At End's Gate

THE OUTDOORS

They walked outside. The dawn was beautiful. The sun's radiant beams complimented the green tree leaves very well. Being used to the indoors the sun on Paige's skin felt like a new sensation. The dawn illuminated peace, a feeling Paige had forgotten. Her mind was always in a tug of war. She wrestled the darkness that accompanies the life they were now living. Conner was in front with Blake scanning the yard to make sure no one would sneak up on them. James was behind the girls. Paige was flanking one side whilst Lisa did the other. They formed an arc around Alexis. Everyone was holding their weapon, moving cautiously. They got outside the gate and started moving using the pathway they had told each other they would be using. They only whispered to each other.

"The way to the east is too long. If only we could use a car," Alexis said complaining.

"Unfortunately we can't even if we wanted to. We might suffer a fate similar to that of our parents," Conner said seriously.

Alexis nodded, hiding her tears. Paige noticed." Don't worry. The bombing sites are still many. Dukilian changed his sequence but there are still many unaffected locations. We have time. We'll make it."

Alexis smiled. Paige then fixed her gaze on the trees. She didn't want any surprises. Paige noticed Conner's serious face as he led her and the others. He was determined to make sure that they would reach a safe location. This made Paige feel happy. He was completely on guard. She justified what she did to him in her mind. They reached a corner and turned to a street that looked completely deserted. They moved on with their journey. They moved a few yards. Paige noticed a movement in the trees. It seemed as if she was the only one who noticed. She continued moving slowly. She knew if she reacted they would be shot. A few seconds latter two men emerged from the hedge running toward them with axes in their hands. Conner immediately shot one. Panic was now in the atmosphere. Lexi screamed as she held her gun firmly. Three other men were running toward them from Lisa's flank . They had knives. Lisa aimed her arrows. She managed to aim one them straight to the heart and made a successful shot. The man fell on the ground. The other two were too fast. One tried pinning James down to stab him. James took his dagger and ended up stabbing the man instead. The other one jumped on Lisa and began choking her. His knife had been knocked out of his hand so he wanted to strangle Lisa. Alexis jumped on the man and clawed him with her nails, scratching his eyes until Lisa had room to stab him in the heart. Conner was helping Blake who had shot the arm of the remaining guy with an axe. The axe found it's way to the ground but the man jumped and tackled Blake to the ground trying to take away his gun. Conner was trying to shoot the guy but he couldn't fearing that the bullet might end up in Blake. He ended up jumping on the man trying to remove him. Paige was shaking recalling her nightmare. She looked at the trees again and aimed. She shot the air screaming. The others looked shocked. Was she losing it. To them she was having an episode. They then noticed the bodies of three men with knives falling down from the trees. She wasn't going to allow her nightmare to come true. The image of her and her brothers running away and her brothers being shot was clear in her mind. She screamed and shot the trees again making sure no one else was hiding in the cover of the leaves. She turned to the others. They were fine. The bodies of their attackers were on the ground. They were dead. Her siblings had wounds. She rushed to Blake's side." B you're bleeding. Oh no. I'm sorry." She was crying." Lexi your hands," she said looking at the girl's hands with blood.

"Paige it's fine."

"No it's not. You're just kids. Your problems should be teenage stuff not this. Not this," she said shaking her head." I'm sorry." She wiped her tears." Lisa, James..."

"Paige we're fine. We'll survive and heal from this," James said with blood stained on his shirt.

"Yeah," Lisa whispered clearly still trying to find her voice after being chocked.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help you."

"No Paige. You saved us from possibly being killed by those men," James said." You focused on taking down those men. We handled ourselves well. We're fine."

"J we're not fine. We're now killers," she sighed." Let's move."