Flame (Fireborn) (41 page)

Slipping past the
lopsided tree like a ghost, I move as fast as I can, not daring to
look anywhere but ahead. I don't know how many Saguinox are out
there, and I don't want to find out. It's hard, but I try to run. My
bare feet press against jagged rocks and uneven ground, but I tell
myself the pain is nothing. Survival is everything. Pressing ahead, I
ignore thorns from thick shrubbery. I hear a sound and I still,
completely frozen. My heart's beating as loud as the gunshots.

"Kenna." The
voice is hoarse, filled with pain.

"Chloris?" I
whisper in the dark, a sudden relief filling me.

"Right here."
She sounds like she's next to me. Searching, I see nothing but
leaves.

"Where?"

Something soft touches
my shoulder, and I jump back. "Here," she answers.

I blink, as
understanding dawns. Parts of her face are visible like her eyes, and
her swollen mouth, but everything else is hidden, camouflaged by the
night and her body.

"You're a tree,"
I state the obvious, dumbfounded to see her in her other form.

"Sort of. It's
camouflage," she replies, wincing. "Can you get off my
leg?"

"Oh. Sorry."
I move, shifting my weight to my other foot. She's still cringing
though so I ask, "Where are you hurt?"

"Everywhere.
Burns. Scrapes." She closes her eyes in pain, breathing hard. "I
was thrown in the air. I think I have a couple broken ribs, and the
explosion did something to my body," she whispers. "Kenna,
I can feel parts of my powers returning, but I can't open them. I
hurt all over."

"Did they bomb
us?"

"I think so.
Either that or they've hidden explosives everywhere. Probably both."

"Where are
Nymphora and Kaiden?" With alarm, my eyes search around Chloris,
but I see nothing. "Where?"

She doesn't answer, but
she shakes her head, the same trepidation reflected on her face.

"I was behind you,
and then I was thrown over there." Her head jerks forward in the
direction I came from. "I crawled over and hid here."

"How long ago?"

"Ten minutes,
maybe less. I was knocked out good."

"They're here
somewhere. They have to be. We'll find them." I promise, not
willing to think of a different alternative. "There are trees
everywhere. They're just hidden somewhere." I break off as I see
the expression on her face.

Her eyes are open and
she's staring dazedly at me. I step nearer. They're glazed looking
and glossy. Her body has a brownish tint to it that makes her look
deceptively like a tree. Yet, this close I can smell burnt flesh and
rotting skin.

"Chloris," I
try to shake her gently, but firmly so she'll look at me. "We're
going to get out of here." Her skin's strangely dry and ashy.
Slowly, her eyes roll up, and I can see the startling whites against
her green face. "I'm not leaving without you, Chloris!"

She can't hear me
anymore. Seeing the expression on her face, I grab her before she
abruptly falls. Any ounce of power she might have been using
vanishes. Putting her arm over my shoulder, I stand with her. Real
terror drums through me. I have no idea where we are, no powers to
speak of, and Chloris is putting all her weight on me, unable to move
on her own.

Unexpectedly,
searchlights shine around us and I know the Saguinox are out there
looking. Waiting.

A bullet whizzes past
me.

"Duck, Chloris!"
I shriek. When I crouch, her body goes down with me. Her eyes are
completely closed now, and I'm petrified she's lost consciousness
from the pain. Seemingly out of nowhere, lightning flashes across the
sky, followed by a raucous rumbling.

"Haven't you
heard? Escape is an illusion."

Blood.

It smells like I'm
drenched in it. I try to swallow but I can't. The taste is in my
mouth. I can't tell if it's mine or if it belongs to someone else.
Maybe both.

My eyes are trying to
adjust in the dark, but spots of white and orange flutter across my
vision. Disorientated, my fingers clutch at the ground beneath me,
feeling the soft soil. Trying to discern where I am, I lift my hand.
Nothing. I can't feel anything there. Terror ripples through me.

Taking a deep breath, I
inhale in debris and ash. Immediately, I begin coughing. The movement
hurts my chest, and my feeble body jerks in a spasm. I try to speak,
but nothing comes out. My fingers dig deeper into the ground,
desperate to move, desperate to feel
anything
. But there's
only a void.

Motionless, I realize
I'm lying down. Maybe I'm staring at the sky, but all I see are spots
too bright to be real. A deafening silence roars in my ears. It's an
unnatural kind of quiet. My body is numb, but my mind is beginning to
stir. The last thing I remember is Kaiden cutting the wires. Like a
movie, snippets play in my head: going into the caves, trying to free
the prisoners, and an alarm shrieking.

A loud boom shakes the
ground I lie on. As if on cue, every part of me suddenly becomes
alive. Nerve endings tingle, and I let out a guttural sound. Arching
my back, I strain to breathe clean air amidst the debris floating
into my mouth. When I'm breathing again, the first thing I do is look
at my trembling body. I'm covered in dirt and blood. My dress is
drenched in soil and body fluids darken the once scarlet color into
an almost black one. My chest hurts, but it isn't my lungs that make
me ache. My skin's cut, and I notice bruises and scrapes covering my
arms and legs, too.

"Holy crap."
My shocked whisper barely drifts into the night before a loud sound
shoots past it, violently surprising me. It sounds like gunfire.
Alert and in pain, I know I have to move. I'm on the ground with
nowhere to hide and nothing to hide with. Trying to crawl, I attempt
to roll over. It takes a few tries, but the sounds of more gunfire
motivate me to keep struggling.

I'm crawling through a
war zone. Even though I don't see any bodies, there are debris,
holes, and other materials like glass on the ground. Some parts are
covered in smoke, and when I pass through it I cover my mouth. The
smell is sickeningly sweet, and I'm petrified it's filled with
poison.

One knee is bloody with
the ground pressing into it. I want to walk, but I'm afraid I'll be
seen. My vision's still spotty, but eventually I see grass and
bushes. The prison walls loom ahead, covered by a faint cloud of
smoke. Vague memories of Kaiden putting something on the fence to
disable the electricity drift into my mind.

There's a part up ahead
where a piece of land broke, sliding under as if something has
collapsed beneath it. I crawl there, hiding behind part of a tree.
The gunshots sound even louder here, and I wonder if I've moved
myself nearer. There's no time to change though because an
earsplitting boom explodes in the sky, and I crouch, trying to
protect my head with my hands. Gravel and other debris fall on me.
It's so thick I choke. Curling myself into a tighter ball, I find
it's impossible to shield myself from the torrent of soil, ash, and
sticks, but I try anyway. Glass and thorns scrape my skin. I wince,
but I don't move, riding out the waves like a vulnerable seed in the
wind.

It's over in less than
a minute. When it's done, my ears are numb, and I hear sounds as
distant echoes.
I can't stay here.
Checking my surroundings, I
try to analyze my next move. If I climb over, it will only bring me
back to the Saguinox and probable death.

I'm on the edge of a
very small field, but beyond that trees and dense shrubbery surround
this place. Making the only decision I can, I go to my right where
the trees are heaviest. Crouching on wobbly feet, I note I'm about
fifty feet away. It's not far, but right now it feels like miles.
Something burns, and I'm sure I've stepped on a piece of glass
somewhere. My feet and body are completely bare, with the exception
of my flimsy dress, but I don't feel the night chill. Adrenaline
filled panic and heat from the thunderous explosions wash over me,
giving me an electric high that keeps me moving when I know I
shouldn't be.

Slipping past the
lopsided tree like a ghost, I move as fast as I can, not daring to
look anywhere but ahead. I don't know how many Saguinox are out
there, and I don't want to find out. It's hard, but I try to run. My
bare feet press against jagged rocks and uneven ground, but I tell
myself the pain is nothing. Survival is everything. Pressing ahead, I
ignore thorns from thick shrubbery. I hear a sound and I still,
completely frozen. My heart's beating as loud as the gunshots.

"Kenna." The
voice is hoarse, filled with pain.

"Chloris?" I
whisper in the dark, a sudden relief filling me.

"Right here."
She sounds like she's next to me. Searching, I see nothing but
leaves.

"Where?"

Something soft touches
my shoulder, and I jump back. "Here," she answers.

I blink, as
understanding dawns. Parts of her face are visible like her eyes, and
her swollen mouth, but everything else is hidden, camouflaged by the
night and her body.

"You're a tree,"
I state the obvious, dumbfounded to see her in her other form.

"Sort of. It's
camouflage," she replies, wincing. "Can you get off my
leg?"

"Oh. Sorry."
I move, shifting my weight to my other foot. She's still cringing
though so I ask, "Where are you hurt?"

"Everywhere.
Burns. Scrapes." She closes her eyes in pain, breathing hard. "I
was thrown in the air. I think I have a couple broken ribs, and the
explosion did something to my body," she whispers. "Kenna,
I can feel parts of my powers returning, but I can't open them. I
hurt all over."

"Did they bomb
us?"

"I think so.
Either that or they've hidden explosives everywhere. Probably both."

"Where are
Nymphora and Kaiden?" With alarm, my eyes search around Chloris,
but I see nothing. "Where?"

She doesn't answer, but
she shakes her head, the same trepidation reflected on her face.

"I was behind you,
and then I was thrown over there." Her head jerks forward in the
direction I came from. "I crawled over and hid here."

"How long ago?"

"Ten minutes,
maybe less. I was knocked out good."

"They're here
somewhere. They have to be. We'll find them." I promise, not
willing to think of a different alternative. "There are trees
everywhere. They're just hidden somewhere." I break off as I see
the expression on her face.

Her eyes are open and
she's staring dazedly at me. I step nearer. They're glazed looking
and glossy. Her body has a brownish tint to it that makes her look
deceptively like a tree. Yet, this close I can smell burnt flesh and
rotting skin.

"Chloris," I
try to shake her gently, but firmly so she'll look at me. "We're
going to get out of here." Her skin's strangely dry and ashy.
Slowly, her eyes roll up, and I can see the startling whites against
her green face. "I'm not leaving without you, Chloris!"

She can't hear me
anymore. Seeing the expression on her face, I grab her before she
abruptly falls. Any ounce of power she might have been using
vanishes. Putting her arm over my shoulder, I stand with her. Real
terror drums through me. I have no idea where we are, no powers to
speak of, and Chloris is putting all her weight on me, unable to move
on her own.

Unexpectedly,
searchlights shine around us and I know the Saguinox are out there
looking. Waiting.

A bullet whizzes past
me.

"Duck, Chloris!"
I shriek. When I crouch, her body goes down with me. Her eyes are
completely closed now, and I'm petrified she's lost consciousness
from the pain. Seemingly out of nowhere, lightning flashes across the
sky, followed by a raucous rumbling.

"Haven't you
heard? Escape is an illusion."

The voice is close, and
I freeze, motionless. It's a voice I've never heard before. It's
breathy and low, filled with a Saguinox accent that makes me fear the
unknown.

"We have a friend
of yours."

For an endless moment,
I feel completely trapped. What does he mean? Nymphora and Kaiden's
faces flash in my mind in snippets. Suddenly I'm picturing them hurt,
and in pain, at the mercy of a Saguinox guard. Clutching Chloris's
arm tightly, I attempt to maneuver us further back. I try to be
silent, but her dead weight is impossible to conceal, and the leaves
hiding us rustle like bells.

Laughter rings out, and
his voice is amused. "Do you really think you can hide?"
His accent punctures each word, emphasizing it like a stabbing
dagger. "I smell you. Do you know that? I hear your beating
heart. I can taste your perfect fear." He makes a satisfied
sound, as if he's sampled something delicious. "Death's
waiting." He speaks those words in whisper, a sick awe lacing
his smooth tone.

A psycho alien!
Somehow I know we're in for it now.

"Do you know what
I do to little humans like you?" he asks, the low rumble of his
voice sending chills through my already frozen skin. I push Chloris
further back. A light rain is beginning to fall, and every drop
sticks to her like syrup. Trying to ignore it, I frantically place
leaves and other plant parts over her body. Her swollen red lips are
the last part of her I can see, and I place a large leaf over it
until she's completely disappeared.

I hear a loud shrieking
and the wind picks up. Before I can blink, everything around us
begins to crumble. Leaves, shrubs and trees are literally breaking
before my very eyes. The trunk of a tree next to me falls, and I move
back to avoid it, but before I do that it shatters into dust. A
thousand leaves collapsing and disintegrating into brown powder drown
my scream out.

Something hits me, and
I'm flying. It feels like an invisible hand is pulling me, and
shooting my body across the sky. All I see is smoke, and blackened
earth before I'm stopped, suspended in mid air. My legs are flailing
helplessly for an unbearable amount of time, then my body violently
turns, viciously jerked back toward the ground. Plummeting down
faster than a fireball, I choke on my own vomit as the force of
whatever he's doing pushes the contents of my stomach up into my
throat. The ground is hard when I finally fall, and something inside
my leg snaps, breaking into a dozen parts.