Storm

Chapter Twenty-Two

It took me a second to realize I was upside down.

I groaned and opened my eyes. My head was killing me. I wasn't even sure where I was or what exactly had happened.

Something elbowed my hip and I let out a gasp.

"Sorry," came a semi-familiar voice. I turned to try figuring out who was beside me, but realized I couldn't see. I wasn't blind - my vision was genuinely covered by fog. A gray thick haze hovered over everything. It was unnatural and definitely man-made.

"Is everyone all right?" Kyan shouted from somewhere in front of me. Surprisingly, nothing hurt. I moved both arms to make sure I hadn't broken either then struggled to unlatch my seat belt. It came off and I fell to the roof of the car with a thump. I let out another low groan.

"Calestia? Are you good?" January asked.

"Fine."

"What's happening? Why can't I see?!" Max was panicking somewhere in front of me. I reached out and found the side door of the car. I grabbed the latch and shoved. It fell open and I fell with it.

My hands felt frozen dirt as I turned around and could finally make out shadows of objects. The car was definitely screwed - it had flipped over somehow. Fortunately, the impact hadn't been strong enough to brutally injure anyone, as I noticed four other figures in varying degrees of escaping the car.

Nobody seemed hurt. That was good.

But the fog was still extremely irritating.

"They know we don't belong...I think it's because we didn't take the main road." Kyan climbed out the driver's side door and walked towards me. He lent me a hand, and I took it. I just nodded. His head was definitely clearer than mine, since I was still coming to the conclusion that the fog had been an intentional attack.

"All right...wait...shouldn't we be running?"

As if on cue, I heard the shouts of strangers. They obviously couldn't be too far away if they'd been the ones to throw the smoke bomb.

Kyan didn't need to respond.

In seconds, our entire group scattered. I had no idea where anyone else went. I wasn't even sure where I was going. My stupid first thought had been to go grab the clothes from the trunk of the car. Despite our already failing mission, I guess a part of me thought we would still get through.

The fog was so overwhelming I felt like I could easily suffocate in it. My hand hit the trunk of the car, and I pulled it open. It took me a second too long, though, to grab the handful of dresses and such. I felt an hand grabbed my elbow and dropped one of the outfits I'd been carrying with a gasp.

"Stop what you're doing!" a man screamed. I didn't listen. I yanked his hand off me and ran, not bothering to pick up what I'd left behind. The one good thing about this fog was that it also made it difficult for them to see us. Maybe they should have considered that before blowing us up.

My feet took me away from whoever had grabbed me. My heart raced and I prayed the fog would end soon, so I could at least make sure everyone was okay. I wasn't sure what we would do if someone got caught.

Finally, I saw an opening in the dark gray. I ran towards it, hands filled with fabric, ready to escape the mess. I hit open air and looked around frantically. I couldn't find a soul.

Then, out of nowhere, Max stepped out into the clear. His cheeks were bright red from exertion and his eyes wide from fear. He saw me and immediately jogged closer. "Where is everyone? Did anyone else come out?"

I turned back to the fog, but I couldn't see around it. Whatever smoke bombs they'd used had been pretty powerful. It was like trying to look through a brick wall. Behind me was endless sand...but fortunately no guards are anything waiting to capture us. I just shook my head slowly, staring into the gray, praying the next person to walk out would be familiar.

"What should we do then? If we wait..."

I know, I wanted to say. I wanted to tell him to shut up and let me wait, but we both knew the truth: if they weren't coming out...they'd probably gotten caught. Which meant there wasn't much we could do for them.

Or, at least, that was what they thought. A smile spread across my face. I probably looked maniacal to Max, who already seemed scared to death.

"What? Why are you doing that?" Max's anxiety seemed to increase tenfold.

"There's only one place that they'll take them if they get caught. They won't bother driving them all the way back to another compound yet..."

Max rolled his eyes. "You've got to be kidding me..."

I just shook my head. "We're continuing as planned. Except add "check the prison cells" to our list of things to do tonight."