The Last Elementalist

Chapter 3

Lielle was torn between what to do. She began to retreat, but ran back to the desk since she knew that she needed the money. She then realized that she couldn't make it to the vaults and back to the exit in time to get out before blowing up. She turned to run again, but then two things confused her. 1) Was this woman in league with those men? 2) Why was there an odd whimpering sound coming from behind the counter? Lielle chose to answer the second question first.

She leapt over the counter and ran to the far end of the room, glancing at the bomb with only two minutes remaining. Another whimper emerged from what seemed to be a hairy ball with a duct tape collar. Lielle pulled out her pocket knife which she never left home without and carefully cut the poor girl's bonds. As soon as the girl tore the tape off of her mouth she screamed, "Connor," and ran in the complete opposite direction of the door.

"Wait, we need to go!" Lielle began to run after her and within seconds they found a boy who looked good as dead. Mystery girl tugged at his legs, but got nowhere, which left Lielle with no other option but to help.

Lielle yanked the boy named Connor onto her shoulders with a grunt, and gestured for the young girl to follow her. Now that she could be seen as something other than a giant hairball, Lielle saw that she couldn't have been more than eight or nine. She had frizzy brunette banana curls that got in Lielle's face as they ran. They escaped the building and reached the far end of the parking lot without a second to breathe before boom!

There were two huge grunts as they were all knocked over by force. Lielle's vision swam as she hastily stood. As her vision began to settle, she noticed the boy had a shallow gash across his right cheek.

Sirens blared as they approached the sight of the explosion. Lielle threw the boy, no older than thirteen, back onto her shoulders. Gesturing for the girl to follow her, she unlocked the car door, dropped the boy in the backseat, climbed into the driver's side and stepped on the gas.

* * * * *

Still whimpering, the small girl turned to Lielle. "Thank you," she gasped. "I thought we would die in there. They said that they would kill us after they killed our parents. They said they would kill anyone related to each of us. They said they would kill everyone else we know and then take over the world, starting with us, and then moving to each and every country, and kill everyone important. They will enslave everyone! They will kill anyone who won't listen!"

"Don't worry," Lielle promised, "There is plenty going on in the world right now. Trust me, I've seen a whole bunch."

"What's your name? I'll make sure that Connor's daddy hears about this. He will reward you greatly." The girl seemed hopeful despite what she had been through.

"I'm Lielle Thomas. I grew up in Sierra Vista. You know where that is?"

"No," the girl replied.

"It's near L.A. and I'll be shocked if you don't know where that is."

"L.A. is in California. Are you saying we're in California? I have always wanted to go to California."

"Ya, but it's just a suburb. So what happened-"

"Are you going to ask who we are?" the girl interrupted.

"Um, I was getting to it. So, who are you then?" The girl's mid-back brown hair and gray eyes seemed somewhat familiar. She had a slightly tanned skin tone and red high-top sneakers that were currently resting on the dashboard. She wore a black short-sleeve dress-shirt with camo leggings and a matching camo bandana around her neck.