Alive

Chapter 9

Ivy had helped me back to camp a few moments after the fire had died down. I had helped her extinguish some of the flames and felt as my voice began to come back slowly. My arm was still brutally wounded, and I was afraid of a severe infection, but I helped Ivy with the flames anyway. When we arrived at Scarlet's camp I noticed everyone was frantically gathered around Scarlet.

"Send out a search party!" I heard Scarlet's voice ring out. "He might be captured in the flames!" She finished before looking my direction. A look of shock filled her pale expression before rushing my way. Scarlet rushed over to my side and quickly wrapped me in a hug before quickly pushing me away.

"Don't you EVER do anything like that again!" Scarlet hissed in a deep warning. Her kind approach that was gentle and sweet now hostile and harsh. I gave her a long, hurt glare as I searched for words to reply. A strong silence spread over the camp as I continued to search for words. "Someone get him a nurse!" Scarlet called out to break the silence, not even noticing that Ivy was by my side. She probably knew that the black-haired mortal was only here to help, and if I knew Ivy, she wouldn't stay in a vampire infested camp for long. Before I even knew it nurses were flooding my way, tending to my now wet, bubbling ash covered arm.

I pushed the nurses away, knowing that my arm would be infected anyways. Even though a thorough cleaning of my wound would do me some good, I decided to continue my search for Crystal instead of tending to myself. I looked around to see Ivy had already left the camp, and Sara nowhere to be seen. Confusion spread on my face before I shook my ongoing thoughts away, attending to the task at hand. Quickly I made my way to where Scarlet was barking out orders as usual, her mighty hand pushing all her tribe members into their places.

"Scarlet." I said, turning my friend around with a gentle hand to the shoulder. At first she looked at my pale hand in disgust as she turned to face me, but then her expression turned worried, and kind.

"Yes Arrow?" She asked, brushing a piece of hair behind her ear to cover up her scarred eye. I glanced at the ground before looking back up to my friend in pure confidence.

"Where's Crystal?" I ask after a moment of silence in the camp. Scarlet gave me a surprised look, as if she hadn't expected me to say those words. I held my cold gaze steady as I looked at Scarlet, an expressionless expression on my pale face.

"I honestly don't know Arrow." Scarlet answered. I studied her expression to see pure innocence in her one crimson colored eye.

"Yes you do." I say simply, giving her a cold glare in response to her fake innocence. We both held a stare at each other for a what seemed to me like an eon in time before Scarlet let out a long, soft sigh and spoke.

"She came in a few moments after the fire started." Scarlet sighed out to explain. " I was going to tell her to lead a patrol back to find you but she insisted on helping to put out the flames." She continued. "I think she's around the mortal village, that's about where the fire stopped spreading."

Scarlet's words shocked me. Was Crystal really that loyal to our kind that she would run to put out the flames? Or was my blonde friend only looking out for her village when she saw the bright flame spread from her own invention? I looked at Scarlet's face, seeing how sorry she looked made my stomach churn with how I had spoken to her, but deep down I know she deserved those hurtful words. She was always trying to find ways to get rid of crystal ever since she stepped foot in her camp. My friend was too blind to figure out that I had brought her here in the first place.

"We have to go find her." I say after a few moments of thought. "Can you send your search party towards the village to find her?" I ask and Scarlet nods in understanding. There was still a grim look on her scarred face, but I knew eventually Scarlet would take charge once more. As soon as she gave the order nurses came to my side once more to check me over for any harmful burns or infection. I had to threaten to bite their ears off before they let me go and rest in the darkness of solitude, which I was extremely grateful for since how full the camp had grown the past days.