Breaking Free (BXB)

Chapter 24-Familiar Faces

My heart thundered in my ears as I crept out from the waterfall. I shook with fear, every last drop of blood draining out of my face, as I revealed myself to the world. My legs and arms shook and my lip trembled, my mind relaying a never-ending loop of what had happened. The clearing was silent and heavy with tension. Everywhere I looked there were signs of the Hunters. The grass was bent and broken nearly everywhere and little lilies and daisies were laying, crushed. I could smell the terror of the animals nearby, masking my own terror. It seemed that everything the Hunters touched died at their feet. My veins were icy cold as I crept farther out, swimming to the shore. The water was freezing against my skin, and it pulled closer to the waterfall as if nature itself was begging me to continue hiding.

How had they gotten Rosie and Cooper?  How had they found these two perfectly normal people and dragged them into something so deadly and supernatural? They weren't linked at all to this strange paranormal world I had found myself in, besides being friends with me. It was my fault they were even here. I couldn't help but think back on how they had dragged Rosie forward and how she had pointed in the direction of camp with just one sniff of my clothes. Shaking my head I narrowed my eyes forward. Now wasn't the time to be thinking of that. An army of Hunters was headed straight for the camp with Owen wandering along somewhere on the path, ignorant to the danger he was in. I had to move if I wanted to save him.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I dug deep inside me, reaching desperately for the powerful force that lay, resting, inside me. I pushed and waited and struggled against the normal, human part of me, pain aching in every bone in my body before I reached it and my body snapped into action with a burst of pain. Shaking my fur out, I unleashed a roar into the air, before sprinting off into the trees.

Branches cut my face as I ran, pushing me harder, sniffing out Owen's trail. I had to find him before they did. I couldn't let the Hunters take any more of my family, I wouldn't let them. Diving into the underbrush, I sprinted through the trees, adrenaline pushing me faster than I thought I could ever go. My heart cried out for my friends, new and old, who were caught in the danger of a war none of us wanted. Nobody ever wished for war, nobody ever wanted war. Yet here we were, players in a dangerous game that we had no part in starting, yet we were expected to end it.

I could see so clearly the terror on Rosie and Cooper's faces. I could feel it in my bones and smell it in the air. They weren't a part of this. How could they be?  Yet there they were, dragged into a war that I had to take care of. And I had to take care of it for them, for Owen, who had grown on me, for Tom and Mogli and Sera, who grew up fighting their parent's war. I had to take care of this war for all the people who were forced into it, like my dad, like my friends, like me. It was on my shoulders. I pushed myself farther, praying to whatever was listening that I would make it in time, I had to make it in time. I couldn't think of what would happen if I didn't.

A familiar, piney scent filled my nose. I could smell Owen! I was close. I could almost feel him near me. Yet I could smell something else in the air as well. Hunters. Panic chilled my bones and seeped into my gut and I unleashed another roar, driving myself faster, no longer feeling my paws hit the ground as I raced across the uneven path, blood dripping into my eyes. A cliff loomed ahead, and, narrowing my eyes, I prepared my body to jump, pulling them taut as I ran. I could see Owen on the other side, and I could see the troops closing in on him not far away. Then, as my claws reached the edge, I sprung forward, flying over the ravine. For a couple of seconds, I felt like I had wings as if all the world was perfect and I wasn't racing to save Owen from an army of Hunters that had captured my friends and was prepared to kill for what they wanted. Then I crashed to the ground, spikes of pain shooting up my spine.

"Milo?" Owen cried, rushing to my side. Forcing myself to my feet, I nudged him forward insistently. His face contorted in confusion, but I kept pushing him forward as hard as I could, hoping he would get the message. I didn't have time to shift back and explain. "Milo, what's going on?" He asked, trying to push me away from him, but I just kept pushing him forward. In seconds, the wind shifted and the smell of hunters filled my nose. Owen's eyes widened and in seconds he was flying above me with the largest wings I had ever seen. We stared at each other for a couple of seconds, an understanding in our eyes. Get back to camp at all costs. Don't look back. There was something else there as well, something warmer and softer, but I couldn't think about it. Not now.

Then in seconds we were moving, racing through the trees, away from the shouts of hunters. I felt my heart tear in two. The farther I got for Rosie and Cooper, the more the guilt stacked on me. I was leaving them behind to the mercy of hunters who had stolen them away from their normal teenaged lives. I felt everything in me beg to look back and check on them. But I couldn't look back. I couldn't look back. I wouldn't. I could feel the pounding of hooves in the dirt vibrating in my bones, and with a whine, I glanced behind me. Owen screeched above me, but I couldn't help it. I took in the blood-red faces of the men racing behind me and I saw the desperate, distraught faces of Rosie and Cooper. I felt my paws slowing and I saw the men gaining on me. I whimpered, my ears flattening to my head. Owen and Cooper were both strapped onto the horses of hunters, their hands chained and bloody, their faces dirty and their eyes wide.

Owen screeched above me, his pain and helplessness seeping into my bones. I roared up at him, but I couldn't will my body to move. I was frozen, torn between the people I cared about, torn between saving my normal, innocent friends and going back to a world of parties, school, friendship and Netflix and a world of war, pain, magic, and love. It was the world of my mother and the world of my father. I wanted with all of me to stop and fight, to save my friends and be normal again, but I knew, no matter how hard I tried, I would never be normal again. I had seen the supernatural, I had lived it. It had made its mark on me and I wouldn't ever truly be able to leave, now.

"Milo! Milo, Run!" I heard Cooper shout before I saw him tackle the man he was riding with. I saw them struggle for a couple of seconds before my paws began to move once more. Racing faster than I ever had before I rushed forward, the hunters on my heels. All I could hear was the blood rushing in my ears and my paws tearing up the forest floor, before a scream and a gunshot rattled the clearing. My heart froze, and I felt it shatter and fall to the forest floor. I knew that voice. Still, I pushed myself forward, my mind a haze of pain and confusion and adrenaline. I just had to go a little faster. I just had to run a little farther. Everything would be fine.

Then I saw them. Sera, Moglie, Tom, and Owen all in their animal forms at the top of the hill, waiting for me. Waiting for a fight. With one final spurt of energy, I forced myself up to the hill. The air was electric and sharp. Everyone was on edge, waiting for the hunters to arrive. I heaved in and out as I looked down at the oncoming hunters. My eyes scanned for my friends, but all I could see was the sea of hunters. No fiery red hair, no stocky build. I couldn't see my friends in the sea of hunters. I watched as my friends prepared to fight, and I forced myself to jump into position as well. I didn't have much training, but what I had would have to do if I wanted to live. If I wanted to save my friends. Then with a cry of war, the Hunters were upon us.