❝I don't do regrets. Regrets are pointless. It's too late for regrets. You've already done it, haven't you? No point wishing you could change it.❞
Elissa Bardot-Gray was never the one to be classified as a "rule breaker". She had a high-rankin...
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ELISSA'S FEET FLEW over the soft forest ground, each step propelling her forward with a strong desperation to get away. With every ragged gasp for breath came the bitter tang of panic in the air.
Run!
The loud warning blare from the horn only seemed to amplify her fear.
Elissa, Charlotte, and Bellamy headed back in the direction they'd come from. Deep inside, she already knew that there was no possible way that they would be able to outrun the fog and get back to the dropship in time. It was moving too fast and they were running too slow. They'd watched it progress for too long.
So, what if you get back to the dropship? There's no way you'll be able to get everyone inside before the fog arrives! A sudden terrifying thought occurred to her, what if it had already hit the rest? You heard those scream—had they come from camp? Or someone from the hunting group? She thought, desperately trying to figure out their location in relation to the rest of the group. Where had everyone gone—she hadn't been paying attention.
All thoughts vanished from her head when Charlotte's hand was torn from her own. Heart jumped into her throat and Elissa stumbled as she skidded to a stop—her feet trying to find a foothold on the root covered ground. Whirling around, she barely had time to register that Charlotte had fallen—her foot caught on a root—when Bellamy reached down mid-stride and hoisted the young girl up by her armpits and set her back on her feet. He didn't let her go, keeping a firm grip on her arm and drug her along behind him. Charlotte's eyes wide and terrified as she struggled to keep up.
Movement behind them caught her attention and she could only watch in horror and disbelief as the yellow wall of fog slithered through the trees, its tendrils reaching and grasping out as they silently made their way toward them.
Elissa hadn't realized that she'd just been standing and staring until a hand clamped onto her upper arm and yanked her around.
"Move, Bardot! Move!" Bellamy snapped at her, propelling her forward in front of him. For a second, her feet struggled on the uneven terrain before she caught herself on a tree and regained her balance. Glancing over her shoulder to make sure Bellamy still had Charlotte, she turned and dashed through the trees.
Since she was in the lead, Elissa tried to guide them in the direction she knew the dropship to be. But as they passed tree after tree after tree, she rapidly lost track of where they were—the area around them beginning to blur into nothingness. Heart pounded in her chest, her eyes darted left and right as she ran, looking for any sign of familiar landmarks.
Useless, useless, useless. She berated herself, sidestepping a bush before ducking under a fallen tree that was leaning against another for support. How are you going to get us back if you don't know where you're going?!
