Saxifrage Fire

0028

A pebble hit her head and she looked up to see Ezi had scaled the rocks to the top.

"Watch out!" Ez shouted.

Thea watched as Ezi hammered at stone with the brunt of her knife.

There was a loud crack and the rocks above shifted. Ezi gave an enormous push and nearly fell out with the freed opened.

Thea quickly followed her lead.

"Kaleo! Leave my Father for now!" she shouted over her shoulder.

She reached the top, panting and sweating, and pulled herself through the narrow gap immediately tumbling down the gravel until she hit a piece of the gate that acted as a ledge, and swung down from it, panging her feet as she hit the ground.

Ezi was no were to be seen.

Thea didn't bother to catch her breath; she ran towards the trees to loop back towards the truck. She didn't dare examine the wreckage of the cliffside, but she caught it vaguely in her peripheral and knew it had come down on the truck.

She broke past the tree line and scanned.

Pieces of Sera bodies riddled the bloodied meadow, sliced by Hitoshi's broad swords.

Her blood ran cold as she sighted Hitoshi pinned beneath a mountain of rubble. A slate of limestone about the size of a small vehicle had fallen diagonally into his ribcage and was cracking it slowly.

Ezi was crouched, pushing up on the slate that threatened her brother's lungs with all her might.

"Help!" she screamed.

Thea snapped from her shock and maneuvered over the loose rocks to kneel and alleviate some of the weight.

"I can't tell if he's breathing!" Ezi cried, her voice electric.

"Ezi, I need you to stay calm and help. Okay?"

Ezi nodded frantically.

Thea positioned her feet and hands to lift the slate.

"Be ready to pull him out when I lift. One... two..."

She took a deep breath and shut her eyes.

"Three."

Panic channeled through her limbs as empowering them as she heaved. She screamed as the weight tempted her arms to tear from their sockets and her back to snap in two, but she didn't let go.

Ezi wrenched with all her might.

"He's still stuck!"

Thea gasped for breath, there was a tearing sensation in her biceps. She glanced back at Hitoshi's face and strained to lift one more centimeter.

Ezi wrenched him free and clear of the stone.

"I got him!"

Thea let go and collapsed onto her hands and knees to catch her breath. She watched with wide eyes as Ezi felt for his pulse. For a moment, she felt as if her own heart was about to stop.

"He's alive."

She nearly laughed in relief, but then Ezi pulled up his bloody shirt to reveal that his ribs were visibly crushed. She grimaced. Minutes earlier, she'd wrapped her arms around him and felt his lungs expand with ease and now he could barely breathe.

She felt a wet substance on her hand and lifted it from the dirt to find it was stained with blood. There was a body crushed nearby. Alex. Where was Alex? For a moment, her mind tried to spare her by denying that she'd been stupid enough to let her come. But, she had.

She found herself digging madly through the rubble, the stones tearing at the flesh of her hands as she searched for the body from which blood sprang. She found a face- it was a Sera man's head- severed. She stood and stumbled back scanning the mountain of rocks. Trucks were crushed- only fragments visible.

"Alex!" she screamed, climbing over the rocks to the shattered window of the truck. She stuck her head inside. "Alex?"

She heard Kaleo's voice and turned around to watch him examine Hitoshi.

Ezi explained how she'd found him through tears.

Ember stood alone, staring at Hitoshi with wide eyes; they looked up to meet Thea's gaze.

"Alex," Thea whispered, stumbling down off the rocks. "She's..." She looked under the mountain of stone and then towards the road. There was no denying it now- she was either crushed under the collapsed mountain or gagged in the back of a Sera truck. She pressed her hand to her chest; afraid her heart was going to beat right out of her chest. She couldn't catch her breath. The world around her blurred and swayed. Then, she realized Ember was in front of her, shaking her gently.

"Alethea! Look at me!"

She couldn't steady her gaze. She felt her knees strike the ground and fumbled for her radio.

Ember had snatched it from her belt.

"All teams back to your positions!" they ordered. "Alexius Atlas may have been captured- stop any Sera party heading towards Eirene."

Alethea stared at the wreckage with every shifting vision, then started to crawl towards a bloody patch to keep digging.

Ember came to her side and helped her claw through the rocks and push aside boulders without a word.

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Thank you for reading! Please feel free to share your thoughts and feelings in the comments. Vote if you're mad at me for mortally injuring Hitoshi and making Alex go missing (that should be everyone)....

- Em

(E.E. Hayes)