The Insiders

Chapter 38

Chapter 38- Sharlene

The door swings open revealing a group of Outsiders in their grey suits and black masks. Their guns are lowered, but ready to fire. They pour into the room. I slowly back up until I bump into Coren. I slide my hand down his arm until I reach his hand. Our fingers interlock like it's a lifeline.

'Hide your weapons.' Steve instructs me through thought. 'Tell Coren too.'

'Hide your ax. Steve doesn't want them to see our weapons.' I place in his mind. I slide my knives into my hoodie pocket and one up my sleeve. Coren places the ax behind my back concealing it from the Outsiders. I look around us to see what we're up against. Seven strongly built men surround us.

"Surrender now." One of the men instruct. I don't know which one because of their black mesh masks.

"Surrender? We have nothing to surrender. We never asked for this to happen." Steve fires back. Three of the men raise their guns in sync.

"The three of you need to come with us."

"And if we don't?" Steve asks. The rest of the men raise their guns.

"Come with us." You can hear the man's smile through his voice.

'When I nod, we need to attack. I'll give you time to tell Coren. Are you ready?' I hear Steve. I don't know what else to think, so I let my body guide me.

'Yes.' I tell him.

'Coren, when Steve nods, we're going to attack. Okay?' I place in head.

'Okay. Sharlene, I love-' Steve's nod interrupts his statement. I slide my knife out of my sleeve and launch it to the right. It lands in a man's face and he quickly crumples to the ground. I hear a group of guns go off, but I don't feel any pain. I look around to see the bullets blowing around in Steve's wind. The bullets hit a man in the neck which gives Coren a chance to hit him with his ax. A man begins to charge toward me. I quickly stab him in the right shoulder. I jump over his body as I throw a knife at another person. It misses. Instead it hits Steve deep in the right shoulder. He cries out in pain just as his gun fires and hits another Outsider deep in the temple. Steve drops his gun on the ground and falls to his knees. He brings his left hand up and rips out the knife with a grunt of pure agony. The dark red blood begins to flow down his arm like water runs through a current. His head slowly turns to me as his eyes go wide. At first I think they're wide because of his injury, but then I catch a shadow out of the corner of my eye.

"Shar!" I hear him scream as I whirl around, raising my knife. I drop to my knees as the Outsider's shots skim my left ear. I snap back up to my feet and plunge the knife deep into the man's stomach. His body curves around the knife, but I keep my hand on it. The man looks up. Even through the black mask I can almost see his pain filled eyes.

"Sharlene?" I hear him say before he crumples to the ground. When he hits the ground his mask falls off his face and rolls away. I stare at the man's dying face. He has a head full of curly orange-grey hair that matches his thick beard. He looks like Peter, but nobody could ever age that quickly. My knees begin to shake and I fall to the ground as I realize who it actually is. I begin to crawl on the ground avoiding the passing bullets and fallen bodies.

"Christian?" I ask.

"Shar, you're alright." Peter's father coughs with blood coming up.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know-"

"Sh," He hushes me. "This is how war works."

"Is," Christian coughs interrupting his sentence. "Is Peter okay?"

"I hope so." I say as honestly as I can. Suddenly his coughs become violent and he starts to wheeze.

"I'm sorry Christian." I feel a tear roll down my cheek. Quickly his honey coloured eyes that have been staring at me become dead eyes.

"Christian?" I bite my bottom lip to stop the tears. A quick shadow catches my eyes. I follow it's path to see it heading towards Steve.

"Steve watch out!" I scream. I'm about to stand up when I see an Outsider right in front of me.

"Sharlene!" Coren shouts. The shot is fired from the Outsider's gun, but I don't feel a thing. I open my eyes to see Coren laying in front of me. He looks fine until I see his left leg which has been covered in his blood. All my knives tumble to the ground and I drop to my knees.

"Coren," I barely whisper. His eyes weakly open to look at me. The pain is clearly displayed in his green eyes.

"You're okay. You're okay." I repeat over and over again. I feel a tear roll down my face. Suddenly, Coren's eyes go wide. I look behind me to see an Outsider with a gun. I twist around, but end up falling on Coren's chest, my head toward the Outsider. He has a gun loaded and directed right at me. That's when I see it, the point of the loaded ammunition. I gasp and begin to panic. He has the serum. I scramble to try to cover Coren's body with mine.

"Please no!" I shout. I look to Coren's face to see his limp head and closed eyes.

"Coren," I cry. "Coren wake up." I stare at his face begging his eyes to open.

"Coren, I love you. I love you. Wake up. Please, wake up." Steve's cry snaps my head toward him. He's being held by one Outsider while the other has a gun loaded and ready to kill. They've covered his mouth with blue coloured tape I've never seen before. Steve's eyes are screwed shut making the pain he's in even less bearable. I look back at the man with the gun pointed at me and Coren.

For a moment the world is quiet. The cries and gunshots of the night have disappeared. All my senses are awakened for one last time. I look at Coren for one final moment. I glance at the closet as I force my mind to remember every detail of Bryce, Amy and Thomas. I look over to Steve who's looking back at me with hopeless eyes.

'I'm sorry Steve.' I place in his mind. With that final comment I turn my head back toward the gun. I slowly close my eyes accepting my unavoidable death.

"Attack over." I hear a staticky voice say. My eyes open as I realize I am not dead. At least not yet. The Outsider has his gun slightly lowered and his hand on his ear.

"But sir." He says. That's when I realize he has a walkie-talkie earpiece. I only heard the staticky voice because of my power.

'Attack over.' The voice says again. The tone of it sounds all to familiar. The fact hits me, the voice was my dad. My dad is on the other end of that earpiece.

"Sir, we have them. Three of them. We'll never get a chance like this again." The Outsider in front of me says.

'We've shaken them up enough. Believe me, we'll have another chance.' My dad instructs. His voice should be soothing to hear, but it's the scariest thing I've heard in months.

"You're sure?" The Outsider questions as he slightly lowers the gun.

'We have quite a few of them already. We've gotten what we came for. Cease fire and retreat.' With that, the Outsider completely lowers his gun. He takes one hand off of it. I hear the other Outsiders drop Steve with a thud. Next, I hear the tape rip of his mouth followed by a pain filled cry. I sharply turn my head toward him, but turn back when I catch a glance of Steve. Steve is on the ground breathing heavily with blood covering his mouth where the tape used to be. When I turn back, I feel the Outsider's fist connect with the left side of my jaw, knocking me to the ground. My head slams on the tile floor and I swear I hear a crack. My eyes are dazed as stars float and twinkle by. I feel the Outsider's hand brush my hair away from my ear. I try to move or even flinch, but my brain feels as if it has been disconnected from my body.

"Consider yourself lucky. We'll be back." The Outsider breathes into my ear. I force myself to remain conscious. I hear the Outsiders laugh. A moment after, the door slams shut. I begin to relax. I army crawl trying to get as close to Coren as I can before the darkness takes over. When I finally reach his head, my body drops to the ground below causing instant pain through my whole body. I stare at the beauty of his face and the slow rise and fall of his chest as the darkness takes me under.