Hey all readers. I think it's obvious that the names of the Bladebreakers in this story are not mine. However, Sam Coredori and her bitbeast Drazema. Along with the team the Carnivora Catz and their bitbeasts are all mine so please don't take them without my position. Thanks bb4564
Chapter 16 – On The Run!
"So where did you learn to blade like that?" Max asked as he took another slice of pizza, watching the cheese stretch as he pulled it up. It was eight o'clock at night and Max and Sam were alone in Max's room, sitting on the floor and sharing a pizza after their hard day of practice. Ray had gone to get a movie with Tyson and Kenny, whilst Kai…well, no one really knew where Kai had gone.
Sam now was looking at Max as if trying to decide what she was going to say. "You really want to know?" she asked. Max nodded eagerly, leaning forward a little. "If you don't mind telling me," he replied cheerfully. Sam sighed. "I guess you would have found out sooner or later." She smiled warmly at him. "Besides, I think you've earned my trust." Max smiled happily and took another bite of his pizza.
Sam leant her back against the wall and looked up at the ceiling. "When my parents died in a car accident, I went to live with my grandfather," she said after a while, "I was only three at the time. I had been in the car too but my mother had saved my by leaning over me when the cars hit. That way the flying glass got her, and not me. If it hadn't been for her I would have died too. Sometimes I wish I had but…" she paused and smiled sheepishly at Max, "but that's probably more then you needed to know. Anyway, my grandfather taught me to blade when I was five, to help me relent my emotions into that. I soon learnt that it was my emotions that controlled my blade and when I turned six, a man came to our house and saw me blading. He asked me if I'd like to go with him and learn to blade professionally. My grandfather told me this man was the best blader around and could teach me more then I would ever learn from him, so I agreed. I was taken to a training facility and taught to blade. It was a lot of hard work…more then I think was necessary. But here I am, the top female blader in Hong Kong."
Sam took a bite of he pizza and looked at Max who tilted his head to one side. "What training facility was it?" he asked. Sam swallowed her pizza and looked at the ground. This was one question she didn't want to have to answer. Still, she had taken Max into her confidence and she wasn't going to stop now. "It was a long time ago," she murmured, "you've probably never heard of it before." Sam paused, realising she was beating around the bush. Taking a deep breath she concluded: "I think it was called Bivolt."
Max looked up at her in surprise. "You mean Voltaire's training facility!?" Sam winced at the mention of Voltaire's name. "You know Voltaire?" she asked, trying to keep the anxiety from her voice. Max nodded. "Of course. He's Kai's Grandfather."
"He is?!" Sam yelled in shock, before regaining her composure. "You ok?" Max asked worriedly, surprised by her reaction. Sam nodded. "Yeah," she said shakily, rising from the floor, "but you know what Max, it's getting late and I'm really tired. So I'm just going to go to bed. See ya." With that she walked quickly out of the room, Max's eyes following her out.
Meanwhile a thousand thoughts were running through Sam's head. 'Voltaire's Kai's Grandfather!!! I can't believe it! But of course. No wonder Kai dislikes me so much! He was probably sent by his Grandfather to watch me. Maybe even take me back to Bivolt if he can. Well I'm not going to give him the chance!' With this thought in mind, Sam ran into her room, grabbed her jumper and pulled on her joggers. She then grabbed her overnight pack, stuffed it with the bare necessities and ran to the door.
She was just about to open it when a thought crossed her mind. If she went through the lobby Kai could possibly see her. No. She had to get out some other way. Running to the window she pulled it open and looked outside. Just as she thought. Every room had a fire exit built onto the back of the room. Pulling her gloves from her pocket, she pulled them on, pulled the hood of her jumper up over her head and climbed out.
Running down the stairs of the fire escape, she skipped the last row of steps and just jumped straight down, landing with a thud in the snowy ground. Getting to her feet, she brushed the snow off her pants and ran. She headed for the main street, which was still busy. She was in such a hurry to get away she didn't notice the people staring at her as she ran past, or the black car, which followed after her.
Max watched Sam go then blinked with confusion. "That was very strange… " he murmured. "What's up with Sam?" A voice asked from a doorway. Max looked up in surprise to see Kai standing there. "Huh?" he asked. Kai looked at him steadily. "I just saw Sam tearing down the hall and into her room. What's up with her?" Max shook his head. "That's what I can't figure out." Max replied. "We were talking about Bivolt and– " Kai cut him off.
"Why were you two talking about Bivolt?" He demanded. Max blinked. "Sam went there when she was little. When I told her it was your grandfather who owned it, she went all weird. She said something about being tired and left the room." Kai nodded and left the room, leaving an even more confused Max behind.
'So Sam went to Bivolt.' He thought, 'that means my Grandfather is involved.' He unlocked his room and went in, only to find the room empty. 'Strange. I didn't notice Sam come out.' It was then that he noticed the window opened. Running to it, he looked down in time to see someone in a hooded blue jacket, whom he guessed was Sam, running down the street, he could only just make her out in the darkness. He also was in time to see a boy clothed in black run to an awaiting car, say something to the driver before he chased after her, followed closely by the black car.
Cursing under his breath, Kai grabbed his black jacket, pulled up the hood, grabbed his gloves and left the room in the same manner as Sam. Reaching the ground, he ran in the same direction Sam had, and saw her disappearing into the crowd. 'Perfect,' Kai thought, 'the crowd will slow her down.' He then cut a right and ran down an alley, unaffected by the gloom, before turning left and running down another alley, which ran parallel with the main street. 'Sam may have gotten a head start, but I know these streets better then she does. I have my time in Bivolt to thank for that.' He glanced to his left and saw Sam running past, suddenly illuminated by the light of one of the lanterns out the front of a shop. 'Got ya!' He increased his speed and turned up the next alley.
Stopping at the edge, he glanced over his shoulder and saw Sam heading towards him, her head down. This probably meant that she hadn't seen the two men chasing after her. Kai watched her draw closer, then the moment she drew level with him, he grabbed her arm and pulled her into the alley. She gasped in surprise but he didn't give her a chance to react. Tightening his grip he pulled her after him as he ran down the maze of alleys, Sam soon recovered and started to struggle but Kai refused to release her.
He could hear feet running after him, and obviously Sam could too as she stopped struggling and ran along with him. Kai was now able to pick up the pace and as he ran he racked his brain for where they could go. Suddenly he had an idea. Taking a sharp right he made a quick left then another right and finally a left. Then he saw it. An old building, tucked away behind a high brick fence. Leaning against the fence however, was a large rubbing dump, with a few boxes beside it. Without missing a beat, he released Sam's hand, leapt from the box to the bin and finally up onto the wall. Sam was directly behind him and, reaching down a hand, he helped pull her up over the fence before dropping to the ground, their landing softened by the snow.
Both he and Sam were breathing heavy. He heard her open her mouth to speak, but at that moment the sound of running feet caught Kai's ears. Without thinking, he pulled Sam down against the wall his hand over her mouth and his body covering hers. This way, if anyone were to look over the wall, they would be obscured from view, Kai's jacket blending in to the darkness.
To his great relief Sam didn't make any sound of protest and in a few moments the men approached the wall and stopped panting. "Damn! She got away! He ain't going to be happy about this!"
"Yeah well, it's not our fault, we would have got her if it hadn't been for that other kid showing up. Damn that kid was fast."
"He won't accept excuses! We are in deep trouble. Come on. We better go report this."
"Hang on, what's your hurry? Maybe they're hiding out around here somewhere."
"I doubt it, but have a look if it suits ya."
"I will. You go check down that alley and I'll check behind this wall."
Kai felt Sam tense beneath him, but remained perfectly still as he heard and felt the thumping of feet against the wall beside him. There were a few grunts then silence as whoever it was looked over the top of the wall. Kai prayed whoever was up there wouldn't jump down. A second later there was a thump on the other side of the wall and Kai could have breathed with relief. "Nothing," Said a voice in disgust. "Not even footprints in the snow. They definitely didn't go that way. How'd you go?"
"Nothing," another voice said, "They're long gone. Let's head back. We are in deep trouble!"
Kai waited for a minute before he heard footsteps receding then waited another couple of minutes just to be sure. When all stayed quiet, he carefully got to his feet and reaching up, pulled himself up just high enough to look over the wall. To his relief the alley was empty.
Letting out his breath he jumped back down and looked down at Sam. She was leaning against the wall, breathing heavily. She pulled her hood back with shaking hands and let out an even shakier breath. "That was too close." She looked up at him, but his face was hidden in shadow. "Thanks." Kai made a grunt of recognition before sitting down beside her. "So you went to Bivolt huh?" Sam stiffened.
"How…how did you know that?" Kai smiled and removed his hood. It took a moment for Sam to make him out in the darkness, but the full moon suddenly appeared out from a cloud illuminating his face. Sam immediately jumped to her feet, her voice shaking. "You!? You're here to take me back aren't you? I won't go back Kai! I mean it!" Kai got to his feet but Sam took a step back and pulled out her blade. Kai thought she was going to shot it at him but instead she put it to her wrists. "I'd rather die before going back!" she said angrily, drawing a thin layer of blood to prove it.
Kai held up his hands in surrender as he took a slow step forward. "I'm not going to take you back Sam. If I was, why would I save you from those guys?" He thought this reasoning would get her to relax but instead she just stepped back further. "So that you can get all the glory for yourself!" she spat. "But I won't go Kai! I almost died there from the – " at that moment her leg bumped against a tree stump and she became distracted. Kai took the opportunity and running forward, he grabbed the hand which held her blade and pulled it away from her wrist. Unfortunately, his momentum caused Sam to trip over the root of the tree and she fell backwards onto her back, Kai landing on top of her.
Placing a knee on either side of her, he pinned her hands by her side and rested his weight on her stomach. Sam struggled, trying to free herself. "No! Let me go Kai! I won't let it happen to me again. I won't!" Kai could hear the fear in her voice and her eyes were flashing with anger and tears. "Calm down!" he ordered, the tone in his voice causing Sam to stop instantly. "I am NOT taking you back to Bivolt, ok?" Sam shuddered with fright but managed to nod. "Ok. Now just calm down." With these words he rolled off her and sat in the snow. Sam sat up slowly and took a shuddery breath.
"Now," Kai said, holding her blade in his hand. "What exactly is it that you won't let happen?" Sam looked at him and it was then that Kai noticed just how scared she was. Even with just the moonlight, Kai could see she was completely pale, her lips were trembling and her whole body shook. She looked like a child standing before a monster. Kai looked her straight in the eye. "Sam," he said solemnly, "what are you so afraid of?" Sam looked at him for a moment before looking away. "You wouldn't understand," she whispered.
"Try me." Sam looked back up at him and swallowed. All the memories of the past were returning and she could do nothing to stop them. Closing her eyes she tried to shut out everything but it seemed the world was closing in on her. "Sam?" Kai asked again, "what happened to you at Bivolt?" Sam opened her eyes and looked at Kai.
The fear in her eyes was gone and in its place was pure hatred. She looked him dead in the eye. "Things you can't even imagine," she replied, her voice hard. Then looking down at the snow, she allowed the memories to overcome her and she started to tell the story that had changed her life.