Silver Rat

The trek through the woods was more straining than Evangeline remembered. Her lungs burned, but that was probably from the smoke drifting from upwind, and her legs throbbed in time to her steps. The socks on her feet had thinned beyond usefulness and she was essentially trekking barefoot. What had started as her needing a break after an hour had quickly morphed into her needing a break every ten minutes. It was during one of these stops that Cameron patiently waited until Evangeline stopped vomiting bile to ask, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, yeah this is totally normal," Evangeline rested her head on her forearm then pulled back with a cry; her skin was scalding to the touch. "I'm dying Cameron," she reluctantly admitted. The words terrified Evangeline to her core but right now she couldn't deny it. The edges of her vision had started to blur an hour ago and Evangeline didn't want to think about what was coming next.

"Stop being dramatic Eva," Cameron groaned. "You're just sick or something. I'm sure the Guard will give you medicine when we get there."

Evangeline shook her head as her gag reflex activated once more. "No, no, Cole listen to me. I'm dying! I have, I have this uh, thing called Silent Stone Poisoning. That-that's what's killing me."

"How the hell do you get that?!"

Evangeline shrugged, opting to play dumb than tell the truth. "I don't know but I have it. And unless we move quicker I'm not going to be alive to get you to the Guard." Cameron's eyes were wide with worry, but she didn't voice whatever thoughts were swirling in her head. Evangeline was thankful for that; she didn't have the mental capacity to process a lot of words right now.

After Evangeline's stomach calmed down and her legs were only halfheartedly quaking, the two girls took up their walk again. They had slowly left the safety of the deep forest and were now following the scorched road from the other side of the treeline. "The first station where new recruits go isn't too far from here," Evangeline noted after catching the glimpse of a road sign. "Morrey should be there."

"Unless they've already moved them out to the Choke," Cameron unhelpfully supplied.

"Then we're both screwed," Evangeline hissed and grabbed her throbbing hip. "I can't make it to the Choke, and you wont get out of here alive without me."

Cameron glared at her, but it wasn't malicious like Evangeline expected. "I broke out of Corros Prison, alone. I stowed aboard a transport, alone. I snuck into Corvium, alone. I think I could walk through the woods alone if need be."

"I'm not saying you aren't a resourceful little thing Cole. I'm saying you have a power I haven't seen before, and you don't know how to use it. I'm saying you don't know the area like I do. I'm saying you may think you have the skills to survive, but you don't."

Cameron threw her arms up and rolled her head back in exasperation. "Then why does the Guard want me if I'm so useless?"

Evangeline shrugged then cringed at the sparks that flew through her back. "I don't know," she said after steadying herself.

"Peachy."

The next few minutes were silent between them until Evangeline had to rest and kneel over the ground clutching her head. The soft green grass was twisting into yellows and whites before her eyes while the dark brown trees were decaying into grays. The scent of the flowers no longer reached her nose and the song of a bird off in the distance was made of notes Evangeline couldn't place. It was like every memory she had was surrounded by the thickest fog to ever touch Harbor Bay, and even after that there was no light to guide her. She could only grasp the faintest hint of a thought before it vanished.

"Eva, Eva!" A voice was calling her through the fog. I should know that voice, Evangeline thought. It called again. "Eva!" Cameron knocked Evangeline over and the world exploded into color again. Evangeline gasped at the sensation and tried to catch her breath as her mind readjusted.

"W-what!"

Cameron's hands were trembling as much as Evangeline's legs were, and the young girl looked terrified. "You, I mean, you were just like, lying there. I, um, I thought you were, you know, dead or something."

"So your solution was to throw me?!"

"It worked!"

Evangeline's next biting remark was cut off by a round of coughing and blood vomit. "Oh that's really not good," Evangeline groaned as she hurriedly wiped the blood off her lip and tossed torn grass over the silver color. Cameron's eyes were thankfully distracted by the noise coming down the road.

Boots hitting packed dirt made Cameron instinctively drop to the ground next to Evangeline. Lines of soldiers marched by just beyond the trees in perfect unison. They were not newbies. Both girls laid still to watch the flashes of brown and red uniforms being led by patches of silver and grey. Evangeline tried to catch the house colors but her brain couldn't comprehend blue from grey or red from green. "Halt!" A booming voice shook leaves off the trees and the rows came to a stop.

"Why are they stopping?" Cameron hissed.

"I'm not a mind reader Cole. But we need to move in case they come through the trees. Neither one of us are equipped to fight all those guys: Red or Silver."

Both girls got off the ground and slunk (or in Evangeline's case hobbled) away from the treeline towards the thick bushes deeper in the forest. They only got a few feet of movement when the booming voice called, "There! In the trees!" The towering man crashed through the branches with dozens of soldiers behind him. Evangeline's mind caught up to her senses when she saw his uniform.

"He's an Eye!" She yelled to Cameron. The girl latched onto Evangeline's arm and they tore off into the bushes. "It's pointless!" Evangeline shouted over her adrenaline. "He knows where we're going!"

Cameron glanced over her shoulder and almost smacked into a low hanging branch. "How can he know when I don't even know?"

"Look, I don't know how it works!" Evangeline snapped. Her lungs felt like they were on fire and her thighs protested the sudden movement. "Just keep moving!"

Their plan was made more difficult by gunfire whizzing through the trees. Bullets ricocheted off trunks and branches while splicing innocent leaves in half. Evangeline threw a couple bullets away from them and into the soft ground, but her powers were weak. The massive amount of energy she used at Corvium had not only drained her abilities but pushed her body beyond health. The voice of the Eagrie made the ground rumble as he directed the shots. Evangeline's power was the only thing keeping them alive.

"You can't keep this up," Cameron huffed as Evangeline briefly doubled over, nearly taking them both down. "We need to fight back or shake them off."

"Easier said than done Cameron." Evangeline barely caught a bullet aimed for Cameron's shoulder and shot it into a tree. Bark exploded out and slashed at Evangeline's jacket. "The only way we can get away is to kill that Eye."

"Then just send the next bullet towards him!"

Evangeline looked behind them, but all she could see was dark green forest and spots of silver bullets. "I can't see him Cameron. It'd be impossible."

"What, what if I lure him towards me. I'll, like fall or something, and make his cronies bring me to him. They don't want us dead Eva; I'm sure they think we're Guard! You can hide out and kill him." Cameron looked so sure of the plan, and Evangeline couldn't find it within her to tell the poor thing it was stupid.

"Alright."

Cameron released Evangeline's arm and stopped running. Evangeline slowed and watched as Cameron dropped to the ground and vanished through the green thicket. Evangeline looped around and stopped to pant next to a tree. She didn't have much time but her limbs were shaking so badly movement wasn't possible. She coughed up another clot of blood that stained the ground silver.

"Where is the Scarlet Guard hiding! Tell us Rat!" The Eagrie bellowed at Cameron as Evangeline stumbled closer to the voices. What sounded like a punch followed his words. Evangeline peeled back the top of a bush and scoured the scene. Two Red soldiers were holding up Cameron who was thrashing and spitting at the Eye. She was moving and swearing overdramatically. So he'll focus all his power on anticipating her moves and not mine, Evangeline thought. She had to give Cameron props for that one.

Evangeline gently lifted a half shattered bullet off the ground and let it hover in the air until it steadied. She felt over the Eagrie but he had no other protective armor, so she aimed straight for his heart. The bullet whizzed through the air and struck.

Struck the tree five inches to his left.

The two soldiers dropped Cameron and their guns pointed to Evangeline's spot. They rushed her and Evangeline's body was up and moving thanks solely to adrenaline. Their voices shouted orders for her to stop and freeze but she swerved into thicker bushes as their bullets flew past. It was only then Evangeline realized she had left Cameron alone.

Without the Eye guiding them the soldiers got lost in the forest and Evangeline easily circled back to the small clearing where she'd left Cameron. The adrenaline wore off and she dropped pitifully to her knees right beyond the bushes she'd previously hid in. "Thanks for coming back." Cameron's smiling face appeared through the green. She had Silver blood smeared over her hands. "You don't have to worry about me," she said in response to Evangeline's shocked eyes. "That poor Silver Rat let himself get distracted just long enough for me to choke the life out of him." Her pearly white teeth gleamed almost animalistically at the words.

"Congrats," Evangeline heaved.

Cameron's happy smile dropped to the ground with a shattering crash. Her deep eyes narrowed to pinpricks as she stared at Evangeline. "What is that?" Her voice was composed of pure venom as she pointed at the streak of Silver blood running from a wound on Evangeline's bicep.

"I-I um," Evangeline couldn't come up with an explanation. Cameron yanked her to her feet and examined where a bullet had torn Evangeline's sleeve and nicked her. She pressed the skin and the bright Silver color spurted out like a condiment from a bottle. Cameron pushed Evangeline back to the ground and stood over her, blocking out the sun overhead.

"You're a Silver!?" She screamed. "You told me you were like me! You promised me you were on my side!" She paced around and kicked Evangeline in the ribs when she went to sit up. "Do not move! Were you gonna give me to the Silvers? Turn me in to that spiteful new king? Why didn't you just kill me once we got out of Corvium? What do you get out of this?" She dropped and put her knee on Evangeline's chest. "Tell me Silver Rat."

"I-I'm sorry." It was all Evangeline could think to say. She had never seen such hatred in someone's eyes, never heard such anger in someone's voice. Not even her own mother had looked at her like that, like she was worse than the most horrid punishment. Like she was squished vermin on the roadside. "I swear, th-the Guard needs you Cameron. I was, I promise I was going to take you there. I-I just needed absolution. F-for my own crime."

Cameron's storming gaze darkened even more. "What did you do Silver? What could you possibly have done that would make you want forgiveness from us Reds?"

Evangeline's chest shuddered as she sucked in a desperate gasp of air. "I, I uh, I killed my friend. Because I couldn't, just couldn't, stand that he thought my sister was more, more important." She watched Cameron's eyes as she spilled the horrid details of her psyche. "I didn't understand what it was like, what Oliverara went through, until I left the Guard. The treatment that, that she endured, and overcame to reach her heights. I saw what I-I wanted to see: a powerful General with friends, a-and family, a lover, and unlimited power. I never considered the, the 'before'. I never understood, fully, what she felt when I said, when I called her worthless. Please, believe me when I say I now know how she felt." Evangeline gently propped herself up to her elbows. Cameron didn't move. "Please Cameron, this is my only chance to gain absolution for what I've done."

"That's a sad story Eva. Though I doubt that's your real name." Cameron got up off her chest and Evangeline gasped at the buzzing sensation as air flowed freely into her lungs. "But you seem to forget one important thing: no Silver has a Red sibling." Cameron kicked Evangeline dead in the jaw, making her see spots. "I'm going to leave now. If you try and follow me I will kill you."

Cameron walked off with a steady but hurried pace. Evangeline pushed herself to her feet in time to see the dark hair slide between the branches. "Cameron please wait!" The girl didn't stop. Evangeline stumbled a few feet before her legs gave out and she collapsed to the ground. "Cameron!" The only sound was birds taking off from the trees. She was hoping for the soldiers to make their way back to the clearing and just put her out of her misery.

Evangeline tried to get up again, but she only made it to her elbows before the quaking in her muscles became too much. After two more futile attempts her head was pounding like she'd been repeatedly bashed in the skull. Her vision was tunneling faster and faster as she tried again to drag herself up. The shaking increased and soon Evangeline's whole body was filled with convulsions. Her cry was choked down as white saliva dripped from her lips. The blood pouring through her skull felt hot and angry while the darkness in her eyes came to suffocate her. "C-Cole," she spat out as her chest smacked the ground and continued spasming. "I'm sorry," she whispered through the bile in her throat. Her eyes rolled back and Evangeline's mind blanked into emptiness. "Oli, I'm so sorry."