Once the big players of the war started to show up, no one could stay alive long enough to fight. It was amazing these people were still alive, they were either very powerful or really lucky.
“Here, this is the intersection,” Lynn jolted forward as the truck came to a stop. Rhea had given her an idea of what the place looked like where the people were, but she wasn’t sure if she was seeing it. Lynn opened the door to the truck and hopped out. Miles started to follow suit when she motioned for him to stay with the Truck.
“We need to protect the truck.”
He tilted his head and pursed his lips, but did what he was told and climbed back into the truck.
Lynn took a breath and decided on a direction. She didn’t know if it was a good one, but she had to start somewhere. She walked a block before seeing the building that Rhea described to her. She smiled and walked towards the boarded door, it was locked, naturally, so she pulled the door open as far as she could and closed her eyes. The magick came through her hand until the chain heated up and let loose. The door opened the rest of the way and Lynn smiled. Fire magick was hard for her, but it was useful.
She walked into the old building, glass crunching under her feet. She listened to the sound until it turned into her feet hitting cement. That’s odd, she thought. Cement shouldn’t be on this floor unless there wasn’t a basement. She stopped and tried to see what was in front of her, but the whole place was dark. She closed her eyes and reached out with her mind for anyone else that may be inside.
She didn’t realize that there was someone right behind her until she felt the cold steel of a gun barrel on the back of her head.
“I’m not here to hurt you,” she managed.
“Right, that’s what they all say,” the male voice was shaky. He wasn’t someone who was used to killing. Lynn raised her hands to show she wasn’t a threat.
“Really, I’m here to help. There are more of you, right?”
“Maybe. Maybe they are coming right now, to kill you.”
“Maybe you should put the gun down before you hurt yourself?” Lynn couldn’t help it. She was growing tired of playing nice.
“Tell me who you are and maybe I won’t shoot you,” he said, pushing the gun harder on her head.
Lynn didn’t say anything, she simply spun around, grabbing the barrel of the gun and pulled it from the guy’s hands. He looked at her, eyes wide with fear.
“What are you going to do with me?” he held his head up to look unafraid, which he was failing horribly at. He stood in a sliver of light that found its way into the building, and she could see that his hair was a light brown, His eyes were dark. The light was limited so it was hard to judge, it was clear he was built like a fighter, tall and muscular. He stood probably a half a foot taller than Lynn but he was obviously not trained to fight. He was just going off what he’d seen in the movies.
“Relax. I really am here to help you and your group.” She handed the gun back to him. “You’ll need this for real trouble.”
“Who are you?” He asked still watching her.
“My name is Lynn.” She smiled to seem less threatening. “You?”
“Jarod.”
“We have to get you guys out of here. I have a ride. Can you get your people?”
He nodded.
“Good, I’ll wait here, but you have to hurry,” Lynn motioned for him to go and he took off.
***
“This is them, huh?” Miles stepped out of the truck, no doubt to survey the group. There wasn’t much to see even Lynn knew that. An older man they called Martin with greying dark hair and his daughter Ali. She reminded Lynn of her son as they were probably close to the same age.
Another man called Jacson, who was closer to Lynn's age was helping others into the back of the truck. He glanced at her and winked and she instantly found herself not liking him. His dirty blonde hair was too close to another guy she knew with the same kind of smart ass.
“Where are we headed?” Jacson said with a grin on his face. Lynn narrowed her eyes.
“The mountains in Wyoming. It’s a long ride so get comfortable.” She smiled and turned to the front of the truck. “We should probably put the kid up there.” She said motioning for Martin to take the seat. The bench would be large enough for both himself and his daughter.
Lynn pulled herself into the military truck and sat towards the back. This way she would be able to see if anyone or anything was following them. She heard the engine kick on, but they didn’t move. Lynn stood and caught a glimpse of what was standing in the way.
In front of them was a man or man like figure with a hood and a bow with an arrow pointed at the truck. The arrow wasn’t like a normal arrow. It was made with energy somewhere between the colors blue and white and it sounded like electric volts. His eyes were white and even looked like energy. Lynn stared at the man for a moment. She’d never encountered anything like this. When it spoke, she shuddered.
“Give me the people and you can go,” the voice was low like a mans but with an echo of something else.
Lynn glanced at the guys she was in the truck with. Jarod was the first to say anything.
“That’s the bounty hunter that’s been catching people like us.”
“What is it?” Lynn said glancing back at the figure.
“I don’t know.”
Lynn carefully opened the back window and whispered, “Miles, put it in reverse and get the hell out of here.”
Before she could do anything else, he was moving. The truck sped back from the bounty hunter and Miles threw it into drive, taking a hard turn to get it turned around. Lynn glanced at the figure as it let the energy arrow loose on them. It was faster than she expected. Without thinking, she put her hand up and created a barrier between the truck and the arrow.
It hit the wall she created and the energy went in all directions, the arrow snaked up the wall until it could get over it. Then it became the arrow she’d tried to stop once again and hit the truck. There was silence for a moment as it tipped onto its side. The crash of the metal on the concrete muffled by the magick around them. Lynn felt the truck throw her, but she didn’t realize it until the soft grass caught her body. The impact took her breath, from her body. She closed her eyes, willing herself to happier times. When she was younger and before this war. A flash of the birth of her son entered her mind. She smiled and looked into his beautiful blue eyes before the pain brought her back to the present.
Lynn forced her eyes open. She could hear crying and see the blood on the concrete, but it didn’t register that it could be hers. She forced herself to roll onto her back and control her ragged breathing. She was on the earth, the grass was against her body. She could heal. It would drain her so far she could die, but she could do it. Lynn had to chance it and at least be good enough to fight if needed. She closed her eyes and pictured her body put together, the way her hips attached to her abdomen and the way the skin and muscles worked. She felt pain as they slid back into place. Then the deep cut in her chest. She willed it closed and held her breath as her lungs filled with air and it didn’t hurt anymore.
Lynn opened her eyes and swallowed hard. She could feel the headache from the strain she’d just done coming, but she ignored it. She sat up and took in the scene around her. Two of her passengers were dead on the cement. Jarod was unconscious still in the bed of the truck and Miles was surveying the people they’d meant to take all the way to Wyoming.
“The kid and her dad are okay,” Miles said seeing her moving. “I thought you were dead.”
“I was close,” Lynn said standing. The earth moved under her feet and she almost fell. Miles grabbed her waist and looked at her. “You can’t fight like this.”
“I can’t fight that thing if it comes after us anyway.” She shook her head. “I don’t know how, but it got that energy arrow over my protections.”
“Let’s worry about getting out of sight first. At least we managed to get
to the outskirts of town,” Miles smiled, pulling her along. “There’s an over pass over there we can stay under. Hopefully, we can stay off their radar.”
They made their way to what they hoped was safety for at least the night and huddled under the broken bridge.
“Are you alright?” Lynn asked as Jarod finally sat across from her.
“I don’t know. I have a really bad headache,” he rubbed the back of his head.
“You’re lucky to be alive,” Lynn said not moving. She needed to sleep if she was going to get any of her energy back. It didn’t matter that she might dream of Kalerian or her past. She needed to rest if she was going to fight and it was looking like she was.
***
Lynn woke up with a start when the others were rushing to put out the flames of the fire they’d built. She hadn’t quite registered what it was that was happening. Miles grabbed her arm and pulled her back further under the overpass. Lynn opened her mouth to say something, but he put his finger up to keep her quite.
She glanced back towards the fire to see someone standing there kicking at the ashes. Lynn knew who it was and that the others didn’t have a chance if they didn’t get out of here.
“I know you’re there,” he said, not moving.
“It’s Kalerian. You have to get these guys out of here. There are other cars on the road, just get in one and go,” Lynn stepped forward and Miles grabbed her arm.
“You can’t fight him on your own,” he said looking at her.
“We don’t have a choice.” Miles just stood there until Lynn turned to him and raised her eyebrows. “Go,” she almost yelled.
“What about the other guy?”
“Outrun him,” Lynn answered simply. Miles sighed and pulled the group together and started walking towards the highway in the other direction. He glanced back and waited for a second. Lynn figured he was making sure she was really going to stay. She just watched them until she heard him again.
“Are you going to run off with your little friends?” Kalerian hadn’t moved when Lynn looked back. She still wasn’t feeling good, but she didn’t have much of a choice.
“No, why are you scared of little old me?” Lynn knew it was snarky and probably a bad idea, but she didn’t care.
“Why did you think you could come here and I wouldn’t find you?” He still didn’t move.
“Somehow I thought you’d have something more important to handle.” Lynn waited. She knew he’d make a move at any point.
“I don’t want to kill you,” he said almost sounding sincere.
“That’s what you keep saying.”
“Why don’t you just listen instead of fighting me constantly?”
Lynn could see the glimmer of his sword at his side. He didn’t believe what he was saying any more than she did.
“Yeah, I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Lynn reached behind her and pulled out her pair of Sai. She put her weight on her back leg and waited.
“Too bad.” It was only a second before he was coming at her. She barely had time to react and block his first blow with her Sai. He pulled the sword back, the sound of metal rubbing on metal made Lynn cringe just a little. She took a step back and turned her Sai so the handle was forward. She knew better than to attack Kalerian head on. She watched as he laughed and put his hand up. The air seemed to be sucked from her chest. She tried fighting it but couldn’t find her footing. She dropped her Sai and closed her eyes, looking for a different element. Water was the one she tapped into first. She felt the air turn cold around her and then the sky thunder above her. She opened her eyes, still struggling to breathe. She called the storm closer until it was over them. A lightning bolt came down with the storm and struck Kalerian in the back. He let go of Lynn and air flooded her lungs. She fell to her knees breathing as best she could. Lynn slid her hands around her pair of Sai. She watched Kalerian, but he wasn’t moving.
Lynn bit her lip. She could end him right now if she wanted. Lynn pulled herself to her feet and walked towards him. He watched, not moving, as she got closer, but she could feel her pulse racing at the idea of killing him right now in this way. Lynn was not a killer, but this was different. This was the creator of all her pain.
She knelt and pulled him onto his back. “You can’t kill me,” he said quietly.
Lynn put the edge of her Sai to his throat. All it would take would be to push it into his neck and he’d die right in front of her.
“You never could. We are linked,” he said laughing slightly.
“I don’t want to be linked to you,” Lynn said more to herself than him.
“That’s too bad. It’s the way it is and I won’t let you break it,” he laughed and pushed her off him. She fell to her back and rolled onto her feet. When she looked where Kalerian had been, he was gone.
Lynn sighed and put her pair of Sai away. She wasn’t sure what was going to happen next, but she had to get back to Rhea and the rest of them. There would be plenty of time for Kalerian and figuring out what he meant.
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