The Reckless And The Brave

Death Valley

A/N: Hey guys, how'd you like the puns last week? Mynx seemed to love them. That's kind of her thing. ~Nova Coleman~

Emily's POV

The door opened, and the light burned our eyes. Still, we walked through the doorway.

"I don't understand math." Jake announced.

"That's okay." I glared at my best friend. "Tatum does."

"You love me." She grinned.

"You sound so sure." I said sarcastically.

"At least I was there. Neither of you can do math. Alastair only thinks he can."

"I heard that!" He called.

"You were supposed to!" She hollered back.

I took Asher's hand. "Tell me about the dark."

He took a deep breath. "They wanted to know how long a person could stay in the dark for without going insane. I didn't know where I was. They made me keep walking." He swallowed, remembering. "I wasn't allowed to stop. But I did. So I got punished, over, and over again. Then they made me do it again. I knew better than to stop this time. I wandered around the room. It must have been huge, because I never reached a wall. My eyes never adjusted. There was no light. I couldn't see anything. I felt like I was dead."

I linked my arm in his. Even though I didn't say anything. He knew I understood.

"Guys..." Jake said. "We have a problem."

"What is it?" I asked. He pointed off to the distance, where people were coming toward us. I looked around, and saw that they were everywhere. "Run." I said quickly, trying to take off in a random direction, but Asher grabbed my arm.

"We can't go anywhere." He said sternly.

"What? Why?" I demanded. "If we go now, we can..." It was too late. They were advancing toward us in a circle. "We're surrounded."

"Excellent!" Alastair cried. "We can attack from any direction!"

I rolled my eyes. This wasn't the time.

"What do you want?" Jake asked bravely.

"We come to kill you." One of them announced.

"Really?" I raised my eyebrows. "Then we have a problem."

"And why is that?"

I looked him directly in the eye. "Because we don't come to die." In a flash, they all raced toward us.

"That was a dumb move." Tatum muttered, as she dove under their legs. Alastair used his prosthetic arm to whack some away, like he did with the birds.

I had nothing on me. There was nothing I could use to fight. We had used all our clothes for the rope. We didn't have any water, so I had ditched my bag a while back.

I saw Tatum pull someone away from Jake. She punched the guy in the head, and he fell to the ground.

Someone grabbed me, and I turned around and kicked him in the nuts. When I realized it was Asher, I gasped. "Sorry!" I cried.

"It's okay." He managed, talking my hand and dragging me out. I grabbed Tatum, and pulled her along with us. Jake and Alastair showed up, and we ran. Once in a while, one of us would turn around and kick someone. I noticed that Asher never did. Maybe he was scared.

We ran for what felt like hours. We managed to lose the attackers somewhere along the way. I guessed they either got tired of running, or decided to stop and form a plan.

"Keep your guard up." I warned, out of breath. "They could be coming back." I just wanted to lay down and go to sleep. I hadn't had water in a few days, and I'd been running way more than I would have liked to.

"It's your fault I'm dehydrated." Tatum laid down.

"No it's not, you dumbass." I let out a short laugh, and sat down next to her. Everyone else laid down, and fell asleep.

I rolled over to face Asher, finding the he was still awake. "Hey," I whispered.

"Hi." He said.

"You okay?" I asked. He nodded, holding his arms open for me. I snuggled into his embrace, and closed my eyes.

Just before I fell asleep, I heard him whisper, "I'll always be okay if I have you."

A/N: I thought that last part was kind of cute. Let me know if my plot is already gone lol. Mynx, "Wake up, seize the day, go to bed, repeat." I will see you on Tuesday.