Inhuman

Chapter 5 - Protection

Protection

noun – 1. the action of protecting or the state of being protected. 2. a person or thing that protects.

For once the dictionary actually seemed to have gotten it right... sort of anyway.

Without James on my side, I felt strangely empty. I wandered around school, too low to even tell Xandrell to get off whenever he hung on to me. I saw both James and Charlie several times throughout the day, but whenever I waved or anything to them, Xandrell would throw his arms around me and say something about how much he adored me. James would turn up his nose and stalk away, while Charlie blinked at me and simply stood watching us pass. One best friend was blanking me, and another was treating me like something in a museum. School was officially hell.

"You didn't have to act the way you did earlier you know." I told Xandrell that evening. We were walking towards the park to attempt to find the remnants of my poor slaughtered bike.

Xandrell looked at me innocently bewildered. "What did I do, my love?"

"All that stuff with James and Charlie." I said sternly. "And stop it with the 'my love' rubbish. You didn't have to go and punch him, and then show me up in front of them."

"I thought he was hurting you!" cried Xandrell. "As long as I'm living, I will not stand for anyone hurting you!"

"But don't you get it?" I cried, feeling the anger mounting inside me. "You're hurting me!"

"How exactly am I hurting you?" he bellowed.

"You don't let me speak, and it's like you're constantly forcing yourself on me!"

"I still don't know what I've done wrong!"

"Oh for god's sake! Just everything you did before, and now you've totally alienated me from my friends!"

He frowned at me for all of a second, when suddenly his wristwatch began bleeping. He glanced down at it, and suddenly his mouth dropped open. "Oh no..."

"Oh God, it's lets emotionally torture Amy time again isn't it."

"No, Amy..."

"Oh, no wait, I forgot, that's all the time isn't it."

"Amy... get out of here..."

I frowned at him. He was telling me to get out? "You what? After all the times I've told you to go, now you're telling me-"

"MOVE!"

Suddenly he threw himself at me, knocking me to the ground. He put his arms over my head as we hit the ground, for all of a moment, I considered biting his hand to make him let me go, and then...

BOOM!

I felt the ground shudder around us. I gasped and clutched Xandrell's hand. There was a blast of heat around us and Xandrell tightened his arms around me... he was afraid... I was suddenly very, very scared.

"Xandrell..." I whimpered. "What's..."

"I... just hang on to me..." I slipped my arms around his neck as he slipped one hand under my back and one under my knees. Carefully, leaning forward so I was protected, he struggled to his feet and began to run. "Don't look back." he whispered, more to himself than to me, before clutching me a little tighter, pulling me into his chest. "Don't look back, Amy!" he repeated.

I obliged, burying my face in his chest, not wanting to hear the screaming bullets behind us, or to feel the blasts of heat either side of us, but it was inescapable.