iz looked up at us.
"Be careful." I looked down at Apollo, then back to Iz. "And watch him for me." She smiled as she nodded. I gave Jace a look before walking out the door with him following.
Bit of a longer chapter for you :) As always, please leave a vote or a comment to let me know if you liked this chapter and if you're enjoying the story! Thank you for reading!
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