Changed

Chapter Fifteen

We all looked to Hail, staring at him in agonizing fear. We were silent as Hail cursed under his breath, furiously thinking of a way to get us out of this situation. Our eyes were wide, and our hearing was impaired - our hearts beating frantically in our chests, it's thumping being the only sound we could pay attention to.

"Okay. It's okay." Hail breathed, calming himself down.

Alec shook his head slowly. "It's not o--"

A Scaevus lunged out of the bushes, black talons extended, ready to latch on to Alec's back. Vienna saw it first, and propelled it to the ground with her Virtue. We gawked at her horrified face, and scattered.

I sprinted away from camp as fast as my legs could humanly carry me. Alec could book it out of here in seconds, but he stayed in front of me and behind Vienna, expertly dodging all protruding branches or dips in the ground. Knowing it could cost me my life, I flashed a glance to either side of me, seeing someone running through the trees beside us - Jay I think.

Our heavy panting was all I could hear, terrified that it was blocking out the noises of an oncoming Scaevus. Having seen enough movies to know that one of us would probably trip and cause all our deaths, I focused everything on not being that person.

A petrified 'no' screamed through the air, as I saw the running body next to us drop to the ground, a Scaevus on top of him. I watched in seeming slow motion as Jay wrestled with the beast, his Virtue being all that saved him.

I pivoted and shot towards the fighting pair. Alec saw me and without protest, darted in front of me, reaching the scene before I did. Thick clouds of grey smoke - courtesy of Jay's power - limited our sight as we scrambled to see a head of curly air we could tear away from the Scaevus. I saw the slight form of a man and immediately grabbed his arm - ready to drag him out of the vapor. To my downright horror, the arm transformed into a scaly limb. It hungrily latched onto my arm as I screamed, claws ruthlessly puncturing my skin in the process.

I remembered valuable training with Hail, and focused all of my fear towards the Scaevus, fully intending to burn it to a crisp.

It lunged for my throat as my Virtue ignited it's head, throwing it off for a mere second as I took the opportunity of freedom and darted deeper into the cloud, clutching my bleeding arm. I didn't know anything about a Scaevus' sense of smell, but if their tiny nostrils had any use my blood was a giant red pin for my location.

" Amara get out of there - I have Jay!" I heard Alec call as I ran to follow his voice. As soon as they saw me coming out of the smoke, Jay rushed a thanks and made a mad dash to find Clara.

Vienna's sudden cry for help caused Alec to bolt towards her. He was halfway there in seconds and I could see her surrounded by three Scaevus, her telekinesis barely effecting the giant beasts prowling around the defenseless Changed.

Alec stopped dead in his tracks as I let out a piercing scream of my own. A violent jolt of pain cascaded up my leg as a Scaevus sunk it's fangs into my calf.

I fell to the ground as the beast loomed over me, proud of it's catch. It's drool ran out of its mouth and dribbled onto my thigh, it's purple cat eyes glaring menacingly at my own. It blinked, an eyelid sliding sideways over it's glossy eyes like a crocodile's would, and I let out a whimper. I tilted my head up at Alec. He stood, quickly moving his head back and forth between the two situations.

He could save Vienna. Or he could save me. But even he wasn't fast enough to rescue us both.

He had all of two seconds to decide who would live.