Ashes

Part Fifteen

"Where do we go?" asked Chad as we made a quick exit from the underground base and out of the city. "Up the hill, past the forest and then just a few miles" replied Janice, clearly liking the power and the commander role that she was given by Chad.

Rubie carried little Sam as James followed closely by her. James and Rubie didn't really do much besides following us, while Janice and I commanded our way towards camp. We made it up the hill and we had just entered the forest where Rubie finally broke her silence.

"What are we doing to the camp to be exactly?" asked Rubie as she tried not to snap as many branches as she usually would, afraid that Chad would comment on it if the camp had placed out spies to spy on us. "We're going to walk in and rescue the teens from Crystal and her men" I replied as I tried not to stumble and made my way through the forest unscathed.

"Are you sure that's the plan? The soldier we have seem a little more ready for a big battle to occur" replied Rubie and questioned what Chad's true intentions were, and honestly so did I?

Chad did make his point clear that he wanted to rescue the kids and teens, but he didn't say how he was going to rescue them and what kind of fight was about to occur if Crystal wouldn't let them out freely?

Our large group quickly of soldiers and changelings moved across the field leading up to the camp, where large clouds of smoke rose from where the camp was. "Should we be worried about that?" asked Rubie as we continued to walk up the last hill before we were at the camp. "I don't know?" replied James but turned silent as we all were shocked to see what we all saw.

The camp where we all stayed just a few days ago, was now in ruins and all the wood they used to build with, had caught fire and the small huts they had was thrown all over the place.

"Look around for survivors!" commanded Chad as he also was shocked to see the camp in ruins, worse than the town we just came from.

Chad's soldier divided themselves into three smaller groups and entered the camp through the three different entrances it had. Rubie, Janice, Chad, James and I walked through the main entrance, or at least what was left of it.

We made our way across the rubbish, ruins and debris to where Crystals hut was. "Crystal! Where are you?" asked Chad as him and his men surrounded the hut where she was hiding.

The pile of scrap that was now Crystal's hut started moving, revealing Crystal with Jaden and his new girlfriend was hiding under the rumble. Jaden and his girlfriend were fast to surrender to Chad's men, but not Crystal.

She looked as bitter as she possible could be with faint scars on her arms and a black eye. "What happened here?" I had the nerve to ask as I continued to look around the scorched campsite for movement.

"Prune and his guards happened!" replied Crystal with a bitter tone in her voice as she still tried to get up from the ground. "Why did Prune do this?" I asked as I got closer to Crystal and tried to help her get up, but she refused my help. Shaking me of as she continued trying to get up all on her own.

"I knew the agreement was flawed when I no longer could command Prune to do my bidding, he used earbuds and gave his men some as well!" explained Crystal. "After my many failed attempts, I realized we were all set up to die at his hands. So, I sent your little icy friend to help fight him off, just so Jaden, Harper and I could get to safety" she continued.

"What was he doing here?" asked Rubie and further wanted answers to what happened to the camp. "Prune was looking for his prized possession that I had kept hidden from him many weeks now" replied Crystal as she sat down by some of the debris on the ground.

"What was his prized possession?" asked Janice as she played around with her tattoos, animating small throwing knifes she had on her forearm. "The little kid, the little kid we kept hidden away from the rest. The kid that had the ability to steal other abilities" replied Crystal as we all saw her bloodlust grow immensely.

"I'm going to kill him!" Crystal snapped as she marched her way in a singular direction before she stumbled and fell over face first to the ground.

"The kid nearly stole her ability" explained Jaden as he was kept restrained by one of Chad's men.

"What do we do now?" I asked as I walked up to Chad in hopes of answers, but he stood still and looked at the fire that was catching. "Why did you come back?" asked Crystal as she was given a bottle of water which she chugged, "We came here to rescue the kids" I replied as Chad lost his footing and fell to his knees crying.

"Where are the other kids?" asked Sam as he was horrified "The kids aren't dead you idiot!" snapped Crystal in response to Chad crying, "Your sister and the rest of the camp was captured by Prune, probably brought back to the prison where these came from" replied Crystal as she wiped away some of the blood she got on her forehead.

"If you want your sister back, then we need to go the prison!" yelled Crystal and finally got up from the ground, ready to fight one last time! Crystal wobbled her way over to the middle of the camp, where she stood and waited for someone to ally with her.

Jaden and Harper got lose from the soldier's grip and joined Crystal in the middle of the camp. I looked around to see if anybody else would join her, but all of Chad's men stood still. Janice looked at us and finally decided to join Crystal to take over the prison to release the kids and teens that were trapped.

Crystal almost looked disappointed in a way? She knew she could easily use her ability to convince us and force us to do her bidding, but she didn't use it? She genuinely wanted us to join her in taking over the prison and releasing the kids.

Chad got up from the ground and wiped away the tears he had shed, before he walked over to Crystal and slowly but surely did his men as well.

"What do you say Phoenix?" asked Crystal determined and reached her hand out for me to join her. I looked at Rubie and she gave me a nod, then I looked at James and Same and they both gave me a nod as well. "Alright" I replied and grabbed Crystal's hand and shook it as an agreement.

"Show us the way now Phoenix!" said Crystal asshe asked me to show the way to the prison we hoped to never see again.