A Lonely Road

Sometimes The Battle Chooses You

It was silent. No one moved, no one breathed. Jace felt his knees collide painfully with the concrete. He was gasping now, and his shoulders were shaking.

"Kaelie?" It was Michael, and he said her name like a question, like this was a joke, Kaelie playing a prank, and it was falling flat. "Kaelie?" he said again, and his face was ashen.

Ben looked shell shocked, and the sniper clattered to the ground. He took a step towards the edge of the roof. Sarah's sobs echoes in his ears and Lilith just stared ahead, at the place where Kaelie had been. Jace stood and he tripped towards the ledge. Kaelie's blood pooled in the divots in the stone and he dipped his fingers into it. It clung to his skin, thick, bright, vibrant, like her.

He looked over, to the ground below. Serna Rose was crumpled and broken, auburn hair fanned around a shattered skull, and her life bled out around her, dark, like poison. Her daughter lay next to her, pale, unmoving, like she was sleeping. Her leg looked wrong. Backwards. Her mismatched eyes were closed, no blue and green gazed back at Jace with mischief, she didn't spring up, her musical laugh didn't ring through the air.

Jace screamed but there was no sound. He screamed again and again and again, and he felt Lilith's fingers close around his upper arm. "Jace," she said and her voice cracked. He turned to look at her and her face was damp with tears. "Jace we have to go. We have to go, you know we can't stay. Kaelie, she didn't want us to. We need to get your mother."

She pulled Jace up and his legs felt numb, his vision felt blurry. They stumbled down the stairs again with Michael, Sarah, and Ben close behind them. There were piles of dust on the steps, remnants of the Hunters that had attacked him, Kaelie, and Ben. Bullet casings glinted at his feet.

When they burst back through the door to the third floor, the busy sound of people talking and working fell quiet. Stares followed them as they moved through the floor, but Jace figured the battle worn appearance of their little group must have been enough to deter anyone from trying to stop them. They finally stopped when they found a glass door with his mother's name on it.

Jace opened it quietly, distantly relieved to find his mother inside, clicking away at her computer, the screen washing her tawny skin in blue light, he couldn't even bring himself to question why she was still there . She looked up at their entrance and face was equal parts relaxed and confused. "Jace?" she asked. "Where's Kaelie? What are you-" the words seemed to die in her throat as she scanned Jace's face, the posture of the others.

Her brown eyes fluttered closed and she breathed in slowly. "We have to- we're leaving, Mom, but we have to go get her."

"Jace," she said softly, reaching for him, but he pulled away.

"No, mom. No. We can't just leave her here. We can't. Six go in, six come out, that's her rule, that's what she said," and his voice shook with unshed tears.

They looked pretty sad, trailing out of his mother's office, bruised, bloody, broken, unnoticed amongst the chaos as people figured began to figure out what had happened to Serna. She led them back out, back to her car, and then she was backing out, and she asked "was it fast?"

"She was shot, Ms. Dae. She took Serna Rose out with her though," Michael answered and his mom gave a watery laugh.

"Of course she did. Always the one to have the last word."

They parked on the street, and people were already gathering around the bodies, sirens blared in the distance, and Jace was surprised to remember that the real world still existed beyond this lab. His mother pushed to the front of the crowd. "I thought you said-" she started, turning to them, brow knit in confusion.

"She jumped off, Mom," Jace said and his chest hurt.

"Then where is she?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" he demanded.

"Jace. She's not here. Kaelie isn't here. She's gone."