The Apostate Trials

Chapter 9

Grogginess still tugged away at Noah's mind, the faint traces of the dream he had disappearing no sooner than he remembered it─the words of the boy nearly fell upon death ears.

"We can't waste anymore time here," Rylan scowled. He was hovering above the weapon's crate, gun in hand, motioning for the others to do the same. "If they want a fight then we'll give them one they'll soon regret."

Much to Noah's surprise, he couldn't quite remember a time since the start of it all where Rylan actually said something sensible; the full brunt of the situation smacked him out his dream-like state.

He climbed onto his feet, cutting North free of her ropes. She eyed him wearily as she shot up. "There a reason you untie me?"

"There really isn't much time to explain," Noah responded. Thoughts of the text from last night drifted across his mind. "Just stay with us until this gunfight is over. Wait until the next orders come in. It'll be a lot easier to explain to everyone else that way." She continued to eye him but said nothing.

Everyone took arms, listening carefully to the plan Rylan laid out. Noah withdrew his phone; the situation looked grimmer than they had originally anticipated.

According to the scan, two B-Ranked classes were battling it out on opposite sides of the mansion─they just so happened to be lucky enough to get caught in the crossfire. Even North did very little to mask her surprise by that fact.

"Those guys are way out of our league," He turned to see Miles standing tall over his slim shoulder. It brought a grin onto his face. "No matter what we do, we can't engage them."

Noah softened his expression with a deep breath─the abruptness of it all still had him a little on edge. "Yeah. But we can't just go out into the open and run away either."

"What do you suggest we do then? I got nothing, man."

"We follow whatever Rylan says we do," one of the Rylan worshipers intervened, his eyes narrow.

Noah and Miles didn't pay him too much attention, the room falling silent as they contemplated their next move, the occasional bullet tearing through the walls. It was painfully obvious that they were practically sitting ducks just standing there. They needed to do something and fast.

Rosary appeared from somewhere behind a silent Rylan, doing her best to flaunt her tantalizing curves. In the brightness of a well-lit, sunny morning, her body was almost distracting─and she knew it. "I say we wait it out just a little bit longer, at least until one side is on the verge of losing. We let the other think they've won then take the two of them out in one swoop. Easy."

"Wow," Noah's mouth hung open. "That literally has to be the smartest thing that has ever left your mouth." He could do little to hide his amazement.

As much as he hated to admit it, Rosary's plan sounded reasonable, strangely so. The element of surprise worked so strangely in their favor when dealing with North's group, everyone seemed to be in unanimous agreement that it could possibly prove fruitful a second time around.

"That plan won't work," North made her way to the front, giving a brief eye to the number of the two classes that currently battled it out. "B-Classes have a tendency of forming alliances with one another to make quick work of lower competition. They rack up more points that way." Alliances? Points?

Before Noah could voice out an opinion of his own, Rylan spoke up on his behalf. "Why do you sound so certain, or even feel the need to help us?" His eyes briefly fluttered to Miles. "Just yesterday you tried to kill one of our own."

"Because I've been captured by those same two classes before. They more than likely followed my group here."

Rylan rose his eyebrows, as did Noah. The two of their gazes met, albeit only for a split second. If there was any truth to North's words, the battle outside was only a mere diversion. They'd already known where they were─or were trying their hands at luring them out via a fake brawl. And things would've went according to their plans if it weren't for North.