Changed

Chapter Eight

"Get up, we've got to go." Veda blinked up at Raya groggily and let out a yawn as she pushed herself up on her elbows. She looked around and let it hit her where they were once again.

The sun was shining through the trees and it seemed like a fairytale moment with the birds chirping and butterflies drifting about. At least it would have been a fairytale if it weren't for Veda's aching muscles and soar back that reminded her of both the run they had the day before and the night sleeping on the rocky ground.

Veda pushed herself to her feet and was immediately hit with a protein bar in the chest. She let out a humph of surprise and watched the bar fall to the ground before looking back up to an amused Raya. "I thought you'd catch it." Veda gave her an exasperated look which made Raya snicker while she folded up their blankets.

"Can you at least tell me where we're heading?" Veda inquired as she reached down to retrieve her protein bar, producing a few loud pops from her stiff joints. Raya was humming while she packed and simply shook her head in response to Veda's question as she produced another protein bar for herself.

"You really won't tell me anything, will you?" Veda whimpered causing Raya to roll her eyes dramatically as she stood to go over and sling her arm around Veda's neck in a show of unwanted affection that made Veda tense up.

"Veda, everything I do is for your protection. My family is the most important thing in my life and as far as I'm concerned you are my sister." Veda smiled at the sister comment. Veda had been an only child due to her mother's many miscarriages before and after Veda's birth she had been alone until she met Raya.

Raya made her feel better about Kai and everything that was going on. She helped her hide it and became friends with her in spite of it. Being called Raya's sister was like a badge of honor for young Veda and she couldn't help but give a genuine smile to her friend.

"Now we really need to go." Raya informed her as she took the wrapper from Veda and crumpled them up before putting them in a pocket of her backpack. Veda reached down to slip her own backpack back on when a loud noise from behind made her freeze.

"I knew it." Raya muttered as she darted to block Veda from whatever was in the woods. "Who's there?" Raya called as her hands balled into fists and she stared defiantly at the trees in front of her which rustled once more.

That's when two men stepped out and Veda's heart began to pound as the grinned at the girls evilly. That's when Veda felt a hand clamp down on her mouth and grab her around her waist. Veda let out a muffled scream that got Raya's attention. She turned around just as a second man from behind them grabbed her the same way Veda was being held.

Veda kicked out instinctively and connected with a shin that earned her a grunt from her captor who squeezed her waist tighter, pushing the air out of her and making dots appear in her eyes.

Veda became frantic and her eyes flew around the valley in search of Raya. When she found her she saw that her friend was staring at back at her with eyes that said for her not to panic, that she was going to handle it.

That eased Veda slightly but there was no stopping the torrent of fear that threatened to overwhelm her even with her capable best friend. Veda watched as Raya reached up to pry the man's hand from her mouth so she could yell at the men coming towards them, "Are you rebels?"

That made things click for Veda and she quickly began to search for signs of the rebellion but quickly came up short as her attacker ripped her backpack off and threw it to one of the men walking towards us. "We're not rebels." The man holding Veda informed them in a deep voice that resonated in the air around them.

Veda shuddered at the thought of such a nice voice belonging to someone who was attacking them. The man holding her seemed to feel that as he loosened his grip; as if afraid he would hurt her more than he had already.

"Jax, we've got to get out of here. Those soldiers we ran into were heading this direction and if we want to keep our lead we'll have to be done with this." It was Raya's captor who talked spoke then to one of the men who came to a stop in front of them, the one he called Jax.

Jax was tall man with weathered skin that contrasted greatly with his pale blond hair and green eyes. Veda had heard so many stories of the evil bandits who attacked in the woods when she was young. She had imagined burly men with scars and beards but from the three out of four men she could see, none of them had beards or disfiguring scars.

"Take us with you!" Raya exclaimed suddenly and all of the men turned to face her in shock. Even Veda found herself shocked at the boldness of her friend and felt the fear begin to start to take over. Raya was losing it, this couldn't have been a part of her plan, Veda thought as she clenched her fists to stop them from shaking.

"You're asking four men, who are robbing you; to take you with them after the literally just said they were running from the worldwide military?" Jax asked in disbelief before he quirked an eyebrow at each of us, trying to calculate what we were up to.

After a minute he leaned down to whisper something to nervous man standing beside him. The man nodded a few times before whispering something back until they seemed to come to a consensus.

"Okay boys, we're taking the ladies with us. Let's go!"

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Yes! I this is the second chapter I've written today and it makes me sooooooo happy!! Oh none of you will probably see this until two days after I write this but still..... Really exciting!

Okay so come on, someone talk to me. I wanna hear what y'all are up to and what's going on in y'alls lives. Mine isn't that exciting right now so I really want to know what's going on.

Okay comment, message, follow, vote, do whatever but I do wanna hear from y'all!!!