48. Lazarus
Lazarus
Honey takes off running back toward the omega’s sequestering building, and I want to charge after her, to direct her back toward Techno and safety with the other omegas.
I take a step to follow her, but the omega I assume is Iona, despite having dark hair, releases a pained sound.
The sound of a body hitting the ground draws my attention back.
She and Salem are struggling with Clement and the other two alphas they were traveling with.
If they’re dispatched more quickly, it will make the way safer for Honey.
I pull one of the alphas off Iona and shove him to the ground. My shadow battles in canine shape against his cat as I straddle him. Two hits to the head, and his shadow stops fighting. I don’t check if he’s dead.
Turning back to the left, I pause. Salem is lying motionless in the grass next to an alpha in the final stages of bleeding out. I like the beta and don’t want him injured, but I can’t stop right now. I can’t check on him.
Clement throws himself to Iona, wrapping his arm around her neck, his shadow further restraining her as he pulls the gun he had turned on Honey earlier to Iona’s head.
I stand still, chest heaving, trying to calm my racing heart, and watching. There are a thousand things I could do, but many of them lead to her getting hurt or worse.
“I’m leaving. I’m taking her. You can’t stop me, Asa,” Clement shouts as he steps backward, yanking Iona with him.
I step forward. I can’t let him take her.
He turns the gun on me. “Don’t think I won’t shoot.”
Iona writhes, doing everything in her power to get away.
MP St. Pierre opens the door on the helicopter, and I keep stepping forward. I push my shadow out, trying to reach, to stop, to do something to help her. This can’t happen.
A bullet zips past me. It narrowly misses my chest, ripping the fabric of my shirt.
But I can’t be stopped.
I shift, taking my canine form, and lunge forward. Clement’s shots are all close, but nothing hits. He turns around and shoves Iona to MP St. Pierre, who pulls her on board the helicopter.
Then he turns back to me. When he shifts, it’s into a large boar, and he charges toward me.
I focus, blocking out the noise of the helicopter, the fear flooding through my system, and keep my head down, ready to bite.
I’m ready for him until he shifts back, slamming into me in human form.
Stumbling back four feet, I’m thrown off balance before pulling myself back.
Don’t fuck this up. On two feet, I race toward the discarded gun.
My shadow moves out ahead of me, chasing it.
I look up briefly and see St. Pierre holding a gun on Iona inside the helicopter. His shadow is tight around her, and she is struggling, trying to fight him off. She hasn’t stopped fighting.
Come on. Come on. Come on. Time feels like it’s running out. We’re all struggling against it.
I’ve almost grabbed the gun when I’m tackled, knocked to the side.
Clement picks up the gun and points it toward my chest. The pain is unbearable as the bullet enters me, my body knocked back by the force.
My vision blurs, but I still fight back the best I can.
My shadow clutches my chest, stemming the bleeding, while I knock the gun out of Clement’s hand.
He laughs before standing and climbing into the helicopter.
I fuckin’ failed. Not like this. Forcing myself up from the ground, I reach for the helicopter door and pull on the handle with my uninjured arm. I can barely focus past the noise and the wind as it whips around us, but I know I’m losing Iona. I can’t be the reason she’s gone again.
The helicopter lifts off the ground, and I hold on as hard as I can, but we’re easily fifty feet in the air. My whole body aches, and I can’t think to formulate my next move.
The helicopter moves forward, and I brush against the treetops. The movement jostles me, and I lose my grip.
No.
Sticks and twigs crack and break as I fall through the trees.
No.
My shadow tries to pull at darkness and slow my descent, but I’m bleeding out of a chest wound at the same time.
No.
I hit the solid earth beneath me to hear shouting.
No.