Carly and I ran through the thick forest, our breathing and feet the only sounds in the pitch black night. I was fortunate to have my extraordinary vision, for without it we would've been lost.
The leaves slapped at my face, stinging it just enough to cause pain, while the pine needles wanted to dig into my flesh. It was as if the world knew what I had done and was now trying to punish me for it. The moon, only a simple sliver in the sky, gave very little light, but just enough to see shadows. A couple animals scurried past us, their high-pitched squeaking causing Carly to jump in fear of the nighttime monsters. I wanted to tell her that not all monsters live in the night.
I kept on running, despite the pain of the wound in my back. It would heal soon enough though, and everything would be fine. My face was nearly numb from the slapping of the leaves, and I felt blood trickling down from my lip where nightly claws had scratched it. Nothing, though, could stop me from running.
Carly grasped my balmy hand in her own and struggled to keep up. It wasn't easy for her, but she wouldn't give up. I admired her for that. She had to be one of the bravest humans I had ever met. Not only had she not backed down against my fury, but dealt with the death of a man in her apartment and everything in between. Few people could handle all of that.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, there was a cawing noise, like a bird. I froze, dead in my tracks. Stopping so abruptly caused Carly to run into me, since she was unable to see past the tips of her fingers. "Zack?" she whispered, her voice strangely alien to the night.
"Shh…" I told her as she squeezed my hand tighter. With my precise eyes, I saw the big black bird up in the tree, its black breast shiny in the pale moonlight. It seemed to glare down at me, reminding me of what it stood for.
The raven.
Every time it had come into my life, someone had died. It was there in my Manticore training, and when it came, we accidentally shot one of our own. I shot that soldier. It was the first killing of my life. The first in a long line that still continued to this day.
The bird had been there when I killed Volgesang. It had watched me with beady eyes as he had pleaded for his life, denying that he didn't know Max or Lydecker. His death was a hard one, for both of us. He had struggled to the very end-not something I enjoyed seeing with my victims.
So, I grabbed Carly and pulled her closer. "Don't move," I told her in a hushed undertone. Her hand found its way to my back, and she held on for dear life. I couldn't lose her. Surprisingly, she had become one of the few people I cared about-outside of the other X-5s.
That's when I heard the noise behind me. It was so utterly quiet, and I was sure that Carly hadn't heard it either. I zipped open her backpack and reached inside to pull out the gun. Either she didn't notice or didn't care, for she said nothing. I clicked the gun, unfortunately not as quiet as I would've liked, but I knew now that it was loaded with a clip ready and full. And I stood poised, the muscles in my body all clenched and ready to spring.
That's when I saw them.
I saw his silver hair in the slight moonlight, then the brown leather jacket and knew who it was. Lydecker. He hadn't forgotten us after all. I saw him, but I wasn't sure if he knew that I could see him as equally as he could see me.
Then, from behind him, came the other men, all with guns, ready to kill Carly and take me back to Manticore. "Get down," I whispered to Carly. Slowly, she sank to the ground, not questioning my order.
As soon as she was out of the way, I began to shoot the men. Each one fell with a horrendous scream, then laid still on the ground below, with their blood shiny in the pale moonlight. Lydecker, panicking as he saw his men go down, aimed at me with the only gun he had and fired.
I, unfortunately, was too busy trying to take care of the real soldiers and had foolishly ignored him in the process. That's why I didn't see the bullet aimed right at me. It ripped into the back of my knee, causing me to scream in pain just like the men I had killed.
Turning, I aimed the gun randomly into the dark forest where the shot had come from and just shot. Shot at darkness, hoping to kill the bastard. But, my attempts failed, for he must've run off already. Either that or the pain was blinding me.
Carly, who had heard my scream, was up, supporting me loosely. My body writhed in pain, while the blood fell down the back of my leg, soaking the jeans. "We have to get you to a hospital," she told me.
"No," I whispered through clenched teeth. "No, there's a place up a ways where we can stay."
She nodded reluctantly, and slowly, we moved through the night, leaving only my blood and bodies as a trace that we had been there at all.