The Silk Of The Predator (Book #1 In Series)

Elias

"Elias? Elias?! ELIAS!"

Everything came flooding back, as did the pain. I groaned, and opened my eyes. I looked around, and to my surprise, I saw Althea curled up on the ground next to me. I guess I had expected her to have fled from me. I said her name softly, "Althea". Her eyes fluttered, then opened. "Elias! Oh my god! Your alive!" she exclaimed. She uncurled herself, and moved closer. "I would have thought that you would have left by now" I said. "What?! Why?" she asked, clearly surprised. "Well, after what I told you, and what you said yesterday about you leaving" I replied. She blinked, taken aback, "Yeah, but then you saved my life, again, took a bullet for me, and I don't think I'll be able to make it on my own. Also, I trust you, as much as I know it's not smart to, I do". Now it was my turn to be taken aback. "We need to get moving, I think I can walk" told her, while trying to get to my feet. "No! As much as I would love to get moving, I'm not making you walk like that!" she said, a little forcefully. "Then go on your own. I'm not dragging you down. You'll only get caught! Go!" I said more forcefully. "I am NOT leaving you to die!" she said even more forcefully. "I'm staying, and there isn't anything you can do!" she said. "Fine, then help me up" I said, giving in.

A week later

The week had gone by without anything bad happening. Which was surprising. I was almost completely healed, one of the good aspects of being a Supernatural. We were getting ready to leave. Althea had been making runs around the area, looking for food, water, and other supplies. So far, she'd found a few new bags, a couple boxes of cookies, 6 water bottles, a few boxes of granola bars, 2 cans of soda (which was a huge score! Neither one of us have had one a in many years), little food cakes (Twinkies, Ding Dongs, etc, another huge score), some stale crackers, and some rabbits that she skinned, and cooked. We took small portions of the meats each night, trying to preserve as much as possible. I figured out that Althea liked to chew the fat like gum, which was kind of disturbing to hear. After a couple more days, we packed everything up, and left. Althea carried two of the lighter bags, and I carried three. She had argued with me, saying that I was still wounded, so I didn't need to hold so many heavy bags, then I reminded her that she was the fastest of the both of us, so she needed to hold the lighter ones. She finally caved after a few more minutes.

We were now hiking through the woods, and hadn't come across any trouble yet. We both had no doubt that the guys who had attacked us had gone to the Souls, more specifically the one who had been after Althea. After several hours later, we took a break, since I was getting a little winded. "You remember, when I had passed out after you got shot?" Althea asked. "Yeah" I said tentatively. "Well, I dreamed about the night my family died" she started, but I cut her off. "Althea, you don't have to do this". "Elias, I want to. So yeah, it had started off as a normal day. You know, breakfast, Papa going to work, Mama playing with us, at lunch she ran to go give Papa his lunch, my brother, sister, and I playing until dinner. Then towards the end of dinner, a riot started up, and my parents went to go see what was going on, but they never came back inside. My older brother, Zach, held my baby sister, Vik, in one arm, and held my hand with his other. After a while, Zach, took me and Vik to a safe area in the house, then the front door opened, and Vik thought it was Mama and Papa. She ran out, Zach told me to stay there, then went after her. I heard screaming, and I curled into a ball and I was crying. I had only been four. I keep thinking that if I had done something, then they wouldn't be dead. And earlier, my Mama had told me that I had a prophecy following me and that I was meant to do great things. I never knew what he prophecy was, until you told me" she was crying now. I leaned forward, hugged her, and said, "There was nothing you could do, don't blame yourself. And you don't deserve all that is happening to you. I am so sorry that my people have caused so much harm". I spat out the word people like it was poison.

When I let her go, and she pulled away, I realized that I trusted her as much as she trusted me. I trusted her with the one thing I never trusted any on with. My life.