Hanna

Chapter Seven

CHAPTER SEVEN

We played for the rest of the evening and well after the sun went down. I agreed to take the first watch, so Tom lay down on the cement floor and closed his eyes. Not ten seconds later, there was a loud crash as the door broke down, and a tsunami of Zeds poured in. No matter how awesome of a team Tom and I were, there was no way we could beat all of them. Despite the odds, I pulled out the Glock and began firing like crazy.  Tom pulled out his Tomahawk, slashing through their necks like warmed butter. Suddenly, a revolver began firing behind me, not wasting any bullets. I looked behind me to see Alex, a boy I knew from school. I was so surprised to see him that I didn't react when he ran to me, putting his arm tightly around my neck. I couldn't move. Tom turned around to see Alex holding me.

"Alex? Are you a slaver or something?" I had no idea what a slaver was, but I didn't care. I just wanted to be let go of.

"Yeah. Your friend here's on the capture list." He raised the pistol to my temple and continued. "So are you. Either you both come with me or I go back empty-handed. And we don't want that, now do we?" There was a certain evilness in his tone, not like the Alex that was in my science class. He was much stronger too. Sure, Alex used to be buff, but no he was just ridiculous.

I looked at Tom. He was clearly not going to be of assistance, so I racked my brain for an idea. Then I remembered one of the self-defense moves Carly had taught me. Before I could complete the action, Tom spoke. "Alex, I don't want to fight you. But I'm not letting you take us as slaves." He lunged forward with the tomahawk, clearly aiming for Alex's head. I had to move. My adrenaline fired as I stepped on Alex's foot and elbowed him in the rib. He stammered back in pain, and I was free. Just in time, too. Tom swung at Alex's skull. His reflexes were quick, and he effortlessly dodged out of the way. He aimed and fired a shot at me. I knew it would miss, since the aim was clumsy, but Tom didn't. He stepped right in the path of the bullet, taking a hit. He fell onto the floor hard on his back. I aimed and shot Alex in the head with my Glock and turned to see Tom lying there, his wound bleeding out.

"Oh god." I said. Why had he been so stupid? Couldn't he have seen that the bullet wasn't going to hit me? Although Carly had taught me the best healing skills a fourteen year old could ask for, there was no way I could patch him up. We'd need professional medical help.

"It's okay, Hanna. You will survive, live on. I took that bullet to save you, because it would've instantly killed you. But I'll survive long enough to get medical help." Instantly kill me? That shot wouldn't even have hit me!

He must have assumed I thought he was lying, because he opened his jacket to reveal armour. "It only let fragments of the bullet through. I'm still wounded, and we'll need a medical professional to help fix me. We'll also need our own medical supplies."

"Okay." I sighed. I was tired, and didn't know if I could walk far tonight. But for Tom, I'd do anything. We were like brother and sister.

"Hanna. It's going to be okay." He said, reassuringly. It sounded as if he was trying to comfort me, but I didn't need comforting. I watched my family die and shot my best friend. A fragment of a bullet was like a paper cut now. But Tom didn't see that. He still saw me as that shy, helpless girl I had left behind. He still thought of me as weak, incapable and dumb. Why couldn't he see that I was so much more now; that I was a stronger girl? Inside, my anger raged. I wanted so badly to yell at him for treating me like a powerless child and for so stupidly putting himself in danger. But I could do that later. Right now, we had to get to the military base that was our final destination. Apparently he had the same idea.

"We need to get to that military base, quickly."

We collected our gear and were soon walking out into the freezing night air.