Fragments - Book One of the Missing

Chapter 47 - Taniel

Afraid to look down, he eyed Wills instead. Taniel's hand came away from his side covered in blood. It occurred to him the wound could be fatal. And with the realization, pain bloomed in his side then radiated throughout his body. Stars.

His eyes hardened. Even as Wills laid there dying he looked back at him smugly. Wills slid down the wall, clutching his own wounds. And all of them waiting.

Taniel knew he should end it. End Wills miserable life and tyranny of the Underground. But he was losing a lot of blood. And he could feel the fogginess surrounding him. Wills was probably trying to immobilize him.

Turning away from Wills, Taniel took in the rest of the room, everything appearing to him in slow motion. Ice was unconscious with a bullet wound in his shoulder to match Wills own knife wound. Scooter was sitting next to him now, breathing heavy and looking into his hands.

Next to each other, the resemblance was uncanny. How could he never put two and two together. How could he have asked such a thing of Scooter? Taniel knew it was unforgivable what he had done. How he had ruined the two people closest to him. He made nightmares real.

He turned, looking for Rowan. Her head down, shoulders slumped Taniel could tell she was almost completely drained. When she made eye contact he could see the pain in her eyes. He wanted to comfort her, to reach out to her but she shook her head. Taniel checked himself. She was alive. She was fighting. She was a soldier. And he needed to be the barrier between what was coming and her. He needed to keep her alive.

Gathering his strength, Taniel dropped his hand from his side. He wasn't willing to let an injury like this take him down without giving it his all. He wiped the blood on his already destroyed jeans. He shifted his weight on his legs, testing to see if the stab wound would hold him back. The leg was shaky, but he could still hold his own.

Footsteps sounded in the beyond the iron door. "Rowan, get down!" he shouted, just as an Underground troop of four teenage boys barged in, followed by Twitch.

Guilt pricked at Taniel. How could he hurt kids that were probably saved by the Underground? Boys that were alone and abandoned like he was. Instead of kill shots, he aimed to disarm - aiming only for arms and legs. But he knew the odds weren't great. One against. He'd never make it.

He aimed for the boys in front first, hoping to level the field. Two were disarmed almost immediately, their defenses meek. Taniel knew they were probably forced to be here, probably had no idea what they were fighting for.

How could he have been part of the Underground and not known what Wills was up to?

Taniel reached for another knife. The belt was empty. He was defenseless. He searched frantically around the floor for the gun, another knife, anything. There was four more to go. Twitch laughed.

One of the boys charged and Taniel was forced to move to hand to hand combat. He tried to take him down by the knees when cold steel pressed into the back of his head. "Kneel," another boy demanded, his voice cracking.

Despite his life being over, Taniel felt sorry for these boys. The boys that were him and Scooter and had no where else to go. Taniel knew he would kill for the only family left after everything else had been taken. That was what he was doing, wasn't he?

Twitch approached him, cracking his knuckles. Out of the corner of Taniel's eye he could see Rowan crawling out from behind one of the desks, ready to strike. He risked it, and gave just the tiniest shake of his head. She couldn't endanger herself and Olive's chances by helping him. Taniel, the one that ruined her life.

"Good to see you, brother," Twitch said. "See how the tides turn when one is patient enough?"

Taniel looked at Twitch, the sun kissed hair, the gangly limbs. He thought of every game, of every fight. How had he not seen this side of him?

Twitch gestured to the boy standing behind Taniel holding the gun. The boy handed it over. Suddenly Taniel was staring down the barrel of the gun. They never should have brought it.

The click of the safety being released made him close his eyes. Stars, he wasn't ready.

"After all those years with you, I knew you were different. I knew you were dangerous. But I could never figure out why," Twitch said. "There was just something magnetic about you. I thought I was safer with you. How could I have been so stupid?"

A loud pop sounded through the room. One of the boys shouted. Taniel knew he was dead. He hoped Rowan would forgive him. That Rowan would make it out alive. That she and Scooter could save Olive.

There was no more pain. He opened his eyes to see that Scooter had shot off one of the boy soldier's guns to distract Twitch. Scooter slid Taniel one of his knives.

But then he smelled smoke. He turned back to find the corner of the room on fire. Scooter didn't shoot a gun. Something must have exploded. Then he looked harder.

Scooter was there. Fire had engulfed him and was spreading quickly. Taniel could already smell burning flesh. Scooter was trying to wake his brother up.

Twitch had lowered his arm, ordering the boys to put the fire out.

"Scooter!" Taniel yelled. No answer. He watched Scooter collapse into the flames. Stars, his dream. The fire.

With the distraction, and no time to waste, Taniel ambushed Twitch, ripping the gun from his hands. He prayed there were more bullets.

Taniel had to get out of there. As Twitch staggered away from him backwards, he threw the last knife. A nail in the coffin. Another nightmare made reality. Twitch's face went slack. Almost peaceful as he fell.

Taniel felt no remorse, just a sense of urgency. He stood and aimed for the remaining boy soldiers. Without waiting for them to fall, Taniel searched the room for Rowan. She was leaning against the far desk he saw her at earlier. She was not moving, but at least not yet touched by fire.

The smoke was getting thicker. He had to cough several times to keep his lungs clear. When he reached her he checked for a pulse. Alive, but her breaths were shallow. She must have been too drained from using her power. Now Taniel had to choose between his friends, between the only two people he cared about in the world.

He thought of the dream again bitterly. That his father had this dream too. But then he remembered what his father had said - "She is the key." He knew there was no decision to be made, but it destroyed him.

He scooped Rowan into his arms as gingerly as he could, holding her away from his body as to avoid the gunshot wound. Almost all the monitors and desks were aflame at this point. The fire quickly danced towards Wills.

"Help!" Wills begged of him. "I will do anything!" He coughed out the words.

He was easy to ignore when Taniel was so busy praying for all the other lives that were lost that night. He shot Wills twice in the chest and walked out.