Chapter 18

Zach POV

We dropped silently from the ceiling where we were concealed by the shadows. We looked like ninjas, so deadly yet so graceful, failing out of the sky. Chaos ensued. A moment of shock crossed the room as Serie Mulana and his guards stood shocked for a second, no less. Then we were hurtled into battle.

It was bloody. It was violent. It was frightening. It was 20 muscly guys who no doubt had way more experience and way more training in the art of killing people with thumbs than us; 20 of them against the 8 of us. It was tough. There were grunts as I felt fists connect with my face, my arms and other unmentionable places. I fought back with everything I had. Everyone did. We fought for us. We fought for Cammie. We fought for Jonathan Ross. We fought. Napotine patches scattered the floor. I watched as around me, muscly men fell, one by one. I had just knocked out a bald dude with a upward knee thrust and a napotine patch when I heard Cammie scream. It wasn't one of fear. It was one of anger. Of rage. I turned to her, her face blazing, her eyes wide. I saw a knife in the man's hand and a long gash along her right thigh. Blood pounded in my ears. I had to get to her. But I didn't need to. I watched as Cammie flipped him to the ground and kneed him angrily. I heard a loud snap before seeing the man groan and fall unconscious. Then I watched as Cammie flung herself up and roundhouse kicked a guy I had no idea was there.

"Zach! Behind you!" Liz's voice shrieked in my ear as I spun around and saw Serie Mulana racing towards me. I saw a flash of silver as a long, sharp knife whistled past my ear, missing me by millimetres. I kicked him and flung him to the ground and slapped a napotine patch to his head. I looked up to see that all the guys were down, knocked unconscious.

"Is everyone ok?" I looked around at my friends. They didn't seem to be hurt too bad, apart from a few scratches and bruises. But then I saw Cammie. She had single-handedly taken out 8 of the 20, almost half. She had a long cut on her thigh and blood all over her black clothes. She looked radiant though, she looked fine. I ran to her side.

"Are you ok? Your leg…" She looked down puzzled, and saw the gash. Her mouth opened into a surprised 'o' and she frowned.

"I don't even remember getting that. It doesn't hurt…" Cammie shrugged it off. But I went and pulled out a long bandage. I wrapped it around her leg, feeling the smoothness of her skin beneath my hands. When I finished, Cammie blushed lightly and whispered a thank you. The others had started to pull the bodies of the unconscious men into a closet at the back of the room. We hurried over to help.

"Uh, guys? This is kind of small…" Nick trailed off as he looked from the men on the ground to the closet. The girls laughed.

"Don't worry, we've got this," Macey announced, flicking back her hair, "we've dealt with a much bigger closet crisis than this, I assure you." Cammie coughed into her hand something that sounded suspiciously like 'Macey's clothes' before grinning at Macey. She was promptly hit on the arm. The dragged the men in and within 10 minutes, there was not a body in sight. We were impressed.

"Okay guys," Cammie looked down at her watch even though I knew she didn't need to, "we've got 45 minutes left until party no. two arrives," we looked at each other silently. Then we smiled.

It was time for this to end.

…

We perched in the ceiling as we stared down at the door, waiting for it to open.

"They're coming guys," Liz's soft voice echoed in my ear, "there are about 20 men, like before and we have deactivated all their panic buttons etc.," she paused, "they look really tough though," she sounded faintly worried.

"They're around 10 seconds from the door guys," Jonas quipped.

"Good luck." And with that, the doors of the building sprang open for the second time that day.