Kiera
The Guardians were gaining on us fast. Declan tossed his hand back and made the invisible wall. The Guardians crashed into it and couldn't get to us.
Declan ran out the door with me still in his arms. The moment his feet hit the ground outside, he took off into the sky.
It was already dark outside so when he felt like we were far enough away, he landed. He gently placed me on my feet in an alley.
"I, uh, guess I should thank you," I coughed.
Declan smirked and said, "No problem."
"Why did you come back for me? I told you not to. What if you had been cap-"
Declan shushed me by putting his finger on my lips. He leaned in close to my face and said, "You ask too many questions."
Then he cupped my cheeks in his hands and locked his silver eyes on mine.
I couldn't move if I wanted to.
He moved one of his hands under my chin to tilt it up.
He looked down at my lips and slowly moved his face closer.
Oh God. Declan was going to kiss me.
I closed my eyes and readied myself for the kiss. It never came.
Declan chuckled and said, "You have something in your hair." Then he plucked a wood chip from my hair that must have gotten stuck when the chair broke.
I shoved him away and said, "You're such an ass."
He just laughed again. No one got on my nerves like he did.
I narrowed my eyes on his back as he shoved away a dumpster. His muscles strained under his tight black t-shirt. As if he knew I was staring at him, he looked over his shoulder and smirked. I wanted to rip out the damn piercing on his eyebrow.
He knelt on the ground and pulled up a door I hadn't seen.
"Get in," he commanded.
I crossed my arms and stalked over to him. I hopped down the stairs. Declan followed behind me after he shut the door.
"So where exactly are we?" I asked in the complete darkness.
"Underground," he replied.
"No shit," I swung my fist wildly hoping to connect it with some part of his body.
I don't know how he did it because it was so dark down here, but he somehow grabbed my swinging fist in his hand.
"Stop that," his silver eyes flashed in the dark.
I yanked my hand back, grumbling to myself about how much of a jerk he was.
Declan led us into hallways that now had dim lights. I was thankful that I could see where I was going now.
We walked for a while until he found a huge metal door.
He knocked twice quick and three times slowly. I recognized that as the code for the Rebels.
Mei's girlfriend opened the door and smiled warmly at us.
Declan stepped in first, announcing, "Found a Rebel."
Then he stepped out of the way for me to get in.
It was silent while the Rebels digested what was going on.
"Kiera!" Ry yelled and crushed me in a hug.
She turned to Declan and said, "So that's where you were going. Thanks for bringing her back." Then she hugged him, too.
Mei walked up to us and wrapped an arm around his girlfriend's waist.
"You went back for her, didn't you?" Mei asked Declan.
He nodded.
"I understand. I would have done the same for Kristi."
Oh, so his girlfriend's name was Kristi.
Her teal eyes beamed up at him as he kissed her forehead.
Declan stalked off and slumped on one of the bunks coming out of the wall.
Four Rebels got up when Mei shouted, "Next group!"
They got prepared and exited the door. Mei explained they were going out to find any more Rebels in the underground tunnels. Then he said that's what Declan had been doing when he ditched his group to come get me.
I made my way over to where Declan was laying on the top bunk. He was too large for the bed so his feet were dangling off the side. His eyes were closed and he looked so much younger.
I hadn't realized how stressed he had looked lately. Now that he was relaxed, he looked peaceful.
I hadn't thought about what he must be going through right now. He just gave up his whole life to fight with the Rebels. And for what? He had it made. He was the First Descendant's son.
So what he didn't agree with what was going on behind our backs. He would be much safer if he had never joined with us.
I laid down on the bed underneath his. I reached up and tapped his foot. When he didn't acknowledge me, I hit it harder.
I jumped when his head popped over from the side of the bed. His hair hung in his eyes as he looked down at me.
He raised that annoying eyebrow again, waiting for me to say something.
"What's gonna happen now?" I asked.
He sighed and slid off his bed to sit next to me on mine.
Leaning his head against the wall, he spoke.
"I'm not sure. For now we're just sitting tight. We don't have enough support as it is right now which is why Mei has been sending out search parties to increase our numbers."
He ran a hand through his hair.
"I don't get it," I said.
"Get what?"
"You. I can never tell if you like me or not. Once I decide you must hate me, you come and save me. You've risked your life for me so many times now. You make me angry."
"I don't hate you, Kiera," he said surprising me by interlocking his fingers with mine.
I glanced down at our hands then back up at him. Declan had shut his eyes again. His breathing became steady as he fell asleep.
I stared at our hands and wondered what this feeling was. Then I too, fell asleep.
~
Declan
By the morning, the search parties had gathered maybe ten more members. It was a start.We would be continuing the search for a few more days.
Then it would be time to go above ground.
I refused to allow Kiera to go in a search party without me in it. Mei switched Glen out of the group so Kiera could be with me.
We walked over to the metal door and prepared to head out.
Ry, Dex, Kiera, and I walked out into the dank hallway to begin our search. Kiera lagged behind the three of us so I slowed my walk to be beside her.
"What's up?" I asked her.
She looked down, wiping underneath her eye.
I tilted her head up to see her face. Tears were brimming on the edge of her eye lids. I carefully wiped them off using my finger.
"I miss Trev," she whispered.
"I know. But you need to keep going for him," I reminded her.
She nodded and squared her shoulders, picking up her pace to match with the others.
I joined back with the rest of them to continue with our search.
We went down a few hallways that we hadn't been down the day before.
"Ooh! What's this!" Ry yelled, pointing at something at the wall.
I moved around her to see what all the fuss was about.
A door no taller than two feet tall was carved into the wall.
I kneeled down in front of the door. Using both of my hands, I pulled down on the small handle. It didn't budge. I could use Kristi's power to unlock the door since Mei had done it in front of me.
Guess I didn't have to.
The door creaked open on its own.
Ry skipped around happily and clapped her hands. Dex just stood there emotionlessly.
"Let's check it out," I said.
We crawled through the door to enter into a surprisingly large room with tall ceilings.
All around the room were the sleeping forms of at least a hundred Nephilim.
"Oh crap. Did the Guardians and Supporters working for the Known Families find the underground?" Ry whispered.
The Neph closest to us on the floor rolled over and opened maroon colored eyes.
"Wake up!" He yelled.
A hundred set of eyes all locked on ours.
"Who are you with?" The maroon eyed kid asked.
"The Rebels," I replied.
He breathed an audible sigh of relief and said, "All clear."
I narrowed my eyes at him.
"Who are you with?"
"You see, we were with the Known Families but after we heard about the live broadcast, we wanted to join the Rebels. What the Known Families are doing is wrong," he said.
"It's them!" Someone shouted, "They're the ones who made the speech on the live broadcast!"
I nodded that they were correct.
"You all should come with us. We have a group about this size. You've already heard about us obviously so it's safe for you guys to join with us. Safety in numbers, right?" Kiera spoke.
"Our group was led my Trev himself," she continued, getting choked up as she went on, "Some of you may have seen his death on the screens outside. He's the sole reason we were able to establish this group to actually do something about this widespread issue."
Every Nephilim in the room got up and joined us at the door. It took a while for each of us to crawl back through the door. Once we were all in the hallway again, we led them to our sanctuary.
I knocked the special code and taught it to the newbies. Mei answered the door and gaped.
I smirked and walked in the door.
We might actually have a chance with all these Nephilim.
Mei latched the door shut and turned to all of us.
A sharp banging on the door had us all on high alert.
"Open up right now. We will not hesitate to use our powers if you don't cooperate. We know you are in there," a deep voice demanded.
All of us claimed a bed and tried to hide out of the way.
Mei slowly opened the door to come face to face with a Guardian who was clearly with the Known Families.
Good news was, there were only two of them. Bad news, there could be more out there.
I jumped off the bunk bed with Kiera right behind me. Kristi met us at the door with Mei.
As if on queue, all of us attacked the two Guardians.
One of the Guardians produced a small blade and encased it in orange sludge. He chucked it at Kristi where it impaled her in the stomach.
Mei yelled, "No!"
In a blind rage of fury, Mei took out the two Guardians single handily. Kiera and I didn't have a chance to do anything.
Then he dropped to Kristi's side, propping her head in his lap. He pushed her bangs off her head and whispered, "It's okay, it's okay. You're going to be okay. We're going to get through this."
By now, he had tears in his gold eyes.
Kristi smiled up at Mei even though she was clearly in so much pain.
She gripped Mei's hands in hers, looking him in the eyes.
"I love you, Mei. Keep fighting, I know you can do it. Thank you for always being here for me until the very end," then she too had tears in her eyes.
"I love you too, Kristi," Mei forced out.
With one last shuddering breath, Kristi left this screwed up world.
Mei bent over her and started sobbing. He kept mumbling Kristi's name over and over.
We all felt the loss in the room. We couldn't stay here anymore though. It wasn't safe.
I shoved my hands under Mei's armpits and set him on his feet.
He looked devastated. I didn't know if he would be able to go on, let alone keep being our leader.
"Mei, we need to move, now."
With my sharp words, Mei pulled himself together like a true leader.
Dragging a blanket from one of the bunks, he placed it on Kirsti's body. He kissed her cheek one last time and pulled the blanket the rest of the way over her face.
He walked to the door with purpose and turned to us.
"Looks like we have to go above ground sooner than we thought."