Elemental: Heat Rising

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Into the North

    Holly’s eyes slowly split open until her vision showed a blurry room with no windows and a slanted wall at the back. Other people sat against the walls, all in the same position as her while two stood near the slanted wall, parallel to each other.

    Her hands and feet were tied with rope like all those sitting.

    Holly had a sharp pain in her shoulder that ached and burned as she moved, which she remembered as the place where the electrocuting weapon that was throw around her injected its needles into her.

    She remembered Violet smashing both Oak and Abril into the tower walls.

    “Did they survive?” she thought, “Wait a minute… Where am I?”

    One of the men standing near the slanted wall which Holly could now recognize as a large door noticed she was now awake and silently stepped over to her.

    “Alder,” he said, standing over her, “she’s awake.”

    “Ugh,” the other responded, “Just hit her.”

    Holly braced herself for the impact.

    “I can’t just hit her,” the one standing over Holly said, “Just give me one of the shockers.”

    The man walked away from Holly and back over to the other man called Alder. The two began in conversation.

    “Ugh,” Holly sounded.

    “How am I supposed to get out of this?” she thought to herself, looking down at the ropes binding her wrists and ankles, then her eyes drew to the strap hanging from her hip.

    The holder of her knife.

    Her heart leaped with excitement.

“Of course!” Holly thought before looking back to the two guards, still in mid-conversation.

She quickly turned over on her side and bent her back and neck down until her mouth could reach the knife, then she opened her jaw and clenched her teeth down on the knife handle.

Pulling it away she bent down and held it tightly against the rope binding her hands and rubbed it back and forth until it was thin enough to yank apart herself.

“Yes!” she whispered as she took the knife from her teeth with her now free hand and brought it back and forth over the rope tying her feet together.

“Hey!” Alder exclaimed pointing to her.

“Uh-oh,” she thought.

“She has a knife!”

Holly finally cut the ropes off her ankles and stood, knife in hand.

“Get her!” the other yelled.

As if it was planned, both men threw the shockers at her legs and arms but Holly was prepared. She jumped over and ducked under the flying weapons and sent both men falling back into the wall with a massive blast of air.

Alder stumbled to get back to his feet but responded by running at Holly, fists raised in defense.

He threw a punch towards her head, but she ducked and brought her knee up to his stomach in a swift and powerful motion.

He made a gurgling sound before sinking to the ground to catch his breath.

“Root,” he wheezed, Holly assumed the other guards name must have been Root, “Kill the brat.”

Holly turned to root, whose stance was strong and ready for her.

He pounced at her, hands extended towards her neck, she leaped away and motioned her hand at him, firing a gust of air that sent him into the wall again.

“You’re dead,” he said, getting up again.

“Come at me,” she challenged, arms up.

He leaped at her and she again raised her hand to send it down, creating a current, but Alder grabbed it from behind her.

He kneed her as hard as he could in the back, creating a cry of pain emit from her mouth as she sank to the ground.

Her anger rose intensely.

Alder stood over her, staring down like he was staring at the carcass of something purely evil and disgusting.

“You southerners need to realize that this war has already been won.”

Holly almost shook her head.

She kicked the air which sent Alder and Root both into the wall again, this time making them weak and dizzy.

“I wouldn’t count us out just yet,” she announced.

But Root stood back up, anger seething from his face. He reached down into his armor and pulled out one of the shockers. It hung from his gloved grip.

Holly didn’t waste time, she took a strong stance towards the door and channeled her strength into a kick that shot a pulse of air which snapped the slanted door open, showing Holly the open, starry sky and sea of trees below.

“No time,” she thought.

Root threw the shocker, sparks flew in the air as it glided towards Holly.

She ran down the ramp to the opening in the plane, and jumped down into the night.

END of BOOK ONE