Chapter 7

Veronica’s POV

    I nodded at Callen before grabbing Reken’s hand, and running to the broken road. Callen will make it to Mike, he has to. He has too much determination to be took down this early... or at least I hoped. As we ran cannons were blowing like crazy.
    Once we reached the road and practically made a 180 before taking the driveway that was perpendicular to the path we just took. I looked to my left to see another, but steeper, hill a few feet beside us. I saw a not-so steep part that led up into an animal trail of some kind and decided it would be the way we would go. We had a few more minutes before we reached our escape route. As we ran curiosity peaked inside of me, wanting to look over at the scene to our right, but I was afraid of what I would see because of what I was already hearing; screams of terror, gut clenching battle cries, slashes, bashes and booms. Once we made it to our pathway, I couldn’t stand it any longer. I looked to my right off of the hill into the the field and immediately regretted it, as I knew I would.
    So much blood had been spilled that it was beginning to flow down the drainage system beside of the railroad tracks. There were body parts scattered across the field. There was even a young boy’s head lying on the ground and the twins were charging straight at it. They had a barbed wire line, running while catching people in the death trap. Then they ran over the head, which crushed into an unrecognizable mush. But there was still no sign of Callen or Mike. I felt so scared that I nearly stopped breathing, but then I felt something burning deep within me.
     No, the stern voice not my own, that usually came to me before a competition spoke,there’s no room in the arena for weakness. Get over yourself and do what Callen told you to do.
    “Come on” I said to Reken before pulling her up the hill beside us. All I saw were trees, leaves, and hills in front of us. We both got behind a rather large tree and looked back to take a closer look at how the battle in the field area was going. The number of survivors had decreased by at least half and the screams were beginning to come at a less steady rate. Then we saw him.
    Mike had some kind of beaker and held it in a defensive pose while making his way to the trail at the end of the field. Opposite of the path me and Reken were going. A man with two butterfly swords was running at him from behind. I looked over at Reken and she had her gun pointed at the man.
    “Wait!” I shouted pointing. Mike quickly threw the chemicals over his shoulder, without even looking at the assailant, then ran up the trail out of our sight without missing a beat. The blue, milky liquid contacted with the mans forehead  then burst into bright yellow flames. He screamed and began running in the other direction before falling down.
    Reken looked relieved, but I wasn’t. There was still no sign of Callen. Then I heard a rustle to my right.
    “Veronica! Look out!” Reken cried.
    I looked just in time to see a woman with a rapier, drawn back to strike. There wasn’t anything I could do in time to avoid getting hit, so my only option was to move my body so the wound I received wouldn’t be fatal. I turned my body so that the saber pierced my arm instead of my heart.
    I grabbed an arrow from my back and tried to stab her while she withdrew her weapon from my arm but she jumped back just in time to dodge my lunge. Then I felt the pain shoot up my arm and saw blood flow down my arm, dripping at my hand. I looked at Reken for support but she was frozen with a face of shock.
    “S-sissy?” Reken stammered.
    This crazy woman that just attacked is was her sister?!? I then looked back at Reken’s sister who had a menacing smile.
    “Oh yes, dear sister,” she snapped bitterly, “How could you notice this... this... thing in the training center but not even notice your own sister who volunteered just for you so we could rule this nation together? How could you?!?” She then began walking to where Reken stood.
    “L-lisa,” she struggled out through the tears. Then Lisa stopped and a smirk found it’s way onto her face.
    “You know what?” she questioned with a smile. I took this precious time to load an arrow into my bow but it wasn’t without struggle. I knew it would be the only one I could shoot in my current state, so I would have to make use of it.
    “I can just kill it” she said jerking her head in my direction, glaring at me, “and  then we could still rule together. It’s not too late!” she finished before laughing insanely.
    “No sissy!” Reken cried as Lisa began stalking back my way. I tried to pull the string of my bow back, but I couldn’t. My arm just wouldn’y pull. I began to panic as she got closer with every stride. She was right on me now.
    Is this really how it’s going to end? I thought blankly.
    “NOOO!!!!” Reken yelled as she brought her pistol up to Lisa, closed her eyes, and pulled the trigger. Lisa hissed in furry as the bullet pierced her leg before she fell. This gave me hope and strength, enough to pull back the string.
    As I aimed as she screeched at Reken, “You! How could you get corrupted  by her ways so easily? How could you do this to me?!?!”
    “Because you are a sick person set on dictatorship. YOU are the one who is corrupt!” Reken screamed back.
    “No! I am nothing but perfection! You know-” was all she got out before my arrow went perfectly through her jugular. Reken was on the ground sobbing when Lisa’s final breath left her lungs.
    “Come on” I said solemnly taking the arrow from Lisa’s neck, then grabbing her shoulder with my good arm, leading us deeper into the forest. After about two minutes of closely following the road but far enough that we could hide from any passerby that came, Reken’s sobs subsided to silent tears and little trembles here and there, but I was still worried.
    “Are you going to be okay?” I asked in a concerned voice. She simply sniffed and nodded her head. I gave her a nurturing rub on the back before continuing our tread. We stepped through the trees into the yard of a white house on top of a huge hill. I looked off the hill and saw the the road; past the road in a valley was a barn that was black and had a green metal roof. Then to the right of it I saw a creek then another barn that was mostly the natural color of wood, but was trimmed in red. Then I heard laughing from not very far down the road.
    “Get down!” I told Reken swiftly. We were on our stomachs instantly and straining to listen. I wondered who would be stupid enough to be so loud when a teenager with shortcut black hair and a katana stepped into our view.
    “This is going to be easy” he chuckled in a deep voice.
    “I know, right?” another boy the same age as the other laughed in a higher pitch. He had a rifle strapped with the barrel poking through his medium-length blond hair.
    A party of two? They would be easier to take out now. I looked at Reken for approval but she shook her head and pointed back to where the boys where standing.
    “I wouldn’t get so cocky...” another voice said from behind them. He had shortish wavy blond hair and held a huge claymore sword over his shoulder.
    “He’s right,” yet another voice said. It was a short boy with short blond hair and what I could only assume to be packages of explosives on a belt and strapped from shoulder to shoulder, which made me think, It would be pretty easy for him to throw some of that up here then detonate it... “you never know what will pop up in the arena.” He said looking straight up at where we were spying before, but luckily we had moved back to the cover of the trees after discovering we were outnumbered. The two leading boys pouted they continued there path forward.
    I looked back to Reken and whispered, “I bet the two in the back put the other two in front for cover...”
    “And that means we have a betrayal waiting to happen.” Reken stated matter-of-factly. Once the boys were out of sight we continued through the yard and into more woods. Then a few more minutes passed as we made our way into another larger clearing behind a red brick house, with the wooden barn directly across the road. I now saw that the barn had a black wooden fence following the road. I saw one of the short boy’s explosives lying at the fence
    It must have a motion sensor... good thing we’re taking the hills. I thought. We dashed through the open yard, each stride sending a wave of pain down my arm, hoping we wouldn’t be spotted by the boys which were still being louder than a herd of elephants. When we reached the edge I paused. I realized that the woods were becoming much more steep, which meant that we probably wouldn’t be able to keep sight of the road.
    “If we hurry we can keep up with the sound of the boys’ voices.” Reken whispered. So I quickly climbed up the hill with my good arm, Reken right behind me. We ran on spots with less leaves to prevent making noise, but it didn’t help very much. We went on following them for about ten minutes before we lost track of them.
    “Now what?” Reken asked.
    “We need to find a house.” I replied. I walked to the edge of the hill we were on and saw three houses next to the road.
    “That one,” I said pointing to the one on the far right; it was a ranch style house and had the remains of a chain link fence around it’s front yard, and was in front of an empty, uneven lot. There was a hill behind it and to the left with another brick house on top of it. To the left of the empty lot was a white house with a massive pine tree in the bottom edge closest to the house I pointed to.
    “How are they going to know we’re in that one?” Reken asked as we silently slid down the hill.
    “Oh, I’ve got an idea.” I simply replied before jumping across the creek and running across the road to our abandoned fortress.

Reviews

[EarthlyAneko]

yes. more is in order

[The Cute 1]

i like it