The Tenth Year

Chapter 10 - Grayson

"Thank you," I muttered under my breath as I watch the night sky burning bright. The guard I was watching for the past few minutes jumped to his feet and run toward the origin of all the commotion. I had decided to wait for him to fall asleep and then grab his flare gun. There was a mild chance of him waking up so I was trying to decide whether I was comfortable using my sword on him or not. And since I was leaning towards not, I was thankful that one of the others had manage to get hold of a flare gun before me.

I wanted to stay and wait to see if my brother was running free from the camp, but instead I pushed myself toward our meeting point. It was a couple of miles until there and I had to take advantage of our head start.

My feet moved fast over the last few strands of grass as the dessert dirt started appearing. I kept on running, passing stone after stone, I kept my eyes searching for the right one. "There!" I exclaimed when I saw what I was looking for.

"Gil," I heard an out of breath voice calling me. I turned and saw Zoe running toward me.

"You made it!" I yelled back, I huge smile on my face. If she made it then surely Reegan and my brother did too.

I stopped to wait for her. "I was the one who fired the gun," she said once she reached me. She took a brief break to catch her breath, bending on her waist with her hands resting on her knees. She looked up still breathing heavily and winked an alien eye at me. "It was so cool!" Her huge smiled was reflected on my face.

I tapped her back gently and urged her to get a move on. "Only a few more steps ahead." I pointed toward our meeting point, a huge complex of rocks creating somewhat of a wall. She nodded and together we started running, more slowly now, toward our goal.

Once we turned to the other side of the rock wall we found Reegan and Tommy waiting for us. It was the most beautiful sight I've ever seen.

"Grayson, Zoe!" Reegan exclaimed and threw her hands around us.

"Brother!" Tommy came running toward my and jumped inside my extended arms. "I knew you'd make it." He smiled with tears in his eyes. I brushed my hand through his think hair and smiled back. "How did you get the gun?" he asked excitement in his eyes.

I motioned toward Zoe. "I didn't. She did." Both my brother and Reegan looked at Zoe with surprise.

"How?" Reegan muttered her eyes darkening. She seemed worried, like she expected Zoe to outer something terrible.

"I asked for it," she explained. When Reegan kept on staring at her she continued, "And I 'accidentally' fired it." She made air quotes with her hands.

Reegan let go of her relieved breath. What the hell is going on? Did something happen to her? I studied her expression for a moment but it quickly brightened.

"Great job, Zoe," Reegan said and high fived Zoe. A smile was playing on her lips but I noticed how when she bit her lower lip it last more than usual, like she was trying to taste it. When I realized I was studying her so intently I scowled at myself. Pervert! I tore my eyes away from Reegan's bright existence and focused on the task ahead.

"So, do we just keep on going? They will realize we are gone soon and then they'll come after us. Not to mention the angels are probably on their way here."

Reegan took her thoughtful expression and watched the terrain around us. "We keep on going. I don't know much about the angels but I heard that they can only sense the ones going through the Change if they stay at one place for a while."

"Does that mean we will always keep on moving?" Zoe asked frowning.

Reegan walked close to her and wrapped her arm around her shoulders. "As long as we need to. I am confident that we will find a way to hide from them. Someday," she whispered the last word softly which made it even more ominous.

The looks of the people around me had started turning into desperate ones so I did the one thing that I knew I had to do. I lied. "We will find a way for sure." I must have been a great liar, because all three of them turned to look at me with a smile. I knew if I kept on looking at them my determination would falter so I looked up at the night sky.

A movement caught my eye. There, right beneath the bright stars, something was flying toward the camp. It was still night, but I was sure it was a dark angel. I had heard that you could see the white angel's wings even in total darkness and the figure moving toward the field was even darker than the night sky. I felt my blood freeze in my veins as I watched him make his way toward our friends.

"Crap!" Reegan yelled as she, too, stared above. "We need to get going. Now!"

As everyone started panicking I didn't take my eyes off the dark angel. For a brief moment I thought that he started down at us and smiled, mocking us like little mice trapped in a never ending game of Cat and Mouse.