“Are you sure this is the place?” I whispered, laying under a pile of leaves for cover and staring at the unremarkable cave entrance. It wasn’t especially well hidden or well situated, nor was there any sign of POE or even human activities for the last few days. We had been hiding in vegetation for over three hours now and I had a suspicious feeling that several insects had made their way into my trousers.
Instead of replying, Gerald merely gave me a pointed look before putting his binoculars back on. I stifled a sigh and resisted the urge to use my mind sensory skills; apparently that would spook them. I hate to admit it but Gerald was actually a really good leader. He knew exactly what, who and how to do things; but that still didn’t make me like him better.
The rest of the team had scattered around us, either hiding beneath leave coverage or nestled on trees. It had taken ten days for us to trek back into the Himalayas, even with the help of mopeds. One of the older members of the group called Howard was an expert tracker and here we were after another four days. At first I wasn’t convinced about how useful tracking was but it turned out to be quite an art. I could sense the same thing that he saw but recognizing its meaning required some serious training.
Biting my lips my mind replayed the conversation Gerald and I had on the first day out. He had wanted Liam to take me straight to a designated safe place and he would meet up with us after they finish the assignment. I knew that obliging is the right thing to do but I couldn’t leave knowing that some of my friends might be stuck in the wilderness. In the end I won the argument because it would be hard to explain to others where I have disappeared to.
My heart sped up as the sound of rustling and my hand shot out to grab the binoculars that I had abandoned in a pile of leaves some hours ago. With my heart fluttering against my chest I shoved the device on my face to get a clearer look.
“Is that…” the words got caught in my throat as the silhouette of a person slowly came into view, emerging from piles of overgrown bushes. It was John Kuo, and he didn’t look well.
Everything didn’t seem to matter at the moment. Practically throwing my binoculars off, which managed to hit Gerald in the face I belted out of our hiding place and engulfed a surprise John.
“Gw.. Gwen?” He choked, frozen in place for a second before squeezing me into a tight hug. I nodded, my heart leaping in hope that maybe others were here too. Pulling away from him I studied his face. He looked shattered, worn. There was a sparkle of hope there as well as he took note of my clothings and frowned at my hair.
“Where have you been?” He asked and I realized that I had look too clean, not to mention my hair colour had returned to its former shade of brown. Not knowing where to start and didn’t want to cut into my background story, I gripped his arm.
“How are you still alive? I thought everyone was capture or dead! How long were you here? Are there others? Is Ho here?” I asked, firing a million question a million and watching his face closely. Gerald and the others were still hidden and it was a good move. Having been betrayed, my reappearance with another group might not bode well.
“Ho is dead.” John said pain evident in his voice and I inhaled sharply, clasping a hand over my mouth. There was a pang in my heart and I felt like I was drenched by cold water. Ho was dead. Suddenly everything seemed even more real; this wasn’t some random story where everyone was just locked away somewhere or lost. People were dying. My heart ached to know about all the people that I had been separated from and I wished that they were okay.
“What happened?” My voice was shaking a little and I realized that I was shaking too. John looked around him cautiously and grabbed my elbow. I threw him a quizzical look.
“We are not safe out here in the open like this.” John said, tugging me back towards the cave. “Come.”
Throwing a glance back I allowed John to lead me, knowing that Gerald would know what to do. Grabbing my arm tightly, John suddenly dive face first into a wall of vegetation, dragging me along with him. Gasping I closed my eyes and shield my face with my arm, bracing for impact. Feeling the vegetation brushing against me as I stumbled through them I slowly opened my eyes again.
Light was streaming down from a narrow slit on the high ceiling of the cave, angled just so perfectly that it would be impossible to see inside unless you press your face against it at a weird angle. There were the remnants of a small fire in the middle and some animal hide thrown casually on the ground. As I looked around the reasonably size space I realized how perfect it was; a hidden cave next to a normal cave entrance, no one would suspect a thing.
Letting go of my hand John moved forward and it wasn’t until then that I saw a figure curled into a ball next to the fire, under a filthy animal skin cover. Curious, I watched as John carefully shook the person, whispering encouragements as he helped him or her sat up.
As the face became visible I could feel my brain going into another round of shock. Rushing forward, I all but bashed John aside and crushed into Casey engulfing her in a choking hug.
With a yelp of surprise muffled by my jacket, Casey pushed me backwards and I could see the shock in her face too. Quickly pulling me back into a hug, I could feel several tears landing on my jacket as this tough girl tried to hold her snobs back.
“Gail!” She cried as the two of us finally broke off from our hug. “I… I am so glad to see you. I thought everyone was dead and I was so scared…”
She stopped mid-sentence as she took in my relatively clean clothes and my brown-again hair. Out of the corner of my eyes I could see a very confused John looking on; but now wasn’t the time to explain or deal with him. Casey was more important.
“What happened? How did you end up here?” I asked; I was never at the center of the fight and it was bad enough when we were caught in the outskirt of it. I could only imagine the horror that had gone on there.
Giving me one last suspicious look to which I tried to look as calm and composed as possible, she grimaced. “It was chaos. One minute we were all talking and joking with each other, the next a huge group of people dressed in black came out of nowhere and started attacking. Everything was a blur and powers were being fired across the place, so many people went down…”
Stealing a glance at John I could tell that he had heard this before already, and this was probably where Casey stopped talking. Despite feeling for her, I needed to know what had happened. It was crucial to get as much information as possible and the bubble of hope in my heart was telling me that if Casey had made it out, so must the others.
“Then what happened?” I coaxed gently, kneeing down in front of her and put my hand on hers. I could feel her tumbling and it was rare to see Casey this affected by something.
“We were all running and I was with Oliver. He was trying to shield me from the attacks but there were just so many. Finally a group caught up to us and he… he pushed me away telling me to run. I didn’t want to but the other girls on my team pulled me away and.. and the guys stayed behind trying to hold them back.”
She was choking in sobs at this point but only a few tears escaped her eyes. Wiping it with the sleeves of her worn jacket, she continued. “We managed to get away and we hid in a cave about fifteen kilometers from here. We must have stayed there for two days without going out. at some point there was some noises nearby but none of us had to guts to look outside. We just stayed holed up. Then he arrived. ”
My heart leaped into my throat and a dozen scenarios fluttered through my mind. Who could it be? Judging from her face she must be the only one who got away, how?
“He was shouting around looking for survivors and some of the girls recognized his voice. Said his name was Hamish and he was one of the experienced guards. Before anyone could protest they ran outside to greet him, I thought it was very fishy that he would be alone and shouting around in a dangerous forest so I went to a corner and camouflaged myself.”
Sensing movement from behind me I saw John lowering himself on the ground, his face slightly green and I knew he was affected by the story as well. “He came in alone and all the girls rushed towards him, happy to see a familiar face that might be able to bring us out of the situation and in their state they forgot that I wasn’t there. When he asked if that’s everyone they all nodded and the next thing I knew, a group of black clothed people rushed in and herded them away.”
“Was the guy tall, good looking with brown hair and blue eyes?” I asked and Casey looked at me, startled. Hamish… I thought with gritted teeth. How could he? They were in shock and been through hell, how could he just betray their trust like that?
“And…I think he knew I was there.” She added shakily, wrapping the makeshift blanket around herself tighter. “He looked right in my direction but he didn’t say anything, he just left with the ground. Everything was a bit of a blur after. There was shouting outside and I heard fighting, then John and Ho were thrown in here and the door was sealed shut. It was a stroke of luck that one of the girls had hidden her backpack in a nook with a first aid kit, otherwise he would have died, too.”
Turning my attention to John the Asian boy gave me a sad smile and I knew that Ho never delivered the message. Although that was to be expected; sighing I knew it was my turn to tell them my side of the story, one that John might not take too well. All I hope was that Gerald gave me enough time to finish before bursting in.
“I always knew that you were hiding something.” John said; his tone bitter but without blame for which I was glad. “But Emily and Vladimir as well…”
Meanwhile, Casey was looking at me as though I had sprouted a second head. I shifted a little under her intense glance and was relieved when I heard footsteps entering the cave.
“We need to go.” Gerald said, his eyes skirting across the cave briefly and nodded at me, completely ignoring John and Casey. Resisting the urge to give him a lesson on politeness I nodded, knowing that he was right.
“You need to take them back.” I said, gesturing to my two friends and Gerald nodded. I hadn’t told Casey and John about my upcoming mission, that was private and I wanted to know that they would be heading back to safety after this.
“He is hurt.” I said to Vanessa, the red headed girl with healing powers. I was complete blown away when I discovered what her power was and for the first time in my life, I was jealous of someone else’s power. She nodded at me and kneed down next to John, and the two of them quickly exchange a few words and Vanessa placed her hand on his knee.
“What did you find out?” Gerald asked and Liam was looking at me with curiosity too. I retrieved my backpack from Adam and gave them a brief version of what had happened. Gerald nodded grimly as he scribbled something into a notepad, before handing this to Liam who in turn walk towards the older guys.
“What’s the plan now?” I whispered, having handed Casey some of my spare clothes so she was now changing in a hidden corner. It made be a little uncomfortable thinking about deceiving the rest of the team, my eyes stopping on Vanessa who was smiling at something that John had said, but this had to be done.
“Just do as I tell you and everything will work out fine.” Gerald said, giving me a pat on the shoulder before heading towards his overexcited cousins. My eyes widened at the uncharacteristic gesture, since when does Gerald pat anyone on the shoulder to reassure them?
“Told you he is a nice guy.” Liam somehow made his way next to me and chuckled, I merely shook his head at him. It would take a lot more than a pat on the shoulder to convince me that Gerald Fitz William is a decent human being.
“Are you coming with us?” I had no doubt that Gerald had shared his plan with Liam, whether he knew that destination or not. In respond the shaggy hair guy shrugged.
“It depends.” He said, letting me know that he knew more about the plan than I did. Stifling a sigh I tried not to let this get to me, after all the whole trip was done with the aim of helping me reach Katarina.
“Let’s go.” Gerald waved at everyone as Casey finally emerged from the corner she was changing in. I passed her a small canvas bag filled with water, food and some toiletries and she threw me a grateful look.
Trailing behind them I waited for some, any kind of signal from Gerald. I would like to think that I had complete faith in that guy but that would be fooling myself. The whole doubting Gerald thing was getting old but somehow I still couldn’t complete relax and trust that he would get me out.
With my eyes wide open, I saw Gerald discretely signaled Liam with a small wave. With an almost unperceivable nod the latter slowed down his pace and looked around. Catching my eyes briefly he winked at me and dropped something into the grass.
I looked around to make sure no one saw it too, and side stepped the object as I walked past it and gave it a surreptitious glance. It was just a black, cubic box that was barely palm sized. I have no idea what it was but my heart clenched, knowing that something was about to happen.
And I was more than ready.
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Hi people :D sorry for going MIA again! But the good news is that I have entered NaNoWriMo with Selection - whoooop, which means I will be able to finish (i think...) the book at the end of November!
So far it's been going well (fingers crossed), and you can track my progress here:
http://nanowrimo.org/participants/shadowcheah/novels/selection-carrying-on-from-oning-novel/stats
And for those of you who hasn't seen it yet I have done a one page novella for the SciFi competition, a little glimpse of the prequel Dark Ages. It's called Escape! So check it out and let me know what you think:
http://www.wattpad.com/story/25360914-dark-ages-novella-escape-scifriday-entry
Anyway I will try to upload every few days depending on my schedule, as a thank you to you guys for sticking with me and in hopes that I will thunder on with NaNoWriMo
Again, all these would be impossible without your support!
Please comment and vote