à la folie (To Insanity)

Chapter 22- Raven

"Who just got shot?"

"The third girl we pulled."

"What about the boy? And Elizabeth?"

"They are trying to make it over here now."

Someone starts shooting again, so I shove everyone onto the ground.

"Stay down. Does everyone have a mask?"

"None of us have a mask."

"You take mine, Elizabeth has an extra, and Jackson doesn't use one."

I unhook my mask, handing it to one of the older girls.

"You're that one girl. The one who's crazy, aren't you?"

"What?"

"The one who's dating Elizabeth's brother. You're insane."

"Thanks."

She clips the mask onto her face, all three of them asking about what I have done.

"Camp is back that way, start heading over there as soon as Elizabeth and Jax get back."

"Did you really..."

"Stop talking."

"But they said you..."

"Shut up. I don't care what they said, don't talk."

We lie down flatter against the ground when someone starts yelling, waking more of the Hunters. Jax and Elizabeth are almost back over when someone shoots at them again, bullets peppering the ground by their feet.

"Down now!"

He shoves Elizabeth down, both of them hitting the ground hard. I wince when I see his head hit the ground, waiting for them to get back up. No more shots are fired, and in a minute I see why. A canister is tossed out, landing inches away from Elizabeth's head. She tosses her extra mask towards us, Jackson does the same. I crawl out and grab them, making sure the other girls have them on before turning back to pull Jax and Elizabeth in.

"What the hell Raven! Where is your mask?"

"They needed them first, ill be fine."

"Get out of here! All of you, go!"

"I'm not leaving you!"

Someone grabs Jackson and pulls him backwards, out of my reach. Elizabeth lunges forward, dragging me up with her. I start coughing, poison filling my lungs with every breath.

"Keep moving, we cant go back in right now."

"I'm not leaving him!"

She pulls me through the trees, hurrying everyone else along in front of us.

"We need to hurry, run."

I'm unable to breathe already, collapsing on the ground. Elizabeth drags me back up, making me run alongside her.

"I can't...can't run."

"You have to. Take my mask."

"We..arent far..enough away yet. Keep it."

I keep moving, struggling to breathe more with every second.

"We're out of the immediate danger. Keep running, let me support you the rest of the what back."

I nod, leaning on her. One of the other girls comes back, draping one of my arms around her shoulders. They help me back to camp, setting me down in front of a fire.

"Take these."

"What are they?"

"It'll help. Take it."

I slowly take the pills from her, dry swallowing them quickly.

"Lie down, it should help. How hard were you hit?"

"Just the few minutes we were in there for."

"Do yourself a favour next time."

"Yeah?"

"Keep your mask on. I can't be dealing with your sick ass all the time."

"Ill be fine."

"In the end, yes. What about now?

"I am fine."

"You can barely move right now, let alone walk."

Elizabeth walks off, soon being replaced by Angie.

"Where is Jackson?"

"They took him. We need to go back."

"You can't even sit up right now. You took it off again, didn't you?"

"Clearly, it was me or them."

"Look after yourself, we can't afford to loose you."

"I'm not causing more casualties than I need to, not yet."

"Good."

She starts setting up her bed roll, getting ready to turn in for the night.

"Get some rest, Ill see if we can get you out to look tomorrow."

I wrap myself up tighter in one of Jacksons coats, lying back and staring into the fire as I fall asleep.