Jake could sense it, the fact I couldn't hold on to this state of mind for long. He could sense me losing my focus and he went in for the kill. He swung his sword at me neck, forcing me to block his attack or lose my head, then followed through by trying to sweep my feet out from under me. I saw it coming by the way he adjusted his balance and started to lower his body and prepared, jumping over it and twisting my blade to force his out of the deadlock we had put them in. He hadn't expected it and was still regaining his balance as I pushed the attack, taking a stab at his chest, then at the last minute, when I was sure it would miss his chest, slashed it upwards and cut his shoulder. Crimson began to leak out onto the shirt as the cut began to bleed, not a deep one, but one that would require stitches anyway.
He looked at the wound then back at me, shock and anger apparent on his face. He lunged at me, blade forward, no slashing movement, just a straight lunge as he tried to plunge the sword into me. I spread my wings a little and waited for the right moment. As soon as it came I jumped, using my wings to give me an extra boost and somersaulted over Jake's head and landed behind him. I turned to face him as he bought another attack around to bear. I avoided it, but only just, a sharp sting on my arm told me that it had pierced the skin. We were both even now; our main arms were both injured. I had to end this quickly, the longer I fought Jake, the more Laura bled to death. I switched my sword to my other hand, a move Jake hadn't expected. One thing I had kept from my family was the fact I was ambidextrous. The sword moulded to fit my right hand as me left summoned a lighter, more efficient sword for my wounded arm.
I didn't wait for the shock to wear off, but went for the attack again. I lunged at Jake, the larger sword going in for the attack, the smaller one held back for later use if needed. Jake blocked the first sword as I expected. I had manoeuvred the sword so I could flick his out of his hand and did so, seeing the shock as he saw his sword fly away and I bought the other one around to bear and stopped it bare millimetres from his neck. No matter how hard I could try, I couldn't kill my brother. He was the only thing I had left from my past.
"Why won't you kill me?" Jake asked, "Your girlfriend is dying, bleeding to death as you stand here. I'm going to love watching the life leave her eyes as you stand here deciding on whether to kill me or not. The best part of a hunt, I find, is the part where you catch your prey and kill it."
"Being an Eraser sure has given you a twisted and cruel outlook on life, Jake," I replied, "But no matter what you say to bait me… I can't kill my own brother."
I turned away from him, started heading back towards the others, wanting to see if Laura was still alive. The looks of shock on their faces registered a moment before my foresight and I saw the blade flying from behind me, aimed at my heart. I turned sideways to avoid the blade and found my body automatically responding to the attack, a throwing knife already leaving my hand and entering Jake chest. I saw the look of shock on his face as it entered, saw the recognition return to his eyes as he remembered a moment before he death, as everything flashed before his eyes. I ran up and caught him in my arms as he fell and held him. I felt the tears on his face as cried, his body shaking as it slowly died on him.
"I'm sorry Nathan," Jake replied, "I never meant for any of this to happen. Please forgive me, would you? Please?"
Jake closed his eyes for the final time, before he could even hear my response. I held onto his body, feeling the warmth leave him as his heart stopped beating and the blood began to cool. I felt wetness on my cheeks and realized I had begun to cry. I placed Jake on the ground, arranging his hands on his chest, preparing him for death and knelt over him.
"I forgive you Jake," I replied, "Although I should be the one asking for forgiveness. I never meant to hurt you, never meant to kill you. It wasn't supposed to end like this. Jake… I'm sorry."
My tears began to flow as I cried. I couldn't help it, couldn't stop the flow. I had killed my own brother because they had forced me to, because they had made us enemies and erased his memories. It was because of them I was now here kneeling over my dead brothers body, crying. After a few minutes the numbness set in as the last part of my past slowly went. I was no longer Nathan Corway, not the Nathan Corway who had lived with his brother and sister in their house, the Nathan Corway who went to school and had the girls chasing him. He died in that clearing with his brother. I pulled my ID out of the walled I had in my jean pocket. Somehow I had forgotten it was in there. I threw the ID card onto Jake body and ordered Cass to burn it. I could mourn for him later; I didn't plan on burying two people I cared about tonight.
"Where is the nearest hospital?" I asked Dean, taking Laura from his arms and checking for a pulse. IT was weak, but there was still one there.
"Wait!" He exclaimed, "You don't plan on taking her there do you?"
"Just tell me!" I ordered, "I don't plan on saying goodbye to two people I care about tonight. Now tell me!"
"Fifty miles southwest of here," Dean replied, "Nathan…"
"Hold tight and don't let go," I replied, "I'm not sure if I can do this more than once."
"Wha-?" Cass began, but didn't finish. I felt the swelling of darkness around me, the energy flowing through me. People talked about the speed of light, but there is one thing faster than the speed of light, and that was darkness. I felt it roll around me, felt myself propelled forward at speeds I thought would never exist. I hear Keira call our, but to late as she was left behind. Everything passed by us in a blur until light penetrated the bubble around us. We stood in the emergency department of the hospital, Laura held in my arms bleeding from a sword wound, people around us slowed down and stopped to look at the four winged kids who suddenly appeared in the room.
"Can somebody help us?" I begged, the exhaustion and loss of blood from my arm finally got to me and I collapsed to my knees, "Please… somebody help us…"
Chapter 52
I knelt on the ground, holding my hand over Laura's wound, feeling her heart beat not far from it, beating, but growing weaker and weaker as her blood soaked her shirt and mine, as if flowed out of the wound. I had my hand pressed against it to stop the flow of blood, but all it did was slow the flow. I hoped it would be enough to save her. She looked so pale, her limp form in my arms felt as if it were made of glass and one wrong move and she would shatter, taking with her the pieces of my broken heart. I didn't want to lose her, I couldn't. Ever since she came into my life I had felt complete, but if I should lose her, I would feel hollow and empty.
People were looking at us, no-one was moving to help us, all of them were staring at the kids covered in blood and had wings on their back. I was beginning to feel faint, my head was spinning and the world swam, but I shook my head to clear my vision. I looked down at the cut on my arm, it was much deeper than I thought, and I had lost a bit more blood than I guessed I would have by now. I heard a shout down the corridor and a person raced up to us, a doctor by the name tag on her coat.
"What happened to her?" She asked. I was still too light headed to answer properly, "Hey kid, what happened to her?"
"Sw-sword wound, to the left lung," I managed to reply, "Close to the heart. I think it might have severed an artery."
"What the heck?" The doctor whispered, "On you way to a party or something? How the heck did she get attacked by a sword?"
"I…I can't remember," I lied.
"Well we need to get her out of this angel costume she's wearing," The doctor replied, "It'll make things easier to deal with then."
"It's not a costume," I whispered softly, so only she would hear, "The… the wings are real. Please help us…please."
I expected shock or stunned disbelief from the doctor, but what was more shocking was how she reacted, totally calm about it, as if she had seen it before. The world began to spin again and I found myself shaking then the world went reeling and I fell to the floor, blacking out from the loss of blood.
When I woke, I was in a hospital bed in a private room. Cass and Dean were on seats nearby. I felt a stinging in and realized I had an IV drip attached to a needle in the back of my hand. My arm was bandaged, but red was already showing through the bandages. I looked around the room and found that it was like every other hospital room I had been in during my previous life before I became a winged kid. I then spotted a clock on the wall and saw three hours had passed. I began to struggle out of the bed, pulling the IV drip out of my hand and stood up, only to have the room spin and I collapsed. The noise woke Dean and Cass up and they helped me back onto the bed.
"Laura?" I asked, "Where's Laura?"
"She's still in surgery," Dean replied, "The doctor is taking care of the wound. They managed to stabilize her condition, but they required a blood transfusion. Cass was the only one with the same Blood type as her. Since then we've been waiting for an update as to what is happening."
The door opened and the doctor walked in, pulling a bed in after her. Laura lay on the bed hooked up to a heart monitor and a tube to supply oxygen to help her breathe. There was a bandage around her chest where the wound had been repaired and stitched up. Blood was already apparent on the white bandage. He wings were folded at the most comfortable angle for when we sleep on our backs and I watched her sleep. She had regained some colour from the blood transfusion, but she still looked a bit pale. The nurses left the room and the doctor turned to us. I prepared some explanation, but didn't need to.
"I though I wouldn't have to see any more of your kind," The doctor replied, "but I guess I was wrong. I suppose you have questions that you want me to answer, so how about we settle on a trade. You tell me your story, how you got involved in this mess, and I'll explain how I know about your kind, deal?"
I nodded my head and lay back on the bed as the room began to wobble again. The doctor walked over and reattached the IV drip to my hand.
"It'll pay to keep that in," She said, "At least until you make up for the blood you lost. It wasn't safe to give you human blood, so I just gave you an IV drip to replenish your fluids. Now, explain to me how the heck she ended up in such a sorry state."
I heaved a sigh and looked up at the ceiling, collecting my thoughts before I told her anything. After I had gathered all I needed to, I looked back at her, took a deep breath and told her of everything that had happened from the beginning, starting with the dream…