Strong One

Chapter 39 Time To Say Goodbye

I hear the noise of the camp before I see it. They are rushing around as a missile has also hit their camp.  "Must have been one of the key official's" I link pop. I let my alpha power out and try and see if I can detect any other shifters.  I get a slight feeling and move towards it.  I concentrate again, "another underground base. But I can hear water too" I say moving around.  I come to the edge of a high coastal cliff.  I look down the cliff face and see a small hole in it. "Pop" I call.

As he's cloaked, I feel when he is close and jump still in my wolf form.  I land on Conall's back near his tail.  He flies down to the hole in the rock.  Dante springs forward into the cave opening. I follow my noise inside the deep cave.  I can hear at least three soldiers.  As well as scent my own kind.  There are only a few strung bare bulbs lighting the dark cave.   I can see clearly, with Dante's eyes.  The three soldiers are all sitting around a wooden table.

I look about and see metal bars over natural forming crevices in the cave.  I see an old dial phone hung on the wall not far from where the guards are sitting.  Dante braces himself again.  Before springing forward, he takes one guard by his neck, the other two he sinks his claws deep into the chests.  Killing them instantly. With a shake if his head. He snaps the guy's neck he is holding in his jaw.  He spits him out and lets me shift.

I pull one of their jackets off the back of a chair and place it over my junk.  I then look for the keys to open the cells. "Yujin, Yujin" I repeat as I open the cells.  There are three more.  One though just smiles as he breaths his last breath and I hear "thank you."

I pick up the other two much younger shifters and run the way I came. "Pop, two little ones" I link.  He has to uncloak a little so I can pass them to the older one.  I then run back and collect the dead one.  I bring him out and hear the older one cry out.

"I'm sorry" I link. "Please say goodbye, my father can't carry him as well" I add. I feel his pain as if it were my own.  "He made sure to look after the other two.  Please honour his wishes and think of them now, as if they were your brother" I link trying to help.

I feel him trying hard to pull himself together. "We thank your brother for doing all that he could. May the goddess grant him with a blessed next life" I say "Pop its too much.  Fly them too the airstrip. I will swim, its not that far" I say before jumping from the ledge into the icy waters below.

I feel my fathers panic, seeing me jump. "Pop I'm a good swimmer, go" I tell him. Once I've swam out deep enough, "Thank you for taking care of the others" I say to the one I'm holding and let his body sink below the surface.  I see him float downwards through the clear water.  I can only hope his body does not wash up on anyone coast.

I let my feet and hands shift to Dante's as his massive paws will help me move quicker through the water.  I feel pops anger and look back to see him raining fire down on the rest of the camp.  

I get into a rhythm that helps me cut through the water.  I dive under the water, when I see a boat heading in the same direction I need.  I swim faster and catch onto one of its buoys.  I let it pull me through the water.  Resting and trying to relax as best I can.

"Ryker, where are you?" Pop links "about three miles from the island" I answer.  "Are you alright?" he asks "I'm hitching a ride from a fishing boat heading towards the island.  I'm fine" I assure him. "I'm taking the others back to their pack.  Their families must be worried" pop tells me.

Now its my turn to panic a little. "You won't leave the others there too?" I ask "No, I've left them on a tall tree branch with Kieryn.  I've just got the two that you saved from the cave now" he answers.  I Relax only a little, hearing this.