Secrets in The Ashes

Chapter 12

Zed spends the rest of the time planning, leaving me alone. He tells me to go and explore. I shrug and leave the room. I can't shake the feeling that something is up, it is tugging my gut, begging me to listen. I clamp my hands around my gut and continue walking. I pass a couple of windows, but nothing interesting in any of the rooms. Then I walk past a room with tinted windows, so I stop and lean in to get a better look. There is a girl. A teenage girl. With long, bright red hair. She sits sadly, until she sees me. Then she bolts up and runs to the window, screaming.

'Will!' she screams, pounding on the glass. I take a step back, breathing fast. How does she know my name? 'Will!!' she screams again, tears running down her cheeks. I take a step closer and peer into the window, my hands resting on the window sill. I frown, she does look familiar. She continues to pound and scream whilst my gut is trying to tell me something. It is renching me towards her, and my knuckles start to go white because I am gripping the sill so hard. Suddenly, ice. The window sill is covered in ice. I jump back, holding my hands to my chest. The girl stops screaming and looks at me, confused.

'Will?' she says. My heart pounds, palms collecting sweat.

'You...you know my name. How?' I stutter. She opens her mouth to speak when suddenly 2 guards rip her away. She starts to scream again, screaming my name. Without thinking, I burst through the door.

'Put her down!' I yell, hiding my hands. I don't know how the ice came, but I think it was me. The guards look dumbfounded, surprised that I am in here. The girl is giving me a look, one that digs into the depths of my heart. A look that is telling me to prove myself. I take a deep breath and take a step towards the guards. 'I said put her down.' I command, standing taller. One of the guards grunts whilst the second steps towards me.

'And why should we do that, Princey?' he grunts while the other does a grunting laugh.

'Because...' I trail off, my heart pounding in my ears. Her eyes are screaming at me to do something. 'Because otherwise I won't help you.' I say with as much strength as I can muster, which is quite a lot. 

'But haven't you already?' one guard snarls.

'Yes,' I hurry, hoping I don't lose my advantage. 'But you need me to finish it. I have only given you ideas, not how to use them. And you guys are pretty stupid.' I smirk. One guard lets go of the beautiful girl and walks towards him. I grin. 'So close! Told you were stupid, only one let go. Now, let her go...' I instruct. The first guard jerks his head at the second and the second guard lets go. 'Good.' 

'Now, buzz off pretty boy!' the taller one growls. There is something itching at the back of my mind, I need to talk to her.

'I'm taking her for something.' I say, stepping towards her and taking her wrist. When Tall gives me a quizzical look I decide to exaggerate. 'Zed told me.' The two guards nod and I drag her out of the room, taking her outside to talk. I keep a strong grip on her wrist, and neither her or I speak a word until we are outside and sitting in the dense woods. I stare at her for a while, scrutinizing every detail, willing myself to remember.

'Talk.' I mutter, not moving my gaze. She glances up at the sky.

'I haven't been outside for a while.' she whispers. I sigh.

'That's not what I meant. Who are you? Why do you know me? Am I supposed to know you?' I say, frowning as I study her. She lowers her face to mine.

'You don't know who I am?' she says, her voice sounding laced with tears.

'Who are you?' I demand, growing more impatient. Her bottom lip trembles and I can see tears start to fill her eyes.

'I...I'm Lauren.' she chokes and tears start to spill onto her hollowed cheeks. I gulp.

'Am I supposed to know you?' I press, almost too scared to hear the answer. Lauren makes a strangled sound and nods before taking a deep breath.

'Yes. You are.' Lauren sniffs and when I raise my eyebrows she continues. 'You love me.'

Over the next couple of hours, Lauren tells me everything. The Elementals, the Shadow Men, our imprisonment and our love. All of it. Try as I might, I can't believe it. Why should I? But I can't deny the familiarity of it all.

'Will? Are you ok?' Lauren asks. I have gotten her to stop crying though her eyes are puffy and her face flushed. I don't meet her eyes, I haven't looked at her for at least an hour. I sigh as I frown at the ground.

'Let's get you back.' I say as I stand. I see that she does too.

'You're avoiding the question.' she sighs as she tugs on my forearm. I shake off her grip and continue walking. Who should I trust? Who can I trust? I hear her trudge along behind me as we near the large grey building of the Shadow Men. We walk all the way back to her cell without trouble. Just as Lauren enters the room she grips my wrist.

'You must believe me, Will. I love you. Why would I lie?' Lauren says, with such passion I feel as though I must believe her. She drops her eyes and kisses me on the cheek before walking into her cell. I close the door quietly and lock it. I take a deep breath in and walk aimlessly through all the corridors throughout this maze-like prison. I manage to find Zed.

'What's up brother? You look sick! And not in a good way.' Zed grins but it fades when I don't return it. He opens his mouth to talk to me when a blaring alarm sounds. I cover my ears while Zed looks around, terrified. It is a blaring sound that rockets around the walls and my head. After a while, it stops but red and blue lights flash all around the compound.

'Zed!' I yell, lifting my hands from my ears, 'What's going on?' Zed's face his white, eyes are large. His expression reads simply - terrified.

'We're being attacked. Come on, let's get some weapons.' Without waiting for my reply, Zed takes off running down the hall. Having no other option, I follow. We weave and eventually run past Lauren's cell. I stop for a second before continuing to run, logic saying it's easier to defend her once I have some weapons. We reach the weapons vault, but by then most of the weapons are gone. Zed chucks me a gun and takes one for himself. He cocks his gun and sprints back along the corridor we just came down and turns right, away from Lauren. I hold my rifle to my chest and sprint after him. I stop at the end of the corridor. I look down both ways. Should I defend the stranger whom I am supposed in love here? Or defend the people who supposedly are bad? I cock my gun, close my eyes and take a breath in.

I open my eyes with sudden anger. I sprint left.