Incursion

Chapter Ten

Death has always been near, dear, and close to me. Always right around the corner. I always wondered how I would die; would it be in my sleep? An accident? Will someone kill me, or will it be of natural causes? Out of all my options, dying by sacrificing myself to protect the ones I love sounds like a good way to die. Of course, if that was how I died.

I scared myself awake, ready to fight off Irina while Gina and Michael get away but I'm not on Irina's ship anymore. I look at my surroundings, I'm in some sort of tent somewhere outside. I hear a familiar voice come from outside the tent, Gina rushes into the tent and kneels before me.

"Shh Ben it's okay, were safe." She coos as she runs her fingers through my hair, I lean my face into her hand. A sharp pain stings me on my side. Gina lies me back and undresses my wound.

"Where are we?" I ask, I fight to keep my eyes open, but I feel dizzy and delirious.

"A group of humans found us and took us in, they claim that they're part of some resistance." Gina says, she lightly dabs the wound clean with a wet rag.

"Irina?" I whisper.

"She escaped, after the ship crashed a couple of Dashers carried her away. We probably won't be seeing her for a while," she says. I smile in relief, she's gone. I scam the room once more and notice there is only room for two people in this tent.

"Where's Michael?" I ask Gina immediately looks away, trying to play it off as rinsing out the rag.

"You need to rest Ben," She replies, her head hangs low, and her eyes refuse to investigate mine. I quickly reached for her chin and led her to look at me, tears filled her eyes.

"Gina where's Michael?" I question, she lightly shakes her head as tears pool down her face. My stomach curls in fear.

"I'm sorry Ben." She cries out, she looks down again and sobs beside me. I can't even look at her right now. I lost him. I lost Michael. is he dead? Is he missing? Was he taken?

"What happened?" I ask, I try my best to recall over what I can remember. All I can hear in the back of my mind is Michael wailing out my name begging for me to save him.

"After the crash, I couldn't get to him in time," Gina says. I have no one now, Michael is gone. I broke my promise, how do I get on from here?

"Is he- "I begin to ask but Gina quickly grabs my hand and squeezes it.

No! he's not dead but Irina's got him, the Dashers, they took him away with her." She says, I kind of wish he was dead, that way I didn't have to imagine the worst. What will she do to him? I must get him back; I made a promise. I promise I plan on dying to keep.

"We have to get him back!" I exclaim, I attempt to get out of bed, but Gina lightly shoves me back down into bed.

"And we will but you need to rest." She coos, every minute resting here is a minute Michael is taken further away from me. I look at her in confusion.

"I can't just do nothing!" I shout, my wound begins to ache as my blood pressure rises.

"Ben, you're badly hurt. You need to rest." Gina says as she grabs the rag and washes off the blood seeping from my wound.

"I have to save him!" I shout again, Gina holds me down and leads my eyes to hers.

"And we will together!" She shouts, tears leave my eyes and trail down my face.

"Together?" I question, she lightly smiles and nods,

"Yes, but we can't save him if we kill ourselves, we both need heal first." She quickly redresses my wound and sighs in exhaustion.

"Okay." I say, Gina kisses my forehead and rests her head on my chest. I do know where Irina could have gone or where she taken Michael, but I swear, I will never stop searching and I will never give up. Where you are Irina, I'm coming for you, and I will find you. No matter what it takes. I promise.