The ashes we left behind

Chapter 19

Even though my head is spinning after all the punches I've received from Ginny, I try to fight against the members of my sister's gang. No sign of Connor neither of Helene. It's Asher who mostly fights. He also helps me with my adversaries.

One of them nearly digs a knife in my leg. Thanks God, Asher comes in time. He beat the guy so hard on the throat that he falls backward.

"Let's go", Asher says as he grabs my hand. "Now!" he shouts, seeing how hypnotized I am by the people who are coming our way.

He forces me to leave the apartment. We run through the corridor and start to climb the stairs as fast as we can. We pass by level by level. Every time I want to stop, Asher pulls my hand to his direction and I continue.

They're following us, nearly close. That's why we can't stop.

"This way", Asher orders before we could start to climb the next bunch of stairs. Instead, Asher goes through the corridor. We run and turn to another one. Everything is empty and some doors are opened as if people have fled. It's the case actually. After the bomb, I can imagine their panic.

We stop in front of an opened apartment. I'm breathless. If it weren't for the gang who is looking for us, I would have collapsed on the floor.

Asher gets into it. I join him. Then, he closes the door. None of us turn on the lights. It would be stupid to attract attention.

"Are we going to stay here?" I ask, almost sitting on the floor.

Asher grabs my elbow. We can't sit and relax here.

"Too risked. We have to leave."

We walk to the window's direction. The apartment is too small to have any balcony. So no stairs. We'll have to play at Spider-man.

Asher opens the window then gets on its border. I grab his hand and join him. Now, we're standing above a part of the city. We can see everything from this street to the five other ones. And it's not as pretty as earlier. Now, people aren't driving home. They're running away from masked silhouettes. Some of them have guns. Others have rifles. They're threatening innocent people. I can't breathe anymore. It gets worst when I see bodies on the ground. They're dead!

"We won't be able to save them all", Asher says.

My body doesn't want to work. All I want to do is to crumble on the floor and die. Seeing all these people suffer... No! I can't bear it.

I lean against the wall and weep. It's Asher who shakes me as if he's trying to wake me up.

"We can't stay here."

I don't reply. He swears.

"Mackenzie, listen to me!"

I don't want to. I don't want to.

"We must leave", he shouts. "To save them", he adds softly.

I shake my head. "Look", I finally say. "In a minute everything changed. "

"Follow me."

He sits on the border and jumps to the other widow. He almost falls which makes him swear. I don't care if I fall. I want to die anyway. So I do the same movement. Asher helps me which means. We do the same ten other times until we arrive to the ground. Then, we run to the back of the building and hide there.

I fall on my knees at the sound of gunshots coming from everywhere. Asher stays distant, not knowing what to do.

When he finally decides to act, he puts a hand on my shoulder and sits next to me.

"We can stay here for a while."

I look at his worried eyes. "We should make a plan."

"All we can do now is fight to save a maximum of people."

I nod.

We get up in the same time and look at each other for a long time.

"We can't help just one part of them", I say. "We should separate."

"No."

"It's the only way."

"I promised Hailey not to leave you by yourself."

"What?"

He swears again.

"What is the matter with Hailey?" I ask.

He sighs. "I'll explain later."

I nod. "Now, I go to the left and you go to the right."

It takes him an eternity to finally agree.