Derek was anxious. He hated walking along the roads - it was too easy to spot him, Simon, Tori and Chloe - but he had to walk along them. It would be too hard for Simon and Tori to go hacking through the woods, as weak as they were, and he had to carry Chloe, she was that sick. Things had been getting worse in the last few months, supernaturals were getting abducted and killed every time they turned around. The bodies were piling up, and Derek didn't know what to do, except to keep moving.
"Okay, we've gotta cut through the woods to get to the cabin." He whispered to Simon and Tori.
They nodded, and followed him.
In the time since Andrew had died, the group hadn't stayed in one place for more than twenty-four hours. It was taking a toll on Simon, Tori and Chloe, but Derek seemed unaffected, except for his extreme worry. Simon and Tori weren't getting enough to eat and drink, they were getting so weak that it was a struggle for them to use their powers. Simon had tried a finding spell once, but he had collapsed, and Derek didn't want the same thing to happen to Tori. With Chloe it was different. It wasn't that she was undernourished. She was sick. Really sick. Derek didn't know what was wrong, and that bothered him, but he knew enough to know that she needed medical attention, but he couldn't risk taking her to a hospital. The Edison Group had grown, and Derek was sure that spies were everywhere. No, for now, Chloe was better off sick with them than dead in a hospital.
After twenty minutes of fumbling in the woods, they found the cabin Derek had been looking for. Simple, hidden, it was the perfect place to bunk down for a bit. Derek made Simon and Tori stop behind him as he sniffed the place out, balancing Chloe across his shoulders.
"Safe," he said. Simon and Tori stumbled to the door, which Derek held out for them.
"A bed!" Tori cried. She couldn't remember the last time she had seen one, let alone slept on one. She ran as best as she could to it, and collapsed in the middle.
"There's only one," Derek rumbled, "so move over. You, Simon and Chloe are sharing." At any other time, Tori would have pouted, argued, but she was lost in the softness, and she was too tired. She motioned Simon to get over to the wall, but then Derek laid Chloe on the outside edge, and Tori became stuck in the middle. She was gathering up her energy to moan about it, before she realized that being in the middle was probably the warmest. She pulled the blankets up over herself, and sighed in contentment.
Chloe's eyes were closed, so Derek just assumed she was asleep, as did Simon. Tori began to snore, so they found it safe to talk.
"Whose cabin is this?" Simon asked.
"It belonged to an old guy who passed last year, his family doesn't come out here much, so we're okay to stay." Derek assured him, sitting on a chair.
"I'm worried," Simon admitted. "I'm worried and scared. We're just a bunch of kids. Tori and I are too weak to do anything, and Chloe's just completely out of it. And you, you're stuck halfway between your transformations. We can't bring these people down, Dere. We can't."
"Simon, we can't give up. We didn't come this far - "
"This far! We're in the middle of nowhere, sick and weak with dead supernaturals piling up around us!" Simon cried.
"I know, but the only way to fix it is to fight back. It's not going to get better if we don't do anything about it." Derek said. "I know how you're feeling. I've felt it too, but we have to keep going. We can't let all of those people die in vain. We can let Andrew's sacrifice mean nothing."
Simon nodded. "You're right."
Derek had a ghost of a smile on his face. "Of course I am, now, get some sleep."
Simon put his head down on the pillow, lulled to dreamland by Tori's snores.
***
They were in a faded blue truck. He was nestled in back, Chloe on one side, Tori on the other. Derek was in the passenger seat beside Andrew, once again going over the plan for breaking into the Edison headquarters. He was nervous, rubbing his sweaty palms on his jeans methodically. Chloe had her eyes closed, looking for spirits willing to help, and Tori, whatever she was doing, had enough sense to stay quiet.
They were driving on an old dirt road, still an hour away from the destination, when it happened. Their truck was hit from the side. They rolled, ending up in the ditch. Derek broke his way out, pulling out the rest of them out with him. Tori began forming balls of energy in her hands, there was a rustling in the woods, from Chloe's spirits, he hoped. Derek stood at the ready, Andrew at his side, looking warrior fierce. He swallowed, and summoned his power.
A group of two dozen people stood before them, all part of the Edison Group. "Well, well," cooed a woman that he didn't recognize, "look at the brave little supernaturals."
No one bothered answering her. They just stood tense, at the ready, waiting for them to make the first move. The woman who had spoken, gestured to her colleagues, who fanned out to make a circle around their small group. They were forced back to back. He was once again wedged between Chloe and Tori, leaning against Derek.
The woman, who was apparently a witch, through a binding spell toward Derek, but out of nowhere, a corpse jumped out to take the spell. Chloe started breathing heavily beside him. The woman sneered, and prepared another spell, while a fire-demon across from her slowly began to set the ground on fire.
Behind him, he heard Derek and Andrew arguing in low whispers, he couldn't hear what they were saying, but a ball of dread formed in his stomach anyway. He nudged Tori, and together, they put out the demon's fire. The demon snarled, and the witch threw a pain spell. The same corpse, still recovering from the binding spell, also took the pain spell. He knew Chloe was looking for more corpses, but it didn't seem to be happening.
Derek and Andrew had stopped talking, and he didn't know what was worse. Derek turned his head. "When I start to run, follow me. Don't stop for anything. Anything." They whispered yes.
Andrew began building up power. He could feel it. It almost burned him. The essence was so powerful. Andrew began to shake with the exertion, and he realized he was pulling all of his magic out of his body, to hold in his hands. He thought Andrew said something, but he didn't hear it.
"Run." Derek said, that he heard. Derek took off, and like they were told, they followed him.
They took the Edison lackeys by surprise, and Derek just plowed right through their wall, they fled to the woods. He looked back for a fraction of a second, and stopped. Andrew hadn't followed them. He was still standing in the middle of the Edison's. For a moment, Andrew caught his eye, and nodded. Then Derek took his hand and pulled him on.
They were deep in the woods when it happened. Andrew released his magic, killing all of the Edison's, and himself. Tears pricked his eyes, but he kept going. They had to keep going.
***
Simon woke up breathing heavily. He'd had that nightmare every time he'd managed to grab some sleep since that night. It was still hard for him to accept that Andrew was gone, even though he knew that there was no way he could have survived. Derek had gone back to check, to see if anyone had survived, but said that everything for a couple of feet had been vaporized. Vaporized, Simon thought, nothing left.
He couldn't get back to sleep, so he stayed lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling until light began to trickle in from outside. He felt too drained to get up, so he just stayed there, looking at the wood. He felt Tori stretch beside him, then her eyes opened.
"Morning," she mumbled, in a good mood. That was the best sleep she had gotten in weeks. Simon only nodded. She rolled her eyes at him, then sat up, crawling over the end of the bed so as not to disturb Chloe. "The mutt go to get food?" Tori asked, using her nickname for Derek.
"I dunno," truthfully, Simon hadn't heard Derek since waking up, but he wouldn't be surprised if his brother had spent the night outside the door, on high alert. "Stick your head outside, see if he's there."
Tori did as he suggested, then yelled, "DEREK!" She stood like that for ten minutes before coming back inside. She looked worried. "He would have heard that, right?" Simon nodded. "And he would be back by now, right?" Simon nodded again, dread rising within him.
"Derek's not out there?" He squeaked.
Tori shook her head. They stared wide-eyed at each other as Chloe began to cough. Tori looked over, and then looked horrified. "She's coughing up blood!"
I think Andrew's a sorcerer, but I'm not sure, so for this story, we're assuming he is. Oh, and I'm not a doctor, so Chloe's illness is completely made up by yours truly! I don't own Darkest Powers. Also, I'm not sure what Tori looks like, any insights? Thanks.
~DI4MGZ~