3059

Chapter 36- James

"What the bloody hell was that?" James asked, immediately standing upright. Elias hadn't moved from where he was kneeling over his dead sister but Luke and Seb had all stood up and were scanning the nearby woods for movement. The children were looking around, terrified.

"I don't see anything." Seb said.

"Me either." Luke added.

"It could have been an animal." James replied. He bent down again beside Elias. "We need to go."

"I'm not leaving her!" Elias snapped, whipping around to face James. His face was streaked with tears, "I promised I would never leave her!"

"You can't stay here mate," James reasoned, "you'll be killed."

"Who cares." Elias's bottom lip was trembling, "I deserve to die. I failed her."

"You didn't fail anyone," Luke muttered, "I did."

"What are you on about?" James asked.

"It was us." Luke said softly.

"What was you?" Seb asked curiously.

"The explosion, Anya and I set it off."

"What!?" James felt shock rush through him. "Why?"

"We were forced to!" Luke shouted in his own defense, "There were Russians, they were trying to destroy something in the building."

"The bomb?" Seb asked.

Luke shook his head, "I don't think so. If they wanted to do that then they could have just set it off."

"Then what?" James asked.

"I think there are more bombs." Luke replied. "In different locations around the world. I think the locations are in that building and they didn't want anyone getting that information."

James was back on his feet in an instant, "Then we have to go back in there and look for it!"

Luke shook his head, "It wouldn't have survived."

"How do you know!?" James growled.

Luke looked down at the ground for a moment before clearing his throat, "Well, if I was setting up a defense mechanism that stopped anyone from finding information, I'd place the thing blowing it up right next to the information, to make sure it's fully destroyed. We can't waste time looking for it, we'll just have to find the other bombs another way. We should leave before anyone finds us."

"He's right." Seb said. "It'll be gone. We should leave, make our way back to the beach and see if there are any of those boats still afloat that could take us off this rock."

"How are we going to find our way back?" Luke asked.

Seb turned awkwardly on his injured leg to look at Elias, "That's where he'd come in handy."

Elias sniffed and looked up from Anya, "All right. I'll come. But you have to help me bury her first."

The three boys nodded in solemn consent. James and Luke lifted Anya and carried her towards the woods. They had nothing to dig a hole with so Elias finally let them cover her in snow and twigs and they set off towards the beach.

It was a silent trek. Even the children didn't say anything. James and Luke had to help Seb walk as he was growing quite pale. "I need to rest," Seb said, James felt his body shaking, "I can't go on." Seb slipped out of James's and Luke's grip and slid to the ground. "You have to go without me. I'm not going to make it, the infection is spreading, I can feel it."