Tainted Blood

Chapter 14

They walked in silence, each step longer then the other. The blood from the girl and the guard felt like glue against them as they trudged into the night. Elias' hand twitched against Spencer's as he tried not to reach for her. To shield her. After all they were walking right into the arms of her love. Jonathon.

The hooded figure in front of them did not relent as they walked us through alleyways, buildings, and warehouses. Not a single sound had erupted from them despite their initial demand. The overhead sky darkened as the clouds drooped heavy with rain. The first droplets crashed against the leather of her jacket. A heavily lit barn appeared across the distant road. Crying, wailing, and orders being shouted from within. Spencer's steps began to slow as she watched as children were filed in, each wrapped in worn blankets, some being held, others holding steaming bowls of what looked like soup while blood was wiped from their brows or wounds dressed. At the front of the barn, directly a woman gowned in her own weaponry was Jonathon. His hair longer then she last saw it, the slight scruff of his face evident as he turned to her. His face lit up, his features bright as he raced for her. Her breathing stopped, assessing every part of him for injury or any sign of malice intent.

He reached her in a matter of steps, his arms wrapped so tightly around her, she winced. He stopped short, noticing the bandage peeking through the bottom of her shirt. His gaze softened as he looked up to her lips.

"Spence." he whispered. His lips caressed hers gently, as if to make sure it was really her. As if he realised she was, he deepened the kiss, his hands gently slid over her body, his hand slid to her cheek. His tongue slid over her teeth as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Pulling him closer.

"I missed you." he whispered against her mouth.

"I love you." she whispered against his. She felt the smile against her mouth before he kissed her again.

"I love you."

"Jonathon! Stop kissing your girl and get your ass in here!" someone yelled from the barn. Jonathon chuckled, he ran his thumb over her cheek before pulling apart, taking her hand with him. Jonathon looked to Elias.

"Thank you, for keeping her alive." he said, nodding his head.

"You're hurt," he announced, his hand going to her torso, the bandage underneath soaked through with blood and sewer water. "Emily! we need a medic over here."

"Johnny, I'm alright." she admitted.

"I stitched her up, but she was hurt pretty bad," Elias answered, "but, she has a bad habit of ripping open my stitching."

Jonathon led them into the barn, row after row of hospital beds filled with gunshot wounds, stab wounds, sick children, or orphans. Healer's ran from bed to bed, pouring medications, listening to hearts, or comforting screaming children.

"What happened?" Spencer asked, Jonathon's hand tightening around hers as he led her to a spare bed, quickly a healer ran over, lifting her shirt and assessing the damaged skin beneath.

"Whoever did these stitches clearly didn't have any training." she hissed as she cleared away the blood.

"I didn't have a lot to work with and she was insistent on stopping her heart while I was in the middle of it." Elias hissed.

"Your heart stopped?!" Jonathon whisper-yelled, his face leaching of colour.

"Elizabeth got her hands on her." Elias announced.

"I'm aware, I'm the one who got you out," he ran his hands down his face, "I just thought we got there in time."

"Let's just say she's a big fan of electricity." Spencer hissed as alcohol was pressed against her wound.

"I'm sorry." he said, his hand gently caressing her cheek, "im sorry for everything, if I had known you were anywhere near the compound I would have called it off immediately!"

"It's alright."

"The attack tonight was just the beginning of his retaliation. Mass genocide of the quarter, he's trying to scare us into backing down. He knows his lies are going to be his downfall and that we are winning." the solider women from before says as she walks up behind him, her hand clasped around Jonathon's shoulder.

"Emily," she says, her hand outstretched to Spencer, "I've heard quite the tales about you, Mercer."

Spencer gave her a mock salute as Elias turned towards us.

"The attack, you said it was a retaliation, from what?"

"We've been setting small fires in Metropolis," Jonathon began, "I ignited it before I was brought here and Anna has been fanning it since."

"But she said she lost contact with you after you went over the wall?" Spencer asked.

"That was because I realised someone was feeding information back to your father, through Alistair. I tried to get information to you but it bounced, and by the time I got through, they told me you breached the wall as the tracker sent to get me."

"Does Anna know about this?" Spencer retorted.

"Yes, we've been in contact for a day now, things have escalated in Metropolis. More people are being sent to the Pit to put out fires, Hennessey is doing damage control where he can. He's using the genocides as a cover for his "riots."

"He plans to kill everyone before the founding festival." Elias retorts, "it makes sense, Spencer figured it out in the warehouse, he uses the festival as an excuse to "breach" the gates. He says that we were planning to attack Metropolis, so he burns the Pit from the inside out."

"Shit." Emily swears.

"The founding festival is barely two weeks away; we can't get everyone out before then." Jonathon hisses.

"Then we need to move up our plans, get the suppliers quicker, train the decoys and get into the city." Emily answers. The healer finished dressing Spencer's wounds before she scurried off to another bed. Jonathon held his hand out to Spencer, she hesitantly takes it.

"Tomorrow, its late, everyone is exhausted, we rest tonight and tomorrow we come up with a game plan." He says, "upstairs there are beds, food and water. Take the time, we will see you all tomorrow." Jonathon leads her away from the crowd, and into a separate room. The room was small, with a single bed pushed against the wall and a half rotting dresser. His body pressed against her back and her breathing hitched. Every time he touched her, it almost felt wrong and she hasn't been able to place why. This was what she searched for, what she wanted, or at least that was what she thought.

He whispered against her, his hand gently playing with the hair along her neck.

"I'm sorry for how I left, I never meant to hurt you, it all happened so quickly." he began, "I thought I would have time to explain, to tell you in depth how I felt, it was supposed to be days, weeks before I came here. But then someone got word to your father and I was forced to act quickly, rashly, or else all our plans would have been ruined."

She turned to see him, his face was drawn, his head tilted down in guilt, "I understand why you did what you did. I never agreed with how he ran things, how I had to be someone I wasn't but I never imagined anyone would stand against him."

"What are you saying?"

"I want to help, the suppression, the hypocrisy, the death, it needs to end."

"Spencer."

"But it needs to end the right way Jonathon, no more death." she looked into his eyes to find him smiling. The same smile he had given her for years. The same Jonathon. But she wasn't the same Spencer.