Chapter 26: Broken Bonds: Chapter 25

One of the girls stops us from immediately leaving the tent, the panic in her so bad that she collapses to the ground sobbing. I try to remember that she’s never had to face this sort of thing before, probably never experienced this sort of terror or loss before, but it’s hard not to lose my temper.

“One of you is going to have to carry her or we’re leaving her behind. We have to move .” I pitch my tone low and even though Sage looks over at me, she’s not shocked or disgusted by my words.

She’s looking at me like she’s waiting for instruction, a perfect soldier in a crisis. She should really be in TT with a backbone like this but I’m not going to talk her into joining the torture sessions with me.

One of the guys squats down to murmur to the sobbing girl, pulling her into his arms and standing back up. He presses her face into his chest and smothers the sounds. I wait until I know she’s secure enough in his arms, and then I nod at him.

He’s probably just saved her life.

I glance at Sage and she moves closer immediately, taking up Gabe’s other side like she’s ready to defend my drugged Bond with me the entire way out of this shithole, and I shoot her a look of gratitude.

She shrugs back at me. “You’d be the first one to defend Sawyer… or Felix.”

Damn fucking straight I would. There’s no way out of all of this unless we’re all pitching in and doing the team thing. I glance around for a second before I murmur to her, low enough that only her and Gabe can hear me, “I need to know if you can use your power if you need to… that you can take someone out if our lives depend on it. I’m not pressuring you or judging you, I need to know so I can cover you if you need me to.”

Gabe stiffens in our arms but Sage just stares at me, steady as ever. “I can do it, Oli. I’m already going to need a shit-tonne of therapy after this, why not add some homicide to the mix?”

I fail miserably at keeping a smirk off of my face, but I don’t feel guilty about it because fuck the Resistance. “Atta girl. I’ll teach you how to compartmentalize like a pro when we’re home safe.”

Gabe’s arm tightens around me and he murmurs, “We’re going to talk about that when we get back, Oli. We’re going to talk about a lot of shit.”

I roll my eyes and then shut them to cast my power out to double-check that we’re still in the clear to get out of here, immediately startling and jerking forward to open the tent flap.

Kieran jogs towards us.

“How the fuck did he get here so quickly?” I hiss and Gabe sighs in relief at the sight of my least favorite TacTeam member.

“Black’s a Transporter.”

We step back to let him into the tent, the entire space shrinking the second he stalks in dressed entirely in his full uniform with a whole lot of firepower strapped to his body.

He glances at Gabe, who waves him off. “I was drugged but I’m fine. You’re getting faster at finding civilians.”

Kieran gives him a look and then jerks his head at me. “Fallows’ gift is like a beacon. I followed it over here to you all. Any injuries? We need to mobilize and move. Shore can only hold them off for so long, even with Draven helping out.”

His eyes finally hit Fiona and her little pal where they’re both still jerking and fitting on the ground over by the cages. The blood is starting to slowly drip out from their ears and eyes, but I’m trying not to look too closely at either of them. If I do, my gift starts getting a little too excited and I need to be careful not to let it take over, to consume me and tear everyone and everything in my path apart, whether they’re friend or foe.

I watch him process their state, his shoulders rolling back a little and when he looks at me again, he’s wary, as though he’s expecting to be next on my hit list.

I enjoy the feeling a little too much.

“We’re ready to leave,” Sage answers him for us all, drawing his attention away from me and squaring her shoulders up as she readies herself for a fight.

From Kieran or the Resistance, I’m not sure, but either way, my money is on her.

“Fallows, stay behind me and with me the whole way. You’re my top priority, and if anything happens, my only order is to get you to the evac point alive, whatever the cost. If you want Ardern and the Flame to make it through, you need to keep your ass in line, because I’ll abandon them in a second to get you out of here.”

This fucking man and his tripping over my trigger points… I’m going to end up taking him out before we make it back to my Bonds.

My hands tighten their hold on Gabe and my lip curls back at him. “Good luck getting me to leave either of them behind, I’d have you screaming on the ground before you ever got your hands on me. It doesn’t matter, we’re all following you. I won’t step out on the rules, let’s get the fuck out of here.”

Kieran moves so quickly out of the tent that I don’t have time to get nervous or worried, my legs just move on autopilot to keep up with him. Gabe stumbles a little with the first step and then he’s rock steady, barely needing the support both Sage and I are giving him.

I don’t look back to check if everyone is following us, we’ve done everything we can for the others and all they need to do is keep up, but my eyes are busy taking in the changes in the campsite since we were first dragged through here a couple of hours ago.

There’s blood everywhere, bullet holes and scorch marks littering all of the tents and grass around us. There’s bodies too, screaming and gunfire from every direction, and I have to force myself to breathe normally.

“We need a fucking Shield,” Gabe mutters, trying to pull away from me, but I hold on tighter. Keeping him moving is a freaking great distraction from the carnage around us, and it also means that I know where he is at all times. My bond is thrumming in my blood, a constant stream of that I have no control over.

I need him to be safe.

Kieran has to take out three fleeing Resistance to get past the tents and it feels too easy to me, until we round the corner and I see what the fuck they’re running from.

It isn’t really a battlefield, it’s a massacre.

Thick, black fog covers the entire field except it’s… sentient. Sentient and filled with barely formed creatures that look more like nightmare demons than anything that exists in nature. My feet stumble and Gabe grunts as he catches me, muttering back to me, “It’s Nox, they won’t touch us.”

Uhm.

I feel like Nox would definitely let his gift take a chunk or two out of me and when Kieran shifts to secure his mask back over his face like he’s also concerned about wading in there, I decide I don’t freaking wanna.

“Oli, evac is on the other side. We have to move—“

Kieran cuts Gabe off, “Get her moving, Ardern, or she’s going over my shoulder the rest of the way.”

I have no choice but to follow them in.

I thought I knew how bad it was, but I had no idea. The moment we all breach the dark, covering our eyes to adjust to the murky surroundings, I can see all of the Resistance trapped in here being mauled and torn apart by the creatures.

I don’t even realize I’ve stopped again until Kieran grabs my arm, the one not wrapped around Gabe, and snarls at me, “We don’t have time for your breakdown at the of the Dravens. I get it, he’s a monster, but you need to keep your ass moving.”

I cringe away from him instinctively, but I can’t get far with the tight grip he has on me. He refuses to let go of me, dragging me across the field until we meet back up with the TacTeam, complete with Nox and his black void eyes as he destroys every last member of the Resistance that his smokey horror touches.

If the Dravens are monsters, then what does that make me?

KIERAN TRANSPORTS us out of the Resistance camp and this time, I vomit all over his shoes.

The look he gives me as everyone starts to move away from us is savage and after I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand, I give him a smirk because if I had to ruin someone’s shoes, I’m glad it was his.

Then Gabe lurches out of my arms to collapse on the grass and I have more important things to think about. “Do we have any Healers here? Fuck, please don’t die.”

Gryphon stalks over, that glowing hand of his pressing into Gabe’s forehead and almost instantly he regains some color in his face. Sage comes over to tuck her arm in mine, a show of solidarity as always.

Nox has already turned his back on me, pretending like always that I don’t exist.

I look around and realize I have no freaking clue where we are. More empty fields for miles, we could be anywhere in the world right now.

“Where are we?” My voice is croaky and raw thanks to the puking, but Gryphon hears me well enough, glancing over to me. Nox doesn’t bother, his eyes staying fixed on the skyline.

“Kieran couldn’t get us all back home in one go, and rather than leaving some of the others behind, we’ve made it to a rendezvous point. We’ll be picked up from here in a few hours. Find somewhere close by to sit until then.”

I walk back up to Gabe and park my ass next to him, ready to just whittle away the hours there, and instantly my eyes start to droop. I’ve gone too long without using my gift that it’s exhausting to use it now, like taking months away from the gym and then dying after your first session back.

Gabe’s head moves slowly until it’s resting on my thigh, his breath evening out. Gryphon finally moves away from us both, standing back up and walking over to Kieran to talk amongst themselves.

I lose time in the haze of my exhaustion, only rousing when a female voice calls out, “Are we expecting any ground cover?”

My eyes flutter back open, the light blinding, to a lot of movement around me. It’s hard to see from the ground, but I can just make out the army convoy through the legs.

An entire freaking convoy.

“Fuck. Samual, get us covered and fast.”

Instantly there’s a shield covering us all, all of the TacTeam shifting into position at the edges of it like they’re waiting for the opening to unleash hell on these worthless excuses of humans. But when the vehicles open up, the streams of bodies piling out never seem to end, and my stomach drops out at the realization.

We’re outnumbered, at least ten-to-one.

“Get Oli out of here now.”

My head jerks up to see Gryphon and Kieran checking over their weapons together, their hands moving quickly over their bodies. Kieran doesn’t look happy at this suggestion. “I don’t have enough energy to come back, we’ll find another way.”

When he glances over at Nox, Gryphon shakes his head at him. “Draven can’t go again, he’s drained and I’m not going to let him push past his ability.”

I glance over to him, shocked that he’s tapped out when he looks completely fine, but as soon as I look at him, actually look at him, I can see it. There’s a tightness around his eyes and shadows across his face.

It seems obvious now that Gryphon has said it, he just took on dozens of Resistance and dealt with them himself. Gifted aren’t limitless.

Not even Top Tier Gifted.

There’s another shout and then one of the cars is lifted and thrown at the shield, bouncing off of it without any damage, but then Samual’s nose starts to bleed and we all know we’re running on borrowed time.

It’s time for a Hail Mary pass… we’re going to die here without one. I scramble up to my feet, stepping towards the shield.

‘Stand behind us, Oleander,” Gryphon growls, but I shake my head. Healing light isn’t going to help us here. The TacTeam are checking their weapons, assessing how much ammunition they have left, but we’re not in a great spot.

‘There’s no use dying here, Poison. You’ll only have yourself to blame. Gift or not, there’s at least a hundred men,” Nox spits out, still intent on hating my guts.

Gabe moves to stand up as well, swaying on his feet, and Sage looks so pale as she helps him stay upright. Pale but ready, as though she’s already made her peace with whatever end we’re going to find here today.

I take a deep breath. Those two mean something to me, they’re worth protecting, no matter the cost. Gryphon… I can’t let him die, there’s something there. The potential for something maybe.

Stubborn, bull-headed pride means I can’t leave Nox here to die either, if only because I want to prove him wrong.

I roll my shoulders back and let my power out, gently and carefully, the tendrils of it spanning out like a net casting out into the ocean. It touches every last one of the Resistance, all of them unaware of my touch.

All three of my Bonds here can feel it though, no hiding this shit from them, and know what I’m doing. I turn to stare Nox in the eye, a challenge and a show of exactly how badly he’s underestimated me, his Bond, the one he’s supposed to adore and protect.

Then, all at once, I trigger the terrors and nightmares within them. Ninety-two men and women writhing in agony in the blink of an eye.

And I feel .

Nox’s eyes flare but he doesn’t look away from me, just keeps his eyes glued to mine. The others around us aren’t so restrained.

‘Holy fucking shit.’

“Did she do that? I thought she wasn’t Gifted?”

‘How the fuck did she take out that many at once?”

“

.”

Gryphon moves to stand in front of me immediately, blocking me from the view of his entire team and the others who were rescued. Gabe grabs my hand and yanks me into his body as though he’s worried I’m about to be attacked by our own people. I have to break my staring contest with Nox, but I think I’ve proved my point.

I pull away from Gabe, my gift is still a little too excited about being let out to play and I can’t have him touching me right now. He frowns at me, but then follows my eyes down to my fingers and gulps when he sees the fine tremble in them.

Finally he takes a step away, stumbling a little only to be caught by Nox, both of them looking like the walking dead at this point.

Nox, ignoring Gabe’s groans of pain, snaps, “Don’t think we’ve forgotten about your idiot decisions either, Ardern. What the fuck were you thinking? You would’ve been more useful to us if you’d stayed behind and kept Bassinger muzzled. Fucking useless.”

My gift explodes out of me.

I can’t stop it or contain it, the wave of it hitting everyone around us, and the entire group scrambles away from me, leaving only Gryphon there with me. The entire TacTeam takes cover as though they can outrun me, but I barely even think of any of them, every fiber of my being is honed in on where Nox is holding Gabe’s arm and berating him.

I don’t like that.

“Nox… let him go,” Gryphon says, pulling the attention away from me as everyone looks over to what has set me off.

Very slowly, as if he’s cautious not to spook me, Nox’s hand slips away from Gabe. My body moves without thought, stalking over to Gabe as if an invisible force is shoving us together, and I plant myself in-between my two Bonds.

I have no fucking clue what I’m doing, but my bond finally calms the fuck down a little once my back is pressed against Gabe’s chest.

“Incoming, the plane’s here.”

There’s a whoop of joy and the TacTeam recovers from my little bond-tantrum moment, moving around us to prepare for our pick up. I stand there with Gabe and watch the descent without a word between us. When the plane hits the runway, landing perfectly, with the roar of the brakes and engine reversing, we both exhale as though we’ve been holding our breaths for hours, at this point.

“How the fuck do we tell North about this? I don’t even know what to call it,” Gryphon mutters to Nox, his eyes flicking over his shoulder to me, and I take a deep breath.

I can’t say a word to him because he always sees through my lies, and how could I explain this situation away to him? How do I tell him that the nightmares are horrible but the least of our problems?

If only they were the worst thing I can do.