Chapter XXI: Someone To Save Me

All alone again

Searching for something

There's no one left to save me now

I won't be afraid

I just thought you'd catch me

But you're not here to save me now.

- Superhero, The Pretty Reckless.

The door was starting to warm up after having my ear against it for almost two hours. I was alternating it with looks through the gap between the door and the floor, minimal but enough to feed my hopes, trying to see if the light was on or off. Meanwhile, the last words Naya had said were still reeling in my head: 'Wait for the hallway lights to be off. Go straight to the end of the hallway, then to the left. Past the dining room door, there is an elevator. To the top floor. I hope you find happiness. I love you, Carrie.'

I breathed deeply when I heard a click and the lights went out. My hands were sweating, the key was hot and humid, and I decided to wait a few more minutes before I got out, at least until most of the Watchers were asleep.

It had been the most intense day of my life. I didn't know how I would face the future, but firstly I had to get out of there. I had to get out, go with Eric, make sure Charlie was safe and talk to Alcide about Ethan's betrayal. He was killing people. Manipulating us. I didn't know how they would react when I told them all about all my discoveries, my nature, my real parents, the intentions of the Watchers... in fact; I hadn't even clear what they wanted. Was it sure that they wouldn't do anything to my loved ones? I wasn't sure. However, they had seemed quite reasonable (unless Eyan) perhaps driven by wrong motives, maybe they had the biggest egos I'd ever seen (and I had slept with Eric, so it was a lot to say), but they were reasonable after all. Something like the supernatural cops. Watching in case someone crossed the line.

I pulled my cell phone out of the pants and looked at the screen. Nothing. Eric hadn't answered me. Not that I had coverage. Well, Carrie, you're alone in this. Remember that you are Buffy, you can walk a couple of corridors. You're Buffy. Buffy.

I repeated it to myself a couple of times and got up from the ground, inserting the key into the hole as quietly as I could and opened the door slowly. I let out a deep breath before taking the first step into the hallway. Into the darkness, it seemed much longer and threatening, but I started to take long, measured steps, moving slowly, trying not to make any noise. I had hardly taken five steps when my phone vibrated and I grimaced, standing completely still. With a deep breath, I pulled the device out. My heart raced when I saw the screen lit up with a message from Eric:

Don't turn off the phone. I'll find you.

I raised an eyebrow. Short, but direct. Eric was coming. He was going to help me. He was worried. I suppressed the urge to smile and nodded to myself, I kept walking, until the end of the hall. I repeated once again the words of Naya: 'Go straight to the end of the hallway, then to the left.' I obeyed and turned to the next corridor. I bit my lip as I walked, muffled voices inside some room, dim lights escaping under the doors.

"... Not coming. And if he comes, we kill him, period." Said a voice down the hall.

I looked sideways, seeking a way out, my heart beating a mile a minute, and ran to a wooden door that had no lock, which made me think it wasn't a room. Carefully closing behind me, I leaned my back against the door, in the dark.

"It's not that easy, Eyan." Aryan's voice said. "Since when do we do this? Keep her here against her will?"

"I'll let that wolf know that their threats and ruthless acts haven't scared us. She's family, she will stay. Maybe now you don't understand, maybe neither does her, but in a few months, when she learns to use her skills, you'll thank me, and..." the voice trailed down the hallway and I dropped to the ground, noting how the blood was pumping in my ears. On my way to the ground, I accidentally touched the switch that lit the room. I blinked a few times, dazzled, and then gasped.

Weapons, weapons and more weapons were spread along the walls, shotguns, submachine guns and handguns, crossbows, silver, wooden ammunition, flamethrowers. I swallowed, looking around. Aryan was right. They were prepared. If Eric came to the Shelter with nothing but his arms, his fangs and his bad temper, he wouldn't get anything but the true death. With trembling hands, I pulled the phone from my pocket.

Don't come.

I thought that two words were enough to make clear my desire. I didn't know how I was going to do it without him, but I had no other choice. I would not let him get hurt because of me. I opened the door carefully and my phone vibrated again.

"Damn it..." I mumbled inaudibly, pulling the phone out once again. My two words were answered with two others:

Too late.

Just then, a loud bang was heard and all the lights came on while I turned around, looking around me, confused, and a siren so loud that would not let me listen to my own thoughts began to ring. The siren was accompanied by an automatic female voice:

"Warning: Intruder. Warning: Intruder. All squads get your weapons and follow the instructions of your captain. Warning: Intruder..."

"Shit." I said, looking around. "Shit-shit-shit."

I ran to the other side of the room, where helmets and bulletproof vests were accumulated and I grabbed the first things I could, I wore a black helmet with transparent visor and a vest over my clothes, unbuttoned. I headed for the door, but I stopped and turned around to catch a small and handy weapon, loaded with wooden bullets. I took a deep breath.

"Come on. Come on." I told to myself, and put my hand on the doorknob, but it was flung open, and a group of people came in.

"What are you doing here?" Said a man I didn't know. "From what Squad are you?"

I blinked a few times before answering. "Err... from... B?"

The man rolled his eyes. "Now get out of here. They need backup in entrance 4."

"What's the matter?" Asked one of the girls, as she grabbed a shotgun.

"Vamps broke in." Replied the man, and I slipped through the crowd to leave the armory. Among the accumulated crowd, my eyes met those of Aryan, who raised his eyebrows. With a quick, almost undetectable to someone who wasn't looking attentively, motion, he nodded towards the direction I had to follow, down the hall and then another turn to the elevator. I nodded and mouthed a 'thank you' before running off.

I got to the elevator quickly and pressed the button, waiting.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon..." I muttered impatiently as people came and went behind me and I struggled to go unnoticed. I heard a 'cling' and the elevator doors opened, but it wasn't empty.

"Look at her, see how she could took care of herself?"

"Shut up, Pam." Eric and Tara said at once, and I sighed just before launching into the arms of the blond vampire, who raised a rather surprised eyebrow, but returned the hug.

"Can we go now?" Pam said, nodding to the soldiers coming and going. "This is a waste of time."

"Let her go!" Cried a voice, and we turned to see a group of heavily armed Watchers pointing at us with wicked-looking weapons. "Now!"

Eric pushed me until I was behind him, but I could see how Eyan gave the signal to fire. "Pam!" Eric called, and with a quick movement, Pam moved me to the side, so I was protected from the shooting by the metal walls of the elevator, but I heard Tara scream. I had Pam in front of me and couldn't see anything but a blurry of blond hair, but I heard the shouts of the soldiers, crunches and commands that were lost in the struggle of the Watchers against Eric and Tara.

A shot hit Pam, who screamed and fell to the ground, fangs extracted, and I could see the blood bath that had become the lobby of the Shelter. Tara was cornered, with a silver chain around her neck, held by a group of soldiers, including Naya, and Eric smiled as he lifted Aryan by the neck, while others pointed their weapons at him.

"Enough!" I shouted, making everyone look at me. Pam rose from the ground and I saw that the bullet had struck her on a leg, and that was already healing. "Enough! Let me go!"

"There's only one way to end this, Carrie." Eric said, showing his fangs widely and tightening the grip on the neck of the Watcher.

"No, Eric." I said, raising my hands and going out of the corner to be completely visible. "It doesn't have to be that way, this doesn't have to..."

"The vampire is right." Eyan said, and I frowned. "There's only one way to end this."

He changed the direction of his gun, from Eric to me, and gave me no time to react: I heard a scream, the explosion of a shot, and suddenly I was on the floor.

"NO!" Eric and I shouted at once. He pounced on Eyan and dug his fangs into the man's throat, making him scream, and I sat on the floor to take Naya in my arms, who had jumped between the bullet and my body.

"Withdrawal!" Aryan shouted hoarsely. "Get out of here! Right-fucking-now!"

The soldiers began to walk away, but a few, and released Tara, who ran to Pam.

"No, Naya, no..." I said, feeling hot tears running down my cheeks. Her abdomen was bleeding profusely and I put my hands over the wound, but then I knew it would not help. The bullet had pierced her, going out through her back. My head was spinning, I was dizzy, and my sister's green eyes shed a tear as she raised her hand and rested it on my face, staining my cheek with crimson.

"He said," Naya mumbled. "You're going to have a baby sister. She will be tiny and helpless for a long time, and you'll have to love her and take care of her. And I love you, Carrie, you have to..." Eric came to me and Naya looked up at him. "Ta bort henne. Långt borta. Skydda henne. Det är min syster."

Eric nodded and crouched beside me, holding my shoulders, keeping me from Naya, whose body fell limp on the ground.

"No!" I shouted. "No!" I touched the floor with my hand and I soon found the gun I had dropped. With tears in my eyes, I saw Eyan laying on the floor, gasping for breath, while his neck would not stop bleeding. "No!" I shouted, and pulled the trigger, the bullet hit him in the arm. I fired and fired, chest, leg, a few went to the wall, until I pulled the trigger and nothing happened. I sobbed, looking at Naya, and I felt a sharp pain in the belly. I looked down to find that my vest was stained with blood, and with the Eric's help, I took it off. To discover an open wound bleeding in my stomach.

"Carrie!" Eric said, as he dragged me into the elevator.

"Come up to the penultimate floor and go out through the north exit." Aryan said, pressing the button of the elevator and back to the hallway. "Good luck."

The doors closed just when Eric bit his wrist. "The bullet went through her..." I mumbled, swallowing, and noticed Eric's blood falling in my mouth while my vision got blurry.

"Carrie, stay here, stay with me, Carrie..."

Eric's voice faded into the darkness.

Translations:

"Ta bort henne. Långt borta. Skydda henne. Det är min syster."- Take her away. Far away. Protect her. She's my little sister.