Survival

XXIV: Plan B

Liam's POV.

No matter how much I tried to eliminate my concerns, my thoughts continuously ran back to Sylvia,
"Jasmine, you have to tell me what happened," I persisted for the hundredth time. About an hour ago, Ashlyn and Jasmine had run in, Ashlyn saying something about not doing anything stupid before rushing off before I could even comprehend what was going on. At this current point in time Jasmine was standing by the door while I paced back and forth along the windows; glaring at Jasmine from time to time. Jasmine just shook her head sternly, not bothering to respond through words. I took a deep breath, releasing it through my nose. If I wasn't careful one of two things would happen, I'd either do something to Jasmine I would regret later, or I'd end up running out of our little hide-a-away and get myself killed. I knew both options wouldn't be wise. So, I tried focusing on other things. Even as I tried to think about sporadic topics they all led back to Sylvia. Me shooting at a target for the tenth time out in the rain, Sylvia shooting flawlessly. Learning how to ride a horse, Sylvia used to not even know what a horse was. Hitting someone in the head with a dagger, Sylvia laughing at how I always missed. Not wanting to get up after going on a raid, Sylvia always having lots of energy and complaining about how lazy I was. Cleaning up the blood from someone getting shot in the head, Sylvia rolling her eyes at how I always complained about getting messy. No matter what I thought of, it all somehow led back to Sylvia. Sylvia... The name still seemed so foreign on my tongue,
"Would you stop pacing for my sake!? I can feel your anxiety from all the way over here," Jasmine finally growled, snorting when I just stopped, not realizing how I had lost track of my actions outside of my mind. I shook my head, my head which could be such a prison. I remembered this feeling quite well. Everyone here had tried teaching me how to push this feeling away, but nothing was working. I had this same dreadful feeling when Viper had me pinned to her chest while she consulted her companions. The feeling of knowing the people you cared for was getting hurt and you could do absolutely nothing about it. I clenched my fists, cursing at myself. That was then, I'm smarter now, stronger, more capable. I rolled my eyes and sighed looking down at my hand, well at least I was more capable in some cases. But I knew I could fight with Sylvia's make-shift weapon. I smiled at how smart she was, out of the two of us she was always the headstrong one, always coming up with the craziest ideas. Truthfully, I'm rather surprised I remember so much about her. I clenched and unclenched my teeth, I had lost her once, I wasn't just about to stand by and lose her again; not when I could lose her for good this time...
"Where are you going? Liam!" Jasmine tried grabbing my arm as I pulled the door open,
"I'm finding my sister," I replied sternly,
"We both know that's not a good idea," She huffed, her voice strained. That's when I heard it, a loud, high pitched, yell,
"What the fuck was that?" I mumbled glancing down both hallways on either side of us. It didn't sound like someone screaming in pain... Nor anything to do with being scared or hurt,
"I have no clue... But that doesn't mean to go investigate!" Jasmine hissed when I started walking out of the room,
"I'll be fine, just stay here, I can't risk it being something important," I ordered, Jas sighing heavily, knowing she couldn't change my mind. I stalked down the hall towards the sound that rang out every couple of seconds. I walked close to the wall, preparing myself for the worse,
"Liam!" I halted mid-step. It couldn't be... I quickened my pace,
"Hello!?" I knew that voice... But how did they-
"Liam!" I heard a deeper far more recognizable voice call after me,
"Walker?" I questioned, watching the group of three. Anisha peaked her head out from behind Walker, while Cornelius had his hand over his mouth about ready to shout again when he finally noticed me,
"Oh hey, Liam- Wait, Liam!?" Sylvia's interesting friend flung his arms into the air doing a small scream of victory. Though it was cracked and very annoying as he still tried to keep it quiet,
"How did you guys get back in here?" I questioned, looking them up and down, none of them other than Walker seemed injured... I shook my head, only a god could answer as to why they were even still alive at this point. Anisha did some hand movements to Cornelius who then turned back to me saying,
"That doesn't matter, we have the plant to heal Jason," My eyes widened, the only thing running through my head being shock. They weren't hurt, had gotten into the base, and they found The Dragon's Fire?!
"I'll stick with you for now," Walker stated when I glanced at him. I nodded, leading them down the hall
"Who's this?" Jasmine squinted questioningly at Corny,
"Sylvia's friend, he and Anisha got The Dragon's Fire," As soon as Jas Spotted Anisha pulling out a red flower she grabbed her wrist and pulled her inside the room. I followed after everyone else was in, closing the door behind me,
"Do you know how to make it work?" Jasmine quarried pulling her to the table where Jason was passed out. I walked over to one of the windows with Walker,
"How is it looking?" I said without looking away from the window. The rain was still pouring, the smoke adding onto the mist,
"Truthfully... Not good. The Ameeregas have the upper hand," Walker sighed placing both his hands on the table beside the window,
"For now," I responded, my mind whirling for an answer to an impossible question, how in the world were we going to beat this?
"Yes, for now," Walker glanced back over to where Anisha, Corny, and Jasmine were tending to Jason. Was there even a point, though? How many of us were going to get out of this alive? I didn't even know what had happened to Rylee or Sylvia, for all I know they're both dead. I felt a heaviness in my chest, almost as if a shadow was looming over me, constantly reminding me of what was happening all around us,
"How much longer until he can be on his feet?" Walker questioned, walking over to the table,
"At least an hour... Maybe more, he should start to become more conscious soon though," Jasmine explained. Abandoning the window, I glanced at what they were doing, by the looks of it they had made the leaves of the flower into a pulp and put it on Jason's wound, then they were forcing the petals of the flower down his throat. Even though he didn't always seem like it, Walker was good at taking authority when he needed to, and everyone seemingly always listened to him,
"We don't have that kind of time," He walked back over to the window, looking out at the fire,
"We also need to find Sylvia, if Jasmine would tell us what happened, maybe we could start with that," I glared at Jas, who just looked at the ground,
"What happened?" Walker strode up to Jasmine. It almost seemed as though she wasn't going to speak, but then she released a breath her shoulders sagging in defeat,
"Ashlyn and I... We found Rylee's body, Sylvia wasn't there. Ashlyn said it would only cause problems if Liam knew, which I agreed with. She then went to go and try finding the person who had killed Rylee... She assumed that if she could find Sylvia she'd find the culprit," I sighed, realizing why Ashlyn had seemed to be in such a daze, I couldn't even begin to guess what that was like for her. Ashlyn and Rylee had always been inseparable, they did everything together, and no matter what, they always stuck together,
"We have to find her, Jasmine, could you stay here with Corny and Anisha?" Walker asked,
"Of course," Was her instant response,
"Liam, you come with me. Do you know which way she went?" Walker turned to Jasmine once more,
"Down the hallway, close to the back of the building," He nodded before leading me out of the room. There was a mutual silence between us as we stalked through the halls toward the back. Even though we had our differences, when we decided to, Walker and I made a good team, and currently, we both had the same goal in mind. Walker raised his hand, both of us pressing close to the wall as two people ran past us where four halls met. As soon as they past Walker put his hand down and we continued on,
"Where should we go from here?" I glanced at Walker from looking down through a window, we had made it to the end of the hall, and still no sign of Ashlyn other than a couple of dead bodies that anyone could have made,
"I don't-" Walker line of speech ended when a large bang came from a building only a few yards away, catching on fire only a few seconds later,
"What's in that building?"
"We haven't fixed that one up... There's just old stuff in there, nothing really of use," Walker thought for a moment, looking down at the building, "However... It would make the perfect place to hide someone,"
"You think Sylvia's there?"
"And most likely Ashlyn as well, I do believe the explosion was most likely her doing," I nodded, I wouldn't put anything past her,
"How do we get down there though?" As my mind started to catch up with my worrying, I realized that the building was going to collapse soon, and if Sylvia and Ashlyn were still in there, they would surely be killed,
"There's a door keep in a room just over here," We ran down the hall until coming across a room, walking into it. I glanced back at the burning building one more time, sending a silent prayer that my sister was alright before following Walker. He opened up a floorboard on the ground, we had set up different types of exits all around the building in case someone needed to get somewhere quickly and couldn't go all the way back to the stairs. Walker put his finger to his mouth looking back down. I crouched down beside him looking down the whole. There were three people below, two Ameeregas, and one Taipan by the looks of it. Walker slowly pulled out his ax, observing the three-fight closely. Knowing that Walker knew what he was doing, I simply waited for his action. The Taipan managed to shove one of the Ameeregas against the wall, but the other one came up from behind and pinned his arms to his sides. Just them, Walker threw his ax right when they turned, hitting the guy who had the Taipan pinned right below the neck, breaking both his neck and spine by the looks of it. With a fluent movement, I jumped down from above, hitting the other man squarely in the chest. My make-shift weapon easily pierced through his jacket and into lungs and heart. The Ameeregas fell to the ground within seconds,
"Thank," Mumbled the Taipan who we'd helped, only then when I got a good look at him did I realize it was Lucas,
"Why don't you come with us, we might need your help," Lucas nodded without question. As soon as Walker removed his ax we headed down the hall back towards the window,
"The quickest way from here is down," Walker stated, pushing the window up. My stomach tightened looking down, it wasn't too far, and I knew I could make it, but I always preferred the option that didn't involve heights... But I had to, Sylvia would do this no problem, I know she would. Walker jumped first, going into a summersault as soon as he hit the ground,
"You first," Lucas motioned for me to go. I sighed giving him a glare before climbing outside where I was instantly met by smoke and rain. Taking a deep breath, I pushed myself off the wall, the fall felt like forever but was only a couple of seconds before I hit the ground, rolling into a summersault as Walker had,
"Not so bad now was it," Walker taunted, he knew I disliked heights,
"Shut up," I shot back glancing up at Lucas who was about to jump. Before he even hit the ground I'd already started running towards the building that was turning into a beacon. I ran up to the door and tried prying it open but it only moved about an inch or so before refusing to corporate, something must be holding it back...
"We can open the mental doors!" Lucas called, covering his mouth as he tried to protect his lungs from the smoke that was quickly accumulating in the air. I coughed following Lucas around to another side of the building. I instantly noticed how he was trying to lift a metal door and ran over to help. It did budge for a few seconds, but then Walker came up, and as soon as his strength was added the door whined and groaned before giving way, letting out a high-pitched screech. I coughed covering my mouth with the sleeve of my jacket. I tried squinting through the smoke which caused my eyes to start watering, but I couldn't make anything out. And on top of that, the fire was spreading, trying to devour everything in its way,
"Over here!" Walker called. I quickly ran towards his voice, the smoke starting to flow outside, though it was still being created too fast to make a difference. Walker wrapped someone's arm around his shoulder before motioning back to the ground. As another spasm of coughing broke out I barely managed to glimpse Sylvia lying unconscious against a wall. I quickly grabbed her arm, pulling her up. I winced stumbling forward when the fire got close enough to vividly feel. Coming out of nowhere Lucas grabbed Sylvia's other arm and we both made our way as quickly as possible to the exit. But I couldn't stop the sinking feeling when there was a huge creaking sound above us,
"Run!" I screamed just as a metal beam fell from the roof. I collapsed to the ground just as the beam hit the ground where we had been moments before. I felt someone come up and drag me away from the fire and smoke. I quickly regained my bearings and stood up on my knees coughing,
"Sylvia..." I groaned wiping the tears from my eyes that were caused by the smoke. I stumbled forward toward Sylvia who laid motionless on the ground. I instantly went for her neck, feeling her pulse,
"It's there but weak," I stated, knowing Walker and Lucas were coughing near me,
"Come on Sylvia... Wake up," I shook her, wiping my nose on my sleeve as it started to run. I couldn't lose her again...
"Ahh!" I groaned falling backward as a fist came flying at my face. I clutched my face which was snow stinging badly,
"And she lives," Lucas remarked weakly a few feet away,
"You should have known not to stand over me when I'm not awake," Sylvia remarked weakly when I glared at her. I just chuckled rolling my eyes,
"I thought you were going to die..."
"Pfft! And let you have all the fun? When in a million years would I pass up the chance to prove how much better I am at everything compared to you," We both started laughing laying down on the ground,
"Where's Ashlyn?" Walker asked from behind us. We both sat up and turned around to see Mikah sitting next to Walker,
"She... She's with her sister. And let's just say we won't have to worry about Batch anymore," Walker nodded, looking back at the collapsing building in solemn,
"At least they're together now..." Sylvia spoke quietly while watching the flames. We all fell silent for a moment,
"What's the plan for our next move?" Mikah budded in. I sighed shaking my head, Mikah was always moving forward onto the next step no matter the situation,
"I'm not sure... Even though we don't have to worry about Batch, the Ameeregas still have the upper hand," Walker stated glumly, pushing himself up onto his feet,
"There has to be something we can do though, right?" Lucas quarried, concern written on his face. I turned my attention back to Sylvia, who was staring at the fire that was lapping at the building, her amber eyes holding a new light to them Though that's when I realized she was practically bare...
"Here," I quickly shrugged off my jacket and wrapped it around her. She gladly pulled it over her, looking back at the others,
"I do believe the solution is quite simple," Sylvia said trying to stand up on her feet. I rushed up to help her stand, she was clearly still weak,
"Is that so?" Walker crossed his arms, looking at her expectantly but not with much hope,
"Of course, or I wouldn't have said so, duh," She rolled her eyes as if we were all children who knew nothing,
"Well, would you like to share it then?" Lucas spoke up, pulling himself off the ground,
"Well... You guys still have TNT or bombs or something that can make a big explosion, right?" She questioned, placing her hand on her hip, though she quickly wrapped it back around my shoulder when she found her legs still didn't want to support her,
"Yes... Why?" Walker asked slowly. I mentally prepared myself for whatever it was she was going to say next. I still to this day remember some of her berserk ideas, and those didn't even involve anything that was naturally dangerous...
"I think... That just maybe... We might need to blow some shit up,"

How was this chapter for you guys? I could have made this one longer... But my mind just isn't really wanting to write in detail, but I did want to get this chapter out, so I wrote it anyway! Hope you enjoyed it! :) Also... To my surprise, if I don't come up with any more crazy ideas this book might end in two more chapters- O>O BUT- I will be planning on writing one maybe two more books for this series. However, I could not say when I could start on those because I will be focussing all of my writing on writing my next series with my brother. So, if you would like you could read that one when we start publishing. But anyway, back to this book, leave your comments and advice down below in the comments! And stay tuned for the next update! >:D