Hunted

Chapter Eight - Lifeline

Chapter Eight

Lifeline

They all stood there in one piece. The best thing about seeing them there was that Koby and Nigel were holding Bailey between them, who was very much alive.

"We need to get out of here," Nigel implored.

Jen moved forward and reached for me tentatively. I knew that if I was in her position and I'd just seen her kill someone, I'd probably be doing the same thing. I moved slowly towards her, trying to look as sane as possible and failing miserably. I was probably covered in my own blood as well as some of the soldiers.

The moment I reached her side she put her arm around me, as though I needed assistance to walk. I wasn't completely sure why she was doing it, until the adrenaline wore out from my fight with the soldier. One moment I was standing up and the next I was holding onto Jen while pain shot through my body.

"You're going to be okay," she whispered, her voice slightly strained from my weight.

I felt another arm go around me and the dark skin that could only belong to Brigid in my peripheral vision. The minute they began to move, the pain exploded in my body and darkness was beginning to creep into my vision. I knew that it was only a matter of time before I passed out, but I wanted to fight it as much as possible and stay strong.

Seconds later, I passed out.

When I awoke I was in a dark, cool room. The walls around me were made from old stone and the floor beneath the small mound of pillows I'd been put on was more stone, covered with a thick layer of dirt and dust. The only light that filled the room were from thin lines above my head and I knew immediately that I was underground.

I struggled to sit up, noticing heavy bandages around my head and my leg. I only managed to get my body halfway off the ground, before my head felt woozy. Moments later, Jacoby was at my side.

"Bells, she's awake," he called into the darkness.

"Where is everyone?" I asked in a hoarse voice.

There was a flutter of movement from behind Jacoby and Bella appeared in the small amount of light that was illuminating the three of us. She reached for my hand and grasped it tightly, beginning to check the bandages on my body.

"We were hoping you wouldn't wake up until they were back," Bella sighed.

"We knew you'd go absolutely mental," Jacoby laughed.

"Just tell me what's going on," I growled.

The two of them looked at each other and chuckled, obviously in on some kind of joke that I didn't find very funny. It was clear to me at that moment in time that we were the only three people in whatever weird underground place that we were currently hiding out in and the others were off doing something dangerous.

"Bailey's leading the others on a mission back to the hills," Bella said.

"What!?" I exploded. "He couldn't even walk! He can't go leading some stupid suicide mission when he'd not even with it!"

"Trying to talk him out of it is like trying to reason with you," Jacoby said. "But even in all his stubbornness, we knew that at least some of us had to go back to those hills to get all the things we'd left up there. It wasn't safe to leave it behind."

Light suddenly filled the room from above. I looked in the direction it had come from and saw a large beam of light shining down from the ceiling as though a large square had been cut out. Moments later, someone was descending down into the room. It didn't take me long to realise who it was.