Survival

XXV: Uncovered Truths

(Liam's double-sided sword)

Sylvia's POV.

Was it stupid? Yes. Would it work? Probably not. But did it sound fun as heck? Absolutely. That plus the fact that it was currently our only option,
"Alright, so, Walker and Lucas find Lindsey and set the bombs. Sylvia and Mikah get Jason to the hiding spot and tell Corny and Anisha to get everyone else to meet up there. While I... Try and get as many Ameeregas in front of the main base," Liam finished with a sigh. I smiled, nodding in conformation, he had gotten it all correct,
"Alright, let's get this show on the road then," We all ran in different directions. Walker and Lucas heading towards the tunnels where Lindsey last had been, Liam going around the building to the front in search of Nicole, who Walker had supposedly spotted near his place, while Mikah and I were heading towards a spot where we could climb up to get back inside the base. Even though I hadn't really given my limbs enough time to support myself, the idea of blowing up the Taipans base had given me plenty of energy. So, I simply ignored the protest my body was giving me, and soon it submitted, excepting the fact that I wasn't going to stop,
"Here," Mikah pulled up to a stop, brushing his soaked hair out of his eyes. There was a metal ladder that led all the way up to the roof, but we only needed to go up to the second story. Mikah jumped up onto a metal container, reaching his hand down, which I gladly took to help myself help. Normally I would never do that, but my soar body was winning over the pride of my mind. Mikah Jumped over the short distance to the ladder, grabbing onto the bars before starting his climb up. I grimaced looking from the metal on the steps to my bare feet. Sighing in defeat I jumped over, preparing myself for the sharp pain I knew my feet would feel. Even though I knew it would hurt, I still jumped up almost slipping off the ladder when my feet hit them. I cursed, gripping the sidebars as tightly as possible,
"You're not helping either!" I hissed quietly at the rain pouring around me, it was difficult to keep a secure grip on the ladder since it was wet, making it slick and easy to slide down to your death,
"Hurry up!" Mikah called down from a few feet ahead. I rolled my eyes, mumbling to myself as I ignored the pain and climbed the stairs, I seriously needed to work on getting calluses on my feet after this. It took me a great deal of effort to haul myself up the last few steps, but then I was inside, out of the rain, and running on an old carpet. Since Liam had told Mikah where the others were at and sense he knew the building better than me, he led the way. But as we ran through the hall I spotted a dead body, or more so a girl dead body, we'd already passed a couple of other bodies. I pulled to a stop, her clothes looked about my size... I quickly pulled off her boots, then moved to the clothes. By the time I was pulling off her shirt Mikah had realized I wasn't behind him turned back around,
"What in the world are you doing?" He questioned, puzzlement obscuring his features,
"She doesn't need them anymore," I said with a shrug. Mikah cringed in disgust shaking his head,
"Whatever, just hurry up," I smiled to myself, pulling off the jacket Liam had given me and throwing on a black tank-top from the girl, then her jeans. The shirt was wet with blood, but currently, it was better than nothing. Throwing on the boots and Liam's jacket quickly I jumped back up to my feet. Mikah sighed before running down the hall with me close behind. I had to stop myself from laughing, I always found it amusing when boys weren't willing to get messy. Mikah soon halted beside a door, knocking on it in a series of different beats before someone opened the door letting us in. I smiled, seeing Corny was the one who opened the door, Jasmine and Anisha were beside the table with Jason,
"Sylvia!" He exclaimed hugging me tightly. I laughed hugging him back before we broke apart,
"We found the plant," He said proudly. I nodded, remembering how Liam said Jason should be conscious soon.
"Corny, I have a mission for you," I explained,
"What is it?" He excited in excitement,
"I need you to go around finding all of the Taipans, Anisha will tell them apart, and have them meet up on the other side of the wall, on the side you went to get The Dragon's Fire,"
"Okay!" he replied brightly running over to Anisha,
"What's going on?" Jasmine questioned,
"We're going to blow up the Ameeregas, so we need to get everyone out of here without them knowing," Mikah explained walking up to Jason,
"So... I'm going to guess you want me to go with Corny and Anisha so that they don't mess it up?"
"You assume correctly," I said with a grin before I turned my attention back to Jason. Out of nowhere Anisha randomly poured a cup of water over Jason's head, causing him to cough, spitting it up,
"Why'd you do that?"
"She says he needs to wait up, it'll quicken his healing," Corny answered my question,
"What..." My attention was completely on Jason as spoke. Already I could tell his face had more life in it than before, and his breathing was more even,
"Jason," I whispered, I wasn't quite sure what to say, or how to react. The last time I'd seen him was at least a month ago,
"Who... Sylvia!" His eyes suddenly widened, Anisha quickly pushed him back down as he tried getting up,
"Don't move," I scolded him, knowing Anisha most likely would have said the same thing if she could,
"What's going on..." He mumbled, his voice was strained and cracked. I grabbed the cup Anisha had used to splash him and ran over to one of the windows. The cup filled up quickly with the water pouring down from the roof. I ran back over to Jason, making him drink the water before talking again,
"Jasmine, you and the others should go. Sylvia and I should be able to take Jason from here," Anisha nodded to Mikah, conforming that we could,
"Alright, go do something stupid," I comment to Corny, who smiled before stumbling out of the door to catch up with Jasmine and Anisha,
"Okay, Jason, I don't have nearly enough time to tell you everything that's going on... So, basically, the Taipans are having a war with the Ameeregas, I found the Taipans, and we need to get out of here, and fast," Jason shook his head as if to clear it,
"I didn't really understand any of that... But okay..." He mumbled,
"Alright, come on," I grabbed Jason's arm pulling him off the table. Mikah instantly grabbed his other arm, and we managed to support him between us. After making sure the hall was clear, started heading towards a room where Liam said he and Walker had gotten out of. I lifted Jason further up on my shoulder, he couldn't exactly work his legs correctly yet, so it was far harder than I expected to carry him. My back and shoulder were aching by the time we got to the room (surprisingly without running into someone) and started to lower Jason down. I had gotten onto the first floor first, that way Mikah could lower Jason down where I could grab him,
"I swear if you drop me," Jason mumbled weakly,
"Got him!' I breathed out when I had Jason secured enough for Mikah to let go. He quickly jumped down before taking up Jason's other should again,
"Where do we go from here?"
"There's a place we can use to get under the base, then we can simply take that to get out, hopefully, without running into anyone," I nodded, not bothering to take the energy to respond,
"I... I think someone's coming..." I panted a few moments later, the sound of voices echoing from up ahead,
"There's no way for us to hide..." Mikah said, leaning against a wall,
"Just put me down... Then you can fight them," Jason suggested resting his head on my shoulder, even though the action almost tempted me enough to just drop him,
"Duh, we wouldn't try fighting while holding you between us, what sort of moron would do that?" Jason just chuckled weakly at my remark,
"I see you still have your fiery spirit," I rolled my eyes, slowly lowering him down with Mikah's help,
"Do you have a weapon?" Mikah quarried glancing at me,
"Yeah... I got a dagger from that girl," I stated, grabbing the dagger I'd put on the belt the girl had been wearing,
"Do you?" I questioned back,
"Of course, I found Liam's double-sided sword on our way to the room," I nodded weakly, standing up and stretching my back and arms,
"Lay on the ground so they have to get close to tell if we're dead or not,"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I responded dismissively, laying down close to the wall where the shadows played,
"I heard something down here," I heard a ruff voice form up ahead, I held my breath as they neared, there were three of them... I bit my lower lip, stopping myself from moving as they were only a yard away... Then a few feet...
"Make sure they're dead," I heard a feminine voice speak close to my head,
"Now!" I jumped up at Mikah's command, slicing the lady's hip with the dagger. She grunted in pain falling to one knee. In the corner of my eye, I spotted Mikah stab his opponent in the gut. I spun up to my feet just as the lady managed to punch me in the face. I shook my head, trying to regain my composure, I jumped back out of her reach before throwing the dagger, hitting her right in the heart, I went to grab the dagger but saw the guy Mikah had stabbed in the cut about to shoot a blow dart at him. I spun grabbing a dagger the lady had dropped and threw it, the blade sinking into his skull before he could even take a breath. Mikah nodded his thanks before spinning his blade, slicing the other man's throat effortlessly, or at least it looked effortless, I knew that for both of us every time we strained our muscles it hurt,
"I hate being this defenseless..." Jason complained as we pulled him back up,
"Don't worry, knowing that I'm at least stronger than you right now is helping," Jason snorted rolling his eyes,
"It shouldn't be much further...." Mikah explained, almost losing his footing, but managing to catch himself,
"Good... Because I'm not sure how much further I can do this," I responded, feeling the sweat pool down my face,
"Hey, I don't way that much," Jason defended himself,
"Yeah, well my sore muscles disagree,"
"Here," Mikah dropped Jason and I gladly set him beside a wall as Mikah pulled open another hidden door in the floor,
"These go into the old sewer lines, so they lead practically anywhere you want to go as long as you know when to turn,"
"Good, as long as you know where to turn," I remarked in return,
"Pfft, of course, I do," He jumped down first, the sound of water splashing echoing from down below,
"You'll need to be careful, it's higher than the last one," He explained as I grabbed Jason,
"I'll do my best to help, but my body still feels like a fish out of water," I nodded silently. I sat down placing both of my feet on the edge before slowly starting to lower him down. I felt my back straining at the action, my arms believing this was far too much work for them to handle,
"Just drop him from there I'll be able to catch him!" Mikah called up,
"What no, don't drop me-" Jason started to protest but I just smiled letting go of his arms gratefully. I was almost certain Jason had to work to keep from screaming, but as he said he would, Mikah had caught him,
"Alright, you can jump down now," I glanced once around me, making sure nobody was there, before grabbing the lid and sliding it as far over on the whole as possible. Then I jumped down into the darkness, which was decently far, but not too bad,
"Here," Mikah said, moving around me. He used his sword to carefully maneuver the plate up top to slide into place, completely submerging them in darkness. I felt around for a moment before finding Jason, Mikah finally got to the other side and together we managed to lift Jason up,
"Just keep going straight, there should be a turn to your right in about thirty yards though, so make sure you're looking for it," Mikah explained through the darkness. I hefted Jason further up on my shoulder before running my right hand along the wall beside me, the small amount of water underfoot slushing back and forth every time one of us took a step,
"Here!" I said when my hand met open air instead of concrete,
"Alright, we'll turn left next," This tunnel was a little smaller than the last one, but it was still plenty big enough for all three of us to fit in. Even though I would never admit it out loud, I was scared senseless. We were in the dark, completely blinded from our surroundings, and every once in a while, you could hear the sound of footsteps above ground. All of this was just so foreign to me... But I had to keep it to myself, if we didn't hurry, this could end badly. For the next five minutes or so (it felt like an hour) we kept turning down different tunnels. The only sounds being our breathing and the sound of splashing water, that and Mikah's occasional comment. Here and there we would also see a small outline that I assumed was another way to get in or out. On about the seventh one, Mikah pulled to a stop,
"This one should be beyond the wall..." He mumbled, climbing up some steps that were beside it,
"Be quiet just in case," He whispered, Jason was using the wall to help himself stand up, though he was still using me as most of his support. A few feet above, Mikah slowly pushed open a circle that had wholes in it, letting in a small amount of light and drops of water. A few moments later he jumped back down,
"We're behind the wall," He said with a grin, "I'll go up to the top to pull Jason up," I nodded, bringing Jason closer to the exit. It seemed Jason was getting his body back as he stepped on one of the pulls, using it to lift himself, with my help of course, high enough for Mikah to grab his arm. Helping as much as I could, we finally all got out of the hole and up onto solid ground,
"Now what do we do?" I quarried, looking around. In the far distance I spotted the fire which had gotten over the walls and was burning everything, it touched,
"I guess... We just wait," I cursed spinning around in a circle. If you'd learned anything about me through this whole adventure it would be that I hated waiting while all of the action was raging on around me. But I had no choice... Just when I was about to sit down and relax my muscles I heard something cling behind us. Turning around slowly, my hand on my dagger, I watched the shadows. Mikah watched as well, though didn't move. When I heard the sound again I jumped forward grabbing whoever it was and pulling them out, pushing them to the ground with my dagger pointed at them,
"Asher?" Mikah jumped up to his feet in surprise, the man underneath me smiling while breathing heavily,
"That's me,"
"Who's Asher?" I questioned, still pointing my blade at his throat,
"A friend, Taipan," Mikah added. I reluctantly put the dagger down,
"Walker sent me to tell you that one of you need to get this to Liam, they're ready to blow it all up when he is," Asher stood up holding out a plastic thing,
"We made it a while ago, it'll beep on a different thing, which will let Walker and Lindsey know they can detonate it. All you have to do is press the button," He explained,
"Why didn't you take it to him?" Mikah asked, grabbing the mechanism,
"Because," He then turned, showing us a long gash down his calf, "I can't run, and we need to get it to him as quickly as possible,"
"I'll take it," I butted in, reaching for the device in Mikah's hand,
"What, no," Jason protested, concern written on his face,
"I'm the faster person here," I stated simply, "And I have to make sure my brother doesn't do anything stupid and gets himself killed," Mikah nodded in agreement, handing it to me,
"What if you're the one doing something stupid and end up getting yourself killed?" Jason watched me sadly, obviously not wanting to lose me right after finding me, or more so right after I found him,
"We both know that I have to,"
"Just... Promise me you'll come back," Without really thinking about it I leaned forward and kissed him,
"No promises," I said pulling back with a smirk. Jason just stared at me dumbfounded, and it took a lot for me not to laugh,
"I didn't expect that," Mikah stated, staring at us,
"Oh shut up," I lightly punched his shoulder before running up the wall that was only about twenty yards away. I climbed up a pile of broken rubble along the side, thankful that this part didn't have barbwire on it. I pulled myself up the last bit before jumping down on the other side, landing squarely on my feet. I blew the few small strands of hair out of my eyes before running back towards the main base. Liam had said the best place would be out on the concrete in front of the base. They had also planned on setting up bombs under and in the main building, it would be a shame to lose everything inside of it... But making it out of this alive and on top was more important. Quickly enough, I made it to the edge of the building without running into anyone. I slowed down, looking over at the edge, there were at least fifty people spread out around the cracked pavement, Cyrus, Azazel, Nicole, and Liam being the four in the middle discussing something that I couldn't quite hear. Okay... Now to figure out what to do next... Even though I thought it over repeatedly the only solution I could reach was to just walk into the giant group of practically all of my enemies. So... That's what I did; however, I did put the device in an extra sheath I'd found on the pants of the girl I'd taken them from. Hopefully, if I was searched nobody would notice. At first, it seemed as though nobody was going to even question my presence but then someone recognized me. Well shit, I just jinxed myself. Just when they were about to grab me I lifted my knee hitting the man in the groin. He groaned taking a step back while I continued my assault forward. However, people started to notice me after my little stunt,
"Back off!" I growled trying to push the three people who were surrounding me like wolves back,
"Search her, then let her go," I snorted in frustration as they started feeling me up down at Cyrus's command. I hated getting searched... I was mainly just worried about them finding the device though. After they were satisfied, luckily without looking in my sheath, they let me go, after taking my dagger,
"Surprised I'm still alive?" I taunted stalking up to them,
"Not really, you remind me of a rodent, and rodents always seem to magically stay alive longer than needed," Cyrus commented blandly, his expression neutral as he stood a couple of feet behind Azazel. I just scowled walking up to my brother,
"They're all set, just push the button when it's time," I whispered in his ear, low enough that nobody but us could hear before pulling off the jacket he'd given me. I carefully placed the device inside it without no one noticing before handing it to him,
"Thanks for letting me borrow it," I said truthfully. Liam just nodded before turning back to whatever conversation I'd interrupted,
"So, what do you say, you take my men, and we end this bloodshed," Nicole said, a few feet away from Azazel, who was holding his hands behind his back with a contemplative expression,
"You see... As good of a deal as that sounds, I simply don't believe you. I've been your enemy for years now, and I've learned that you aren't one to back down and abandon your people," Azazel countered, walking from side to side as if he had the upper hand,
"You stand correct, but the lives of my people are more important than remaining as their leader," Okay, so, with everything that I've heard I'm going to assume Nicole is trying to surrender so that he can find a way for us to get far enough away from here that we can blow them all up,
"Now, that does sound like you, but..." Azazel pointed a dagger at Nicole, "You don't give up, once I had captured one of your men and you played a coy that you'd trade me supplies for him. In the end, you managed to get both your man and your supplies. I do believe I've learned since then," Nicole said in a calculative voice, a small smirk observing his facial expression,
"What could I possibly do," Nicole said throwing his hands up in the air before pointing at Azazel's men, "You have me surrounded, you have either killed or captured all of my men, except those lucky enough to escape. I have nothing left other than my honor, and if I can, I would like to at least give the people who have served me a good new start,"
"He's lying," Cyrus stated, taking a couple of steps forward to glare at Nicole,
"I assumed as much. It's one of the simplest ploys... Act like you've lost everything, make everyone else think you're defenseless, and get them to agree to your terms. Well, I ain't gonna buy it" Azazel explained, and fairly I had to admit I'd seen that a couple of times in my stories...
"How are we going to get out of this?" I whispered into Liam's ear, who had been silently watching Nicole and Azazel a few feet in front of us,
"I'm not sure, so if you have any ideas I'm all ears," He whispered back, never taking his eyes off the two leaders. There had to be something... I looked up at the sky, rain falling lightly down on my face. What did I always look to... There had to be something with information... My mind was suddenly taken back to the day I'd met Jason. When I'd been looking through the Library. That's when I realized what could work here... But what was that work!? I tapped my foot impatiently on the ground, resting my chin on my hand. That's it!
"What could-"
"I have a proposition to make," I stated, irrupting Nicole's line of speech and stalking up to them,
"And what would you possibly have to say?" Cyrus Finally spoke again, resting his hand on the hilt of his sword, the other one placed behind his back,
"Well, I mean if you don't want to put an end to your little feud, by all means, keep at it. Truthfully, it's quite entertaining," I said boredly with a smirk,
"No, please, enlighten us, I insist," Azazel interjected, waving his hand for me to speak, smirking right back at me. He sure knew how to play at my game,
"Why not... Simply, have a duel?" I purposed,
"A duel? How could that possibly solve anything?" Azazel questioned, watching me closely. Jesus... Why were boys so immature and dull-minded,
"Seriously, it is quite simple," I insisted before continuing, "Each of you picks someone to fight for your side. Whoever loses that side must submit and give all of their forces to the other. And, of course, as custom, it'll be a fight to the death," I explained, crossing my hands behind my back,
"I do see how this could work... But I still don't see why Nicole wouldn't just attack us afterward," Azazel persisted,
"A blood deal," Nicole stepped forward, "Cyrus can vogue that I keep my blood deals," Nicole glanced at Cyrus, who reluctantly nodded,
"He does,"
"I do believe we might be getting somewhere," Azazel said with a smirk. He stepped forward, pulling out a dagger,
"I, Azazel Blackstone, promise that if the Ameeregas man loses, the Ameeregas will submit to the Taipans, without question, or reluctance," With that, Azazel took the dagger and ran it down the palm of his hand, his smirk never faltering. He then handed it to Nicole, who studied the blade for a moment,
"And I, Nicole Perez, promise that if the Taipans man loses, the Taipans will submit to the Ameeregas, without question, or reluctance," Then they both grabbed the other's hand and shook on it, blood dripping out of their hands onto the ground where it was washed away by the rain. They then split back up, Azazel walking over to Cyrus, and Nicole walking back over to me and Liam,
"Let me fight, I can use my left hand in battle," Liam instantly volunteered,
"No!" If he chooses Cyrus, you'll be dead in seconds, I fought him and lost within a minute and he wasn't even trying," Nicole looked between us. Personally, ignoring how important Nicole was, I would think he'd be the best option. Liam had a broken wrist and I was weak and had plenty of wounds. Whereas Nicole seemingly only had a cut on his forehead and arm that didn't look too deep,
"We'll see," Was all Nicole said before turning back to Azazel. I just started at him dumbfounded, he needs to decide this now!
"I'm assuming you chose Cyrus?" Nicole asked boldly,
"No... Actually. I'm changing it up a bit," Azazel stated, smiling coyly,
"How...?" Nicole questioned cautiously,
"Well, thinking it over, I've figured out that you, or me, would follow orders from the other. Therefore, I purpose that we, both leaders, should fight to the death. But if I die, then you have to promise you will send Cyrus into exile, for he won't follow your orders because of past issues. And because of this, you may pick someone you may leave unharmed if I win as well," Nicole hesitated for a moment, thinking it all over, before giving his response,
"Sounds fair enough. If I lose, you are to let Liam go. Sylvia nor Corny or Anisha are part of the Taipans therefore they can go of their free will, or stay and join if they please. Agreed?" Azazel walked up to Nicole, staring him in the eye for a moment before smirking and extending his hand,
"Agreed," He said coldly, clearly confident in who was going to win, "Bryan, get Nicole a sword," Azazel said before drawing his own blade. It was fine-steal by the looks of it, it had a golden hilt with the shape of a frog carved on the top. Nicole grabbed the sword that was handed to him by a younger boy, who then stepped back ten yards or so. Azazel and Nicole drew their swords, each getting into their own fighting positions,
"On my mark," Cyrus said, taking a few steps back. Everything was silent in the air except for the rain that refused to stop pouring. I glanced over at the main gate that was a few yards away. The fire was over it, burning everything, it touched and illuminating Nicole and Azazel even though it was still stuck near the entrance of the gate by the concrete, though it was still slowly making its way towards us. I guessed it didn't really matter though since we were just going to blow it all up anyways... Truthfully, without thinking it through, it seemed as though we could just do this and avoid the whole blowing everything up. But truthfully, I'm pretty sure both sides were almost convinced the other wouldn't hold up their end of the deal. And frankly, I didn't either. Or at least not most of it,
"Begin!" Cyrus's deep voice reverberated around us, drawing me from my mind back to the fighting. Azazel took the first move, running forward before bending low where his knees almost touched the ground and aiming for either Nicole's side or arm. Even though Nicole spotted it and sidestepped, Azazel managed to turn his blade enough to nick his leg. Nicole winced, examining his leg, it didn't look like it was bleeding too much, but it was hard to tell in the rain, and the fire was casting odd shadows everywhere. Azazel quickly got up to his feet, turning around and spinning his blade in a fluent motion. I couldn't help but ponder as to when we would set off the explosion and whether or not we'd wait till the end of this duel or not. Either way, without knowing that knowledge, all I could do was simply wait and watch as Azazel and Nicole passed blows back and forth. Nicole managed to cut Azazel above his hip and on his right arm, (I soon realized Azazel was left-handed). Azazel managed to get another cut on his leg though it was deeper, and another one on his chest that was long deep. That one I could tell was bleeding,
"You know, if I die today, you should hear the truth from myself," Nicole abruptly started to divulge, resting on his knee for a second while coughing from the smoke in the air,
"Storytime is it now?" Azazel smirked, wiping at a line of blood that was on his forehead before it could reach his eyes,
"Did he ever tell you why he left?" Nicole directed the question at Azazel while throwing a blow at him, though Azazel nimbly dodged it,
"Something personal if I remember correctly," Azazel replied panting. It surprised me how he treated everyone who he thought was his same rank with the same amount of respect, normally most people would get annoyed at Nicole by now, or just try cutting his head off already, yet Azazel humored him, whether or not that was a good thing I was unsure of,
"Personal indeed," Nicole said with a chuckle, "You know, he had a little brother? He was blind though..." Nicole winced as Azazel got a hit on his back. The Ameeregas leader stood up straight, spitting on the ground,
"Oh, this is getting interesting now isn't it," He commented. I glanced at Cyrus whose expression surprisingly hadn't changed, though I could tell this affected him by how his knuckle turned white, gripping the hilt of his sword,
"You see... They were split up at a young age, I met Cyrus far before I ever made the Taipans," Nicole ducked as Azazel swung at him, barely dodging it, "When I met Cyrus his little brother was only three. He explained how he had been keeping him alive all these years by himself," Nicole swung his sword, barely missing under Azazel's arm, "I knew we wouldn't be able to survive long if we had to cater to a blind three-year-old..." Azazel paused glancing from Nicole to Cyrus. My face became grim as I started to put the pieces together,
"So... When we were being attacks by raiders and I had the chance to do what I thought was right... I did," Azazel chuckled, shaking his head back and forth at Nicole's statement,
"Man, I really didn't expect this turn of events, like seriously. I had just assumed Cyrus didn't agree with how you were doing things or something stupid like that... But this, oh this is so much worse. It all makes sense now. Let me guess, Cyrus was busy fending off the raiders and was distracted long enough from his brother for you to kill him, then you simply pretend you'd tried your best to defend him but couldn't stop the inevitable?" Nicole hung his head, resting on his sword which was planted on the ground. Azazel just chuckled, running a hand through his hair, pushing it out of his face,
"If it means anything... I know what I did was wrong and I'm deeply sorry for it. Which is why I've tried making up for it by not killing Anisha," My face screwed up in confusion, how did Anisha have anything to do with this?
"Anisha?" Cyrus finally spoke up, taking a step closer. It was now obvious that he was holding back his anger, his movements were stiff, his eyes hard, his hand gripping his sword tightly, everything I knew said he was pissed as fuck,
"She's Walker's cousin, though nobody else knows except me and him, not even Anisha knows..."
"What? Is this some kind of pathetic attempt to save your life? Because you've just signed your death warrant," Cyrus spit at Nicole, barely managing to keep his voice even, though it held a deep and powerful warning to it,
"No, I do not expect to live much longer..." With his back towards us, he gave some sort of symbol with his hand. As he continued, Liam grabbed my wrist, slowly pulling me back, though nobody noticed for they were all focused on Nicole and Cyrus, "I just needed the truth to come out before my time to visit death arrived. I do not regret what I did, for I did it in the hopes of keeping us alive in this world... But... I do hope you know I am sincerely sorry it had to be done," Azazel clicked his tongue taking a step back, even he seemed to have respect for Cyrus's ability,
"Had... That is a very powerful word, Nicole... Nobody has to do anything. I kept him alive by myself since he was born... And all of that disappeared just because you thought you had to do it?" His voice started rising as he stepped closer to Nicole, his sword partly drawn. Nicole turned to us, shaking his head so subtly it was barely noticeable. Then he turned back towards Cyrus, dropping his sword, folding his hands behind his back, and holding his head high,
"Run," Liam whispered into my ear. I glimpsed him pull out the mechanism; without a second thought, I turned around and started sprinting towards the gate where the fire was burning. Someone went to grab me, but just at that moment, the first bomb went off, shaking the earth below us. Everything seemed to slow down at that moment, all of the events going in slow motion. Cyrus scowling before shoving his sword into Nicole's chest, whispering something into his ear. People falling to the grown, covering their heads. Liam grabbing my hand and forcing me forward. Azazel observed everything, a small smirk on his face as if accepting he had lost and that our plan was formidable. He indeed was an interesting character... My short hair swung around my ears as my eyes watered from the smoke. The flames only a few yards away, flowing and swirling around everything. It truly was the most powerful creature around us, its warming touch of death tempting any lost soul. Behind me I heard another muffled explosion, turning around, I saw the main building start to collapse, falling down towards the clearing we'd been in. Even though I knew my heart was pounding, it felt as if it was beating as slowly as it ever had, the thrum echoing in my ears. I looked over at Liam, whose hair was wet and plastered to his head, his eyes clouded with worry and fear. That's when time caught up with me and I was thrown forward bright light consuming my vision before it all turned dark.

What'd you guys think of this chapter? Sorry I didn't get it out yesterday... I almost had it finished last Monday! But then I just got seriously caught up in school because I had to write something... But I managed to find the time this morning to finish it up! The next and final chapter will most likely be shorter, but we will see! But anyways... What do you guys think? How do you like Azazel's and Cyrus's characters? Or how about Mikah? What'd you think of Jason, who is starting to heal finally! Personally, I've missed him... XD But as always leave your thoughts down in the comments! If you see or know of anything that I could do to improve my writing, please let me know! I like all feedback, good or bad, I don't mind if you criticize my work... Just please tell me what I did wrong so that I can improve. :3 As always add to your library so that you know when I next update, and if you like this book, please share it with your friends! Stay tuned for the next update! 😋