Once Again

Chapter Thirty - Division

Part 2: Rebel

Division

Without any other explanation, Echo jumped them back to the Raiders' camp. As soon as they hit, he took Alyssa straight to Fij's tent. She wiggled her arm around, but she couldn't move her hand or fingers by themselves, and Echo was afraid it was going to cause her permanent damage.

"Look who's back from the dead!" a familiar voice yelled from across the camp, his Irish accent immediately recognizable.

Echo looked up, trying to bury his fear back down. The Raider had a heavy, staggering limp, and cringed every time he set his weight on his right foot, but he was up and walking again, and now, that made Echo nervous.

"That kid?" Noise shouted, his voice cracking as he pointed right at Echo. "He's going to kill us all!" Another Raider near him tried to quiet him down, but Noise's glare stayed burning, right into Echo's skull as he walked away.

"Hey, where are you two going?" Tristam demanded.

"To Fij," Echo snapped back, still angry at him. "You aren't going to help her."

"Don't be like that," Alyssa said softly.

"Like what? You don't know the kind of liars and murderers we're around. I've been trying for weeks to get out of here, but they keep holding me here, like some sort of prisoner." Echo dropped his eyes to the ground and sighed. "I don't want to be a prisoner anymore."

"Would you rather be here, or with Her?"

Echo honestly wasn't sure. Back with Her, he'd been alone, with plenty of time to think. He knew She wouldn't touch his sister as long as he worked with Her. Here, with Tristam, there was no guarantee, especially with his exhaustion and fire.

"Echo!" Fij said, breaking him out of his thoughts. "You're back, and you're ... safe?" He glanced at the enormous blood stain on the front of his shirt. "Uh -"

"I'm fine. Alyssa needs help." Echo pointed to his sister, and Fij's smile widened.

"You found your sister! That's amazing!" The healer sat them down and checked Alyssa's bite. His cheerful expression immediately melted to fear, regret, and something else Echo couldn't identify. The look made him nervous. "You got this from Haven?" the Raider asked. She nodded, and his eyes saddened. "Alyssa, those dogs ... they're genetically modified and bred to kill. Have you seen Braken's right shoulder, those scars?"

She nodded again, her face going pale.

"It's a miracle he survived, and it's even more amazing he didn't lose his entire arm. Those bites are poisonous, and become infected within hours." His gentle fingers examined the nasty wound, the tears in the flesh, and he sighed. "Can you feel this at all?"

"I could when I got it, but it's ... kind of numb, now," Alyssa mumbled.

"That's the poison spreading through your arm." Fij looked right into her eyes, taking a second to glance at Echo. "There's not much I can do, except ... well ... We can amputate it."

"What?" Echo shrieked.

Fij winced. "Unless she wants a dead arm for the rest of her life, that's the only option." He continued to examine the wound, and Echo finally had to look away, the sight making him sick. "I'm sorry, Alyssa. It's safer to amputate it, because if you don't, you run the risk of the poison spreading to the rest of your body and killing you."

"Braken survived," Echo countered.

"True, but he also survived Haven for four years. I have no doubt they have the antidote, and they probably gave it to him when he was unconscious or asleep, especially if what Puppet said is true."