The Hunt

Chapter 66: Naya

When the bomb goes off, and we are running towards to wall, I'm still recovering from the shock of seeing the group. I sprint, Mikael right ahead of me, and try to think of any possible reasons why my life is worth anything to these people.

I see Javaar go by in a flash of excitement, and he is leaping across the cement with a giddy enthusiasm that I will never understand. He loves the adrenaline of the gunshots and the explosion, and the 'sprinting for your life' feeling.

"Why did you save us?" I call to him.

The boy turns and runs backwards to acknowledge me. He laughs with bright eyes and exclaims, "You didn't think I'd let you off that easy, did you?" A memory suddenly comes to my mind, of when I had gotten into a fight with a huge exile by the wall of Tanek. It had been right after I'd left the group Javaar was in, and Javaar had stabbed my back and left me to die. I remember knowing I was going to be killed by this exile, until he was pulled off of me by the leader of Javaar's old group. What was his name? Marko. The man had saved my life, and I had been so confused why. He owed me nothing, why would someone put himself at risk to save a nobody like me?

I turn my attention back to Javaar. "If I get shot on the way out, you'll have Mikael and me to deal with."

He howls in laughter, and then turns back around to scream into the gray sky, "What a day to be alive!"

He splits off now, so I just focus on running. In only a t-shirt, the wind whipping by me is like needles on my skin. The air has become crisper, however, so I know it's close to morning. The black cover of night is seeping away so that not even I can hide in the shadows anymore, and it reveals a bleak gray sky that's glowering down at us as we flee the compound. I reach the wall without even breaking a sweat, and that short stocky boy is guarding the rope.

"Last ones here. Mikael, can you take up the back and cover us as we climb?" the boy has sweat dripping down from his blonde hair.

"Okay Karter, but if you get shot and fall, don't take us down with you," Mikael's steely glare is unphased by the chaos that ensues around us.

The boy Karter jumps on the rope, and I behind him. He scales the wall rapidly, and I follow with little resistance from my muscles. The exhaustion is nothing compared to running from Mikael's pack for three days without rest and a bullet wound in my side. That time in my life seems so long ago.

Gunshots rip at the smooth cement wall and ricochet past us narrowly. Below me, Mikael responds by swinging out on the rope, wielding his gun with one hand, and firing into the abyss. For the first time, I feel like I can trust my life in someone else's hands.

It takes a matter of minutes to get up and over the wall. After scaling down rapidly, I hit the ground running. I shield my head with my arms as bullets skim the barren ground next to my feet. I'm close. I just need to make it to the trees. I hurl my body up the slight incline and roll into the cover of the skeletal bushes. Barren tree trunks like ghosts watch me as I lay on my back. My heart pounds like it's going to break out of my ribs.

"Vihaan, what a surprise," I hear Mikael's cool voice a few paces away from me.

It's a man I've never seen before. He looks strikingly like Javaar, an older and taller version of the boy. His sharp features and lean figure slink over to where Mikael is standing.

"Where is my brother?"

"Why do you care?" Mikael cocks his head.

Vihaan narrows his eyes into slits, "I'm serious, where is he? Is he with you?"

"He was, he should be around here somewhere."

Vihaan turns to the boy Karter, "You haven't seen him either?"