42nd Country Road

Please...Hang on

"Aaron," Mark said, the dark in his voice, "If you fight and beat that beautiful specimen over there, you can have her,"

"Oh, that seems like a fun game," Aaron said. Jack had his forehead resting on my shoulder. He was shaking with laughter.

"It will be, and when she beats you," Mark said, "My brother and I get to watch,"

"When is this fight?" Aaron said. Mark then motioned for me to pull my knife out.

"Now," Mark backed away and I stepped towards Aaron.

"Your move," I said. He shot his gun, I swiftly jumped out of the way, dodging the speeding bullet.

"You missed," I said, teasingly. He poised to shoot again.

"Well this time..." He started.

"No, no, no," I interrupted, "It's not your turn,". He face puckered in frustration. I threw my knife hitting Aaron in the shoulder. I then ran up ripping it out violently. I kicked him to the ground. The dark in my eyes was so content. Aaron started to cough up blood.

"Get up," Mark said. Aaron was still crumpled onto the ground. Aaron got up and stood across from me. He looked like a drunken man. He tried to shoot his gun but only shot it up. Bridgit rushed to his side. I went normal and looked around the broken scene.

"Mark," I said. He ran up to my side.

"Ya, what is it?" He said concerned. Jack was following closely behind him.

"Where's Lisa?" I asked.

"I got the north wing," Jack said, running towards more flames. I had panic in my eyes. Mark must have noticed.

"Don't worry," He said, "I'll find her," Mark took off.

"Mark!" I called after him. I turned to Aaron who had fallen on the ground and was being comforted by Bridgit.

"Bridgit," I said, "You were apart of all of this?"

"N-no, I wasn't I-I can explain," She stuttered out

"You can't explain this, all the people that you saved and kept protected here, they're all gone," I said, in frustration.

"It's not like that..." She started.

"It's not like that?" I said cutting her off, "It's exactly like that," I heard Mark's voice in the distance. Jack then ran past me.

"Ev, he found her," He said out of breath. I followed him, giving Bridgit a slight glare.

I saw Mark crawling out of a burning tent with Lisa in hand. He fell to the ground. He handed Lisa to Jack who then took her to the little creek near the exit. I went over to Mark, weakly trying to get his body off the ground.

"Mark, we need to go," I said, putting his arm around my shoulder. I started to walk to the exit, with his body weight making my legs weak.

"Jack!" I called over," Get out of here!"

"Ev what about you and Mark?" Jack said, holding Lisa's small body in his arms.

"We'll be fine, I just want you to get her out of here," I said, smoke getting into my lungs.

"But..." He started.

"No, get out!" I yelled.

"I'll come back for you guys," Jack said running up and out of the big open space. I helped Mark out of the open door. I was just about to follow him out when A pair of hands gripped my foot. I looked down to see Aaron. His chin was covered in blood and his eyes were full of hate.

"Help me out of here," He said, blood spilling through his teeth.

"The people don't need you, Aaron," I said trying to break free, "The world doesn't need you,"

"Oh, They need me," He said, "They will always need me,"

I suddenly heard voices in the distance. I saw more soldiers running to Aaron's aid. I kicked him away and crawled into the tunnels with Mark. Water rushed passed me hitting all of my burns. I winced in pain. I crawled over to Mark, picking him back up.

We stumbled through the labyrinth, water soaking through my shoes. Mark started to cough again, and he fell towards the water, pulling me with him.

"Mark," I said trying to pull him back up.

"No...Ev...you need to leave me," He wheezed out.

"I can't do that," I said, tears breaking my voice. I started to pull him off the ground again. He finally stood up with a grunt.

After wandering aimlessly for fifteen minutes, I finally found some sunlight.

"Mark,, we're almost there, please hang on," I said. We reached the drainage system, opening up to the road. I helped him out. Then I fell out of the opening, my body landing next to his. A crowd surrounded us. I weakly turned over to him. I pushed myself off the cold ground, my wet hair plastered to my face. I checked his heart rate. Still alive. I rolled onto my back, pulling air in and out of my lungs. I felt Mark's fingers intertwined with mine. I smiled weakly over at him

There was a distance wail of sirens, quickly drawing closer. The crowd around us started to part. A few men picked me up and placed me on a gurney, putting an oxygen mask on my face. They loaded me into an ambulance. I turned my head slightly to see Mark passed out next to me. I reached over and gently grabbed his hand.

"I love you," I said as a tear rolled down my cheek. I fell into a black abyss yet again.