Timbers & Rivers (Leorai)

Chapter Three

"God is, to me, pretty much an idea. God is, to me, pretty much a myth to deny the fact that we are all responsible for our own actions." -Seth Green

Karai glared at the old friends laughing and connecting after a two year depart. April said that they were close to The Barracks, and decided to start getting close to her Leo. She hated that feeling, jealousy.

Finally she snapped, whirling around to face the two 'bezzies'. "Will you two keep your voices down!" She snapped and ignored the regret at seeing Leo's hurt face. It wasn't his fault. After seeing one of your best friends after two years can really get you excited.

"We should be there soon, it should take around ten minutes unless we have any encounters with the beasts." April said and the three started to walk in a triangle. "Have you met anyone, Karai and Leo?"

Karai visibly tensed and Leo gave her a strange look April could not comprehend. So Leo told the story.

"Yeah. We met some people. Seven, to be exact. Four men and three women. Their names were Artyom, Seth, Floki, Geralt, Marzia, Lilly and Sofia. Artyom and Lilly were Russian twins and Seth and Floki were from Denmark. The rest were American."

"What, uh, happened to them?" The redhead asked cautiously, she did not want to hurt them or remind them of bad memories.

"We left them. To find you and my family. One morning we just woke up and left, no note, no goodbyes. Nothing. Karai's let it go... But, I just can't stop feeling guilt. What did they feel when they saw we were gone?"

"Guys!" Karai's shout stopped them. Leo and April gasped at what they saw.

"Run!" April screamed. "Follow me!"

Dark Ones were by far the most dangerous mutant, for they were many steps ahead in humanity's evolution. They could teleport, paralyse, and go into people's minds and force them to see things. They were about twice the size of Karai's height, with a misty, black human body but with three finger and a mouth.

By then the young adults had reached a nice vault door covering the entrance to a subway.

April immediately started banging on the metal, Karai with her. Leo had turned his back on the girls and turned to face the Dark One.

It just stood there. 'Staring', until, in one swift movement, teleported in front of the turtle and tore the gas mask off of Leo's face. The glass shattered as cracked upon contact with the ground and Leo started struggling to breathe. He tried to, but shallow, raspy breathing did him no good.

Flash

Suddenly, Leo found himself in a cement corridor, it was silent. It was warm. There were two large double-doors on each side and one had a dark and deadly aura while the other was bright. The dark one was pulling him towards it but Leo scrambled to get away, towards the light.

The force got stronger with every step but Leo managed to make it towards the doorframe, latching onto it with all his remaining strength. He was about to slip away when a black hand grabbed his wrist and threw him into the light.

Then, Leo was back. Back in the cold, the pain and the fear, with the Dark One still in front of him. He suddenly realised he was still gasping for precious life-giving oxygen with one statement overlapping the need to breathe: It helped me.

Leonardo heard the sound of a large metal door scraping over concrete, and the echoed calling of his name, then shouting and footsteps, accompanied with gunshots. He fell to his knees in front of the Dark One, and collapsed into the ground, ringing in his ears.