The Last Elementalist

Chapter 4

Running up the stairs, Lielle trembled. She knew she wasn't nearly strong enough to take them on by herself. She'd be dead in an instant, but she had to try. The younger children hiding in the basement would be able to get to Oklahoma without her on a train or other. Surely they'd be smart enough to disguise themselves until they made it to the right person to help them. All she was sure of is that she had to keep on pressing herself to the wall, gun at her side, so they had a chance at surviving. Lielle had wanted to travel the world, but not if leaving someone behind would cause a national uproar, not if they would die, vulnerable and defenseless. She couldn't live with that knowledge and guilt for the rest of her days.

Gun pressed to her side, she heaved a sigh, possibly her last. She peeked around the corner and spotted the same agents from Sierra Vista and more. One was checking out the front door for traps giving her clear aim at his head. She knew the gun was loaded, but only for one shot. She could shoot and lose her gun, leaving her with only her pocket knife and her long practiced fighting styles of karate, Jiu Jitsu and Muay Thai. A pocket knife wouldn't be much against the big guys' burly frames and their pistols and assault rifles. Fighting was one of her passions other than art, but this was insane! How could she possibly get around these super-secret agency officials of some sort and protect Connor and Evie? Even after over ten years of fighting and strategizing, she didn't know what to do.

"It seems safe to enter Deven." The man by the door motioned to the one from the market, supposedly Deven.

"Send a squad of three, no more," Deven commanded. "These kids are no threat to us."

Doorman and two others started toward the house. She pressed against the wall, praying they would head in the other direction. Fat chance, she thought, and without thinking, she shot doorman square in between the shoulder blades. He collapsed forward and the other two called for backup. Five men total stalked toward the door, rapidly picking up speed. Mind working on overdrive, she flipped open her pocket knife and kept pressed against the wall. Once inside the men split up, three down the hall to the left, two toward Lielle. She was screaming inside but she knew she needed to look and feel braver than she really was. She could see Deven and a few others heading back toward the van which made her job much easier. Besides, she wasn't ready to confront the man who killed her parents just yet.

Her mistake was thinking this thought. It was her greatest weakness, but also her greatest strength. As this thought started to cloud her mind, instead of letting it distract her, she allowed it to fuel her. Angry energy flooded her body as the men rounded the corner. There was a loud thud as she punched the first man right in the nose. It must have been harder than it felt because the man collapsed, blood seeping out from between his fingers. The second man must have been just as shocked. By the time he started fumbling for his gun, Lielle round-house kicked him straight in the gut, and with a sickening crack, he collapsed.

Thundering footsteps pounded the old floorboards as the other three men tumbled into the foyer, shouting into their walkies. Four more men who were waiting outside were soon crowding the much too small area. After a short moment, they started toward their fallen men.

Careful not to make the floorboards creak, she scrambled down the hall into the kitchen. "What do we do?" someone whispered in her ear.

She peeked behind her and suppressed a scream. "What are you doing here?" she asked, nose to nose with Evie Hallman. "I thought I told you to stay downstairs."

"Well no time for that now. I assume they're getting closer." Connor popped out his head with a gun dangling from his fingers. An idea crossed her mind.

"Do you guys have good aim?" Lielle asked.

"Well I do," Connor breathed, "Evie, not so much."

Evie held up an extra gun and a dagger. "Brought an extra for you."

"Connor, stay here with these guns and shoot the first two men when they come. Evie, come with me." The girls ran off leaving a shaking Connor alone in the dark.

The two ran through a door in the back of the kitchen and emerged in the dining area. After that, through another door to the living room and then the staircase. They hurried upstairs and ran into a bedroom with a similar view to the kitchen window, only higher up. Lielle motioned for Evie to help her and together they sawed through the floorboards, leaving a small circle with enough room to fit one of them. They heard gunshots and as hard as she could, Lielle kicked in the center of the wooden circle that they had traced. With a loud crunching sound, it fell through.

Sawdust filled the air as Lielle dropped through the hole, Evie on her tail. She lunged, stabbing forward with her blade, but the ruined piece of wood beneath her fast tilted with her weight, causing her to stumble. It was then that she realized, there was a man under her.

Then soon as it started, it stopped. The men had fled, obviously thinking the house to be on the brink of collapsing and not wanting to be caught in its ruins. A motor roared to life somewhere in the distance as the van rattled up the country road. They'd be back she knew, but that was something to worry about another time.

* * * * *

Out in the field, gathering wood, the night was peaceful. It was the first chance she'd had to think all day. Once her moment of adrenaline ended, she felt the true labor of what she had done and what was yet to come. Fighting on her own was one thing, but caring for these national treasures, anyone but her she begged. She feared what might happen to these children on her watch. They shouldn't have even met her in the first place, then her life might be what she expected after the loss of her family.

She stalked back toward the house looming far above her across the overgrown weeds. She was faintly able to hear the shocked voice of Evie and Connor trying to be brave for her benefit. He wouldn't admit it, but he was terrified, possibly more than Evie was. After all, he did just realize that he killed a man. The young boy was meant to be a man of great honor. Live under his father's shadow, then grow up and join the army to defend his country. Never had he ever dreamed he would be sitting in a wheat field, dirty and alone, trying to survive off old canned soup and a banged up car to travel in. Heck, he never even thought he would leave the White House until his father's term, and possibly reelection was over.

She returned to the house and set down the few sticks she was able to yank off the lower branches of trees. She pulled out a pocket lighter and turned the sticks to kindling. Smoke rose in the cool summer air as the sun dipped into the horizon. She thought of her father barbecuing and the loud conversation she would be having with her siblings, gossiping about her love life, her throwing random comments about theirs. Then she thought of Gabriel, how sweet and innocent he was. Lielle couldn't take anymore as the first drop of pain and sorrow hit her lightly on the cheek. She stayed perfectly still as she felt it trace her cheek. Once that fell to the ground, another came, and then another. She imagined how her mother would be holding her right now, comforting her, which only allowed more tears to fall. After a few minutes of feeling grief over the loss of her family, she brushed away the tears and got up to face her new friends. They only had each other now, and they all needed as much love and warmth as they could get.

She walked around the blazing fire and held Connor and Evie to her chest.

"We'll get through this," she promised, as she stroked Evie's hair.

They all knew this very well might not be true, but they were the only family they had right then, and they needed their brotherhood to keep them going.