Chapter 25
"Sammy? Can you hear me?!... He's breathing but he's unconscious. Where the hell is Adam?!" Axel asks with urgency in his voice as he kneels down on the ground next to Sammy who is motionless.
The good news is that the rest of the team survived the crash where they jumped at the right moment out of the aircraft. The bad news is, three of their members - Shiva, Estel and Sammy are all currently critically ill plus Adam is missing and nowhere to be seen.
"We have to move them somewhere else that's safe. We're leaving ourselves vulnerable out in the open" Max insists.
"Do you want me to scan the rest of the area? Maybe there's a shelter nearby or somewhere with medical supplies" Cherry suggests.
"No! We have to stick together, especially now that it's getting dark. We'll keep moving," Axel answers the two of them.
"I got him, it's ok…" Max nods whilst he carefully lifts Sammy off the ground, keeping him warm with any jackets or clothing they have left to use.
Floyd is next to carefully lift Estel off the ground. She has suffered an injury to the back of her head from fallen debris and is also drifting in and out of consciousness.
"Count to three… ready?" Axel advises, glancing down at Shiva who is sitting with his back against a tree.
He starts. "One…. AAAAH!" The fighter shrieks in agony as Axel snaps his shoulder back in place. "You're on the mend now bro, just keep the pressure on that other wound by the side of your head. Once we find a place to rest, we can get that cleaned up next."
"Easier said than done…" Shiva catches his breath back, placing his good arm around Axel's shoulder to help him up to walk.
"Fuck…it's them!" Just as Floyd steps forward, he spots several lights in the distance flashing towards them accompanied with the sound of revving motorbikes.
"Hide the wounded over there by those trees, the rest of us will distract them." Axel orders. He carefully helps Shiva down onto the ground next to Estel and Sammy who are still lying on their backs unconscious.
"I'll use my chi to protect them if our enemies see us… Go!" Shiva nods.
Now without half of their team able to fight, Axel, Cherry, Floyd and Max stand side by side waiting for the gang of bikers who are approaching them with speed and aggression.
Sugar grins as soon as she and her crew step off of their motorbikes. "Well isn't this a nice surprise!" The short, stocky female carefully observes every detail of her four enemies, eyeing them up and down from head to toe.
"Yo Caramel? Didn't you say that 8 of them got on that flight?" She shouts at her colleague.
"That's right! It appears as if we have a problem since their bodies were not present at the wreckage site..." Caramel shrugs.
Sugar, who is the leader of the gang, clicks her fingers. "Honey! Go and find the others!" Suddenly, the array of motorbikes parked behind them explode in the air after Floyd fires a purple Rakushin Lazer towards them.
"Theres more where that came from if you step any closer!" He warns.
"Well, if that's how you wanna play…" Sugar raises her eyebrows for a moment at him. Unexpectedly, she then dashes forward with speed and energy towards him. She manages to knock down the Maori fighter who is double her size in height and weight, instantly catching him off guard. The other bikers immediately follow her attack as they bolt forward towards the rest of the group.
"Check it out! They've even got a little girl fighting for them!" Caramel laughs with amusement as she swings her first forward to hit Cherry.
Cherry can't help but snarl at her when she retaliates by hitting the biker over the skull using the heavier side of her guitar. "Not so little now, am I Bitch?"
The four of them fight eleven more female bikers who give it their all, attacking with bats, poles, snooker cues, umbrellas as well as anything else they have picked up on the ground from the plane wreckage site.
What should be a relatively easy brawl for them has unfortunately turned out more difficult than normal due to the exhaustion and injury that the fighters have endured after the crash.
"Don't let your guard down!" Axel says to Cherry as he blocks a swinging spiked bat with his arm from hitting the back of her head. His arm begins to heavily bleed as she runs forward, leaping in the air before executing a flying kick to Sugar's face. The bat immediately falls out of Sugar's hand then Cherry pins her down on the ground to repeatedly punch her across the face over and over again.
"She's unconscious now! Stop!" Max urges Cherry. He has to pull back the teenager who is still swinging her fists with anger at Sugar's jaw even though the rest of the fighters are now down.
"Hey! Stop now! You'll kill her!" Max insists.
"Leave me alone!" Cherry aggressively pushes him away. After a brief pause, she finally stands up to her feet, out of breath knowing that any further hits are just not worth it.
The group immediately make their way over towards their injured friends before carefully moving away from the scene together once more.
"Do you think we should stop now?" Floyd asks after having trekked through the woods for a further hour.
"Yeah. I'll get a fire started, we need to keep the wounded as warm as possible." Axel agrees.
They quickly set up their space to sleep for the night, unsure as to who or what lies in close proximity. The air breezing past their cheeks is bitterly cold under the night sky.
"I'll take first watch…" Floyd offers. The rest of the group lie on the ground against clothing, trees, and anything they can find in order to gain some of their energy back.
It is a long night full of strange noises, windchill and unfamiliar surroundings. Any of them are lucky to have even half an hour of sleep at a time.
An hour before dawn and Axel is still lying with his back on the hard earth with his eyes wide open staring up at the stars. Struggling to sleep, he gets up to his feet to check on the wounded, noticing Cherry sitting alone on a log in the distance.
"Go and get some more sleep," Axel says to her.
"But it's my turn to stay on watch, I still have another half hour to go" she frowns.
"It's ok, I'll take over."
"I can't sleep anyway," she huffs.
"I know you're worried, but you understand what your dad is like. He likes to do things on his own terms. One minute he's here, the next he's disappearing. He can look after himself and he will be ok, I promise".
"Yeah, he has a habit of bailing out on us when times get tough!" She sulks.
"You know that's not true!" Axel answers.
"Really? Uncle Sammy could die at any moment now and where is he huh?"
"Anything could have happened to him, don't say that"
"Nah, I saw him get up and walk away from the crash site".
"Maybe he went to get us help…"
"What help?! Do you see any help around?!" Cherry snaps.
"Look, I know you're stressed out right now but whatever you think of him, I'm sure he's trying to do the right thing."
"You don't understand. I've grown up year after year with him popping in and outta my life when it's convenient. The thing that matters most to Adam Hunter is upholding the law. Uncle Sammy has been through enough shit over the last few years, as have I, and so has my little brother. While my father was busy playing cops and robbers, we dealt with it all on our own".
"Ok…" Axel quietly nods. "Adam's not perfect but I know how much you, your brother and your Uncle mean to him. You remember that night don't you when you were trapped upstairs with your mom and Chris during the fire?"
"Yeah," Cherry stares down at the ground, still feeling traumatised to this day.
"That night ripped him apart and he never forgave himself, even though it wasn't his fault. And then the day your mom took you and your brother away from him, I'd never seen things get so bad for him in my life. He tried again and again to find you and when he finally did, he wanted to do the right thing by contacting your mom first. But when she went through the courts and moved on, he didn't know what else to do. Your dad used to sit next to me when he came to the wilderness, just like you, sat here right now. Every kind of sad emotion you can think of, he was going through because he missed you and your brother. And you know what he used to say to me?"
"What?" She quietly asks.
"His worst fear was you growing up and hating him because of the mistakes he made. All he wanted to ever do was provide for you and make you happy. I never fully understood what he meant back then, but now I do".
"I never realised he…" she sighs.
"I know Adam ain't perfect, but he'l never abandon you. No matter how moody, how angry, how much of a little brat…"
"Ok, Ok, I get it!" Cherry smiles.
"You sure about that? I mean it's bad enough for me having to be your Godfather, but he's the one suffering the most" he laughs, putting one arm around her shoulder.
"I guess he'll be back then after all…" she smiles, resting her head on his shoulder.
"Nothings gonna change the fact that you're still his little girl, no matter how much you hate it!" Axel laughs.
"Thank you for the pet talk, I needed that" Cherry smiles.
The two of them suddenly become alarmed when they hear footsteps approaching the camp site.
"Wait here…" As Axel stands to his feet, they are relieved when they spot Adam pacing towards them holding onto a heavy backpack.
"Daddy?!" Cherry leaps forward out of her seat feeling astonished and pleasantly surprised.
"Baby girl! I'm so sorry I left like that in a rush. I just saw everybody down on the ground and my first reaction was to go in search of medical supplies. And I found them! Somebody had abandoned this backpack and I think there is enough here to help Sammy and any others wounded. By the time I got back though, y'all were gone so I followed your trail".
Without a reply, Cherry runs forward then tightly wraps her arms around him.
"Good to see you again bro," Axel smiles.
"After sharing a long hug with his daughter, Adam starts to approach the fire where the others are laying on the ground.
"Don't worry, I'll sort this out" Axel nods, taking the backpack from him.
"You sure?" Adam asks.
"Yeah, just take 5 minutes to yourselves. Everyone is gonna be ok…"
"Thanks man," he nods.
"Don't ever run off like that again!" Cherry frowns, staring up at him with concern on her face.
"Did you miss me?" Adam smiles.
"Not much…" she grins, resting her head on his torso with her arms still wrapped around him.
"Of course you missed me" he smirks back. The two of them share a long hug, grateful that they have been reunited together.
"I know that look. It's ok to feel upset or even envious, you miss them too…." Max catches Axel staring back at Adam and Cherry, appearing lost and empty.
"What if I never get to meet my own daughter?…" he shakes his head.
"Hey, don't think like that! We'll do everything we can to bring them back! Leon, Blaze and the baby, they're gonna be ok…"
"I need some help distributing these meds. First let's treat Sammy, then Estel, then Shiva. After I remove the shard stuck in Sammy's side, you'll have to clean the wound at least every 6 hours." Axel quickly changes the subject.
"Ok…" Max nods.
"You remember how to hunt with just a knife right?"
"Yeah, of course!"
"Tell the others there's a deer that way. Dawn is the best time to hunt them. One or two should be enough to keep everyone alive for at least another day. Try and trek higher up towards those mountains over there. You're more likely to find water where…"
"Wait, where are you going?!" Max interrupts.
"I have to find Blaze and Leon. I'm not gonna risk anybody else getting hurt or killed."
"We just need another day or so to recover then most of us will be able to fight again.."
"No! You don't understand what Steffan's capable of and anything could happen to them in a day. I'm doing this alone. By the time the others wake up, I'll be gone."
"But…"
"Don't argue with me!" Axel shakes his head, ending their discussion as he hands over to Max the first pack of bandages.
Five hours earlier.
"Brother! I managed to get more of those supplies you needed!" Ms Y ducks into an enclosed cave by the side of the waves that calmly flow against the beach.
"Thank you sister, but I won't be needing all of this!" The only thing he reaches for is a single painkiller that he quickly swallows. He then throws the backpack outside towards the water.
"Are you able to stand? We need to move before the tide comes in" she asks.
"Yes".
"Wait…" Ms Y halts her brother, then she removes a gauze from her pocket to wipe the side of his head which is still bleeding.
"You're lucky you didn't get swept out to sea brother," she observes.
"You're lucky I had a parachute" he grins.
"What the hell happened up there then?"
"That bastard planted a bomb on the flight. Somehow he knew that Stone, Hunter and the others would get on that flight and attack us. He planned this all along!"
"Steffan has Blaze and the boy. They're slowly taking away their powers. If we don't act fast, we'll lose everything!" Ms Y insists.
"There's one last thing we have that Steffan has no access to, remember?" Mr Y smirks "hey… what happened to your sword? Where is it?" He queries.
"That fucking child stole it from me!" She answers with fury on her face.
"Did a 10 year old really win a fight against you?" Mr Y laughs with his jaw dropped.
"He's powerful. And it's only a matter of time until the boy turns against his parents. And then when everyone else is out of the way, including Steffan, we'll wipe that boy's memory and that arrogance off his face before we take his powers! Everyone who ever betrayed us and our father will suffer the consequences!" She hatefully promises.
"Let's get our fortress back first, for father!" Mr Y stands, offering her his hand.
"For father", she repeats as he helps her up.
Leon quietly stands by the heart monitor that is hooked up to Blaze, observing the tubes and equipment attached to her body. She calmly lies there, still in an unconscious state after 3 hours, lightly breathing through a ventilator.
"I love you mom", he stares down at her with tears in his eyes.
"When do you think she'll wake up?" Leon turns around to ask Steffan, who is sitting on a chair a couple of metres behind him.
"It's hard to tell. After one impact to the head, it's bad enough. But a second time? She fell on the ground pretty hard. We're doing everything we can to keep your mom alive."
"What about Amber?"
"Amber?" Steffan frowns, confused.
"The baby…"
"Oh… I'm sorry. We couldn't save your little sister". He shakes his head, placing one hand on Leon's shoulder. "I'm sorry you had to find out this way. See I know what your father is really like, I've known for a long time. When I found you, my first instinct was to protect you, that's why I wanted to take you away from him. See?" Steffan explains, unbuttoning the first few buttons on his shirt to display the burns Axel left on his chest.
"He turned on me once, now he's turned on your mother".
"Why would he do that though?" Leon frowns.
"He thought that she betrayed him by giving up her powers as well as yours to us. So when he showed up here, he was full of anger. He had no mercy, you saw it on the surveillance for yourself!"
"Where is he now then?" Leon asks.
"We're still trying to find him. He must have escaped the same way Ms Y did. But I can promise you, when we find him, he'll pay for what he's done to them!" Steffan pledges with determination in his eyes. "Come on, it's getting late. You can check up on your mom first thing in the morning, ok?"
"Ok…" Leon quietly replies, biting his tongue.