Dark Faïz (Book 2) [Completed]

Chapters 16-1

My friends and I returned to shore and then slowly removed our masks and oxygen hoses to fill our lungs with air. Lexy was lying on her stomach, her body half in the water, while Asarys and I were pulling the shell out of the lake. Suddenly we heard hurried steps coming in our direction. Without waiting, we removed our oxygen cylinders from our backs, all of our senses on alert, ready to face the danger together. My heart was racing. The adrenaline in our veins made us forget the state of exhaustion in which we found ourselves.

"Faïz," I cried, relieved when I saw him crossing the misty curtain.

I rushed towards him to throw myself into his arms. He squeezed me so tightly that I almost missed the air again. His hands went through my hair and then over my face and down my back. No doubt he was checking that I hadn't broken anything. Faïz abruptly parted his face from mine to plunge his eyes, filled with doubt, into mine.

"Thank God! You're alive."

I turned to the girls, who were staring at us, eyes wet, not daring to move.

"I'm happy to see that you are all doing well," added Faïz.

He seemed to thank them with his eyes. Asarys then bent down to carry the heavy shell in her arms.

"You...you got it?" whispered Faïz, astonished. "You did it."

Lexy nodded solemnly, hands on hips.

"Hey, we haven't eaten dust with Malika the past few weeks to come back empty-handed!"

A triumphant grin appeared on the corner of Faïz's lips, making him irresistible at that moment. Cries in the distance got me back to my senses.

"Stay here!" he ordered, looking again like an angel of doom.

"No way! I refuse to sit idly by."

"For once, Zoe, listen to me!"

Although the tone of his voice hurt me once again, I denied giving up and managed to hold his sharp gaze. He didn't have time to lecture me. Running steps resounded all around us.

"Ray?" groaned Asarys, strangled by sobs, pleading with Faïz with her eyes.

"I'm going!" he replied, a serious look on his face.

Before he even had time to take a step, figures appeared, surrounding the four of us. The heavy fog prevented us from distinguishing them properly. Panicked, my friends and I huddled against each other when suddenly Faïz threw himself on us to make us face down. The shock was so violent that it took me a few seconds to realize what was going on. Darts were circling all around us.

"Zoe!" yelled Faïz above me. "Go get the radio to ask for help. Lexy, Asarys, protect the seashell and don't return under any circumstance!"

Like the girls, I did so without waiting. After only a few meters, several fighters were already chasing me, ready to pounce on me. I was about to reach the packages, which had been left by the lake, when simultaneous attacks against me caused me to lose my balance and fall to the ground.

"Zoe!" shouted Lexy a little further away, the shell in her hands.

"Go away!" I yelled with all my might. "Save yourself!"

Asarys found it difficult to hold on to her friend to prevent her from coming to my rescue. I quickly got up, scanning my surroundings and looking for my enemies, who had vanished into the wild. In the distance, I could discern the screams and blows of a fight between the bloodthirsty warriors and our team. I walked the last few meters, running out of breath. At the end of my run, I grabbed my radio.

"Zoe here... We are...we are surrounded and in great difficulty. We need help. Send in backup!"

"Negative," Min said. "The request has already been made to us before you, and we will remain in our positions. Your group of commandos is the only one authorized to fight on our lands. Our army will never intervene for the interests of another country!"

"It's for the interests of all of us!" I screamed in anger, trying to hold back my tears of rage. "There are too many of them. If you don't help us, we will all die."

"Where's the ruby?"

"With Asarys and Lexy."

"Give me their position! I'm sorry, but I can only guarantee their safety. Unfortunately for you, there is nothing I can do."

I was shocked. The leaders of Eros didn't intend to help us. They just stood by, ready to intervene to protect the stone so it would be safe, but at the risk of other lives here.

"They are on their way to the entrance of the cemetery," I finally let out in a barely audible voice.

The only thing that comforted me was that my two friends could be saved. Behind the violent beating of my blood hitting my eardrums, I heard on the radio the cries of Barthey and other members of our government, who were trying to make the leaders of the country see reason. The sound of footsteps treading the water suddenly caught my ear. I began to pray with all my might that it would be Faïz, but the shape that was beginning to for in the nebulous mist wasn't him. In shock, I recognized the leader of the barbaric clan who had presided over the funeral ceremony two days before.

"Zoe?" Min asked.

Paralyzed by the dreadful spectacle before me, I could barely breathe. The man, with features distorted by the abominable cruelty that inhabited him, easily took hold of my radio and put it to his lips, which split open in a chilling smile.

"Sorry, the girl had to go away," the man said in a low and hoarse voice before crushing it with his boot.

In a flash of clarity, I pulled myself together in order to lead this dark, cadaverous character as far as possible away from my two friends. I turned around, tearing my gravity bracelet from my wrist to start running as fast as possible to the other side of the lake. During my run, I risked a glance behind me and noticed, disoriented, that the man wasn't after me. Where did he go? I slowed down, lungs on fire, trying to catch my breath with difficulty. At that time, I couldn't say whether the fog of the island was an advantage or a disadvantage. Eyes fixed in front of me, without being able to see him, I still perceived his presence. The monster was there, very close, lurking behind the mist. His smell of sweat, mixed with that of humidity, floated in the air.