Chapter XIII

Time slowed down. One moment, Anna's face was expressing fear because of the unexpected gunshot. In the next, she turned to me and her face screwed up in horror. Her hand shot up and covered her mouth when a scream left her throat. I couldn't register a word she was saying when her mouth started forming them, but I knew it had to do something with me, because her finger was pointing at me. To be more accurate, she was pointing at something in my hand. Well, at something that used to be in my hand.

Excruciating pain shot through my left arm. Finally, I lifted the shaking limb and looked down at my hand where a current of blood was spurting out of a stump that used to be my ring finger. I looked in Anna's eyes, which were filled with terror and worry and hurt, as if it was her who had been shot, before I fell to my knees.

I screamed in agony. The shock, pain and registering the whole thing veiled up inside me and I released it in one single shriek that nearly ripped my throat out. The pain was almost unbearable. It shot up right through my whole arm, the centre of it pulsating in the remaining phalanx. I cradled the hand, not able to let out a single sound anymore, and watched how blood poured out of the wound and soaked the sleeve of my jacket.

Someone pulled me behind the dead body of the stag. Anna's face, which was covered in a mixture of blood and tears, came into my view and only then I registered the words she was yelling at me. "Elsa, give me your hand! We have to stop the bleeding!" She somehow managed to gather her thoughts and tore off a long strip of her shirt and unwrapped her scarf, catching my gaze with her pleading eyes. My mind was slowly drifting away but before I managed to completely pass out, another shot of agonizing pain consumed my hand. "I'm sorry," she said and then another ear piercing scream left my throat as Anna pressed the piece of cloth to the stump and started wrapping it around my hand to stop the bleeding.

"Aaargh, please, A–Anna, it h–hurts," I sobbed and tried to pull my hand out of her grip which remained strong.

"I know, honey, I'm sorry, but I have to do it," she cried and kept wrapping the scarf around my hand. Her hands were shaking as well as her voice. "Here, we're a–a–almost done." With one last tug at a knot she pressed the injured limb against my body. "H–hold it s–still," she commanded with a shaky voice. I only nodded and focused on my breathing which was rapid and shallow. Then she used the long piece of her shirt to tie it around my body and immobilize my hand. "I'm done," she stated. "Now comes the hardest part. We have to move."

I didn't have enough energy for that. I couldn't move. Even if I managed to stand up, I wouldn't be able to control my body and see through dizziness and blurry eyes.

"I–I can't, Anna," I cried.

"Elsa, baby, please, we have to get out of here! Whoever's shooting is still here!" She was right. The sound of gunshots and yells reached my ears, but I still couldn't make myself move. Tears were running down Anna's cheeks when she tried to lift me, but my body was numb due to pain and the loss of blood. "The sun is setting, we have to go now!"

If we didn't get to the cars soon, we'd be left behind. Flynn made it clear they would wait for no one. I knew I couldn't make it. Pain and exhaustion were becoming too much. But I wanted Anna to be safe and that town was safe. So I was left with only one choice.

"Go, Anna," I said. "Leave me here."

For a moment she didn't say anything, she just stared at me with utter disbelief on her face.

"No," she said simply. "You can't let one damn finger beat you up like this. This isn't like you, you are a fighter, Elsa," Then she crawled to the right side of my body, peeked over the body of the stag, grabbed my uninjured arm, wrapped it around her neck and stood up, pulling me with her with a groan. With her free hand she pulled my gun out of the holster and started walking towards the forest. I felt dizzy and the pain didn't help but somehow I found enough energy to move my legs. "There you go, we can do it, you're gonna be alright," she said when we reached the first line of trees. I could hear gunshots echoing through the woods and I hoped we'd find the way back without having to fight.

With adrenaline running through my veins and Anna's unyielding determination, I found more strength to walk without the redhead's support which helped us move faster. "Where's Flynn?" whispered Anna.

"I don't know, he was right behind me whe–"

"Elsa, Anna, run!" Speak of the devil. "They're coming!" yelled Flynn who came running after us. I noticed his clothes were soaked with blood. I hope it wasn't his.

"Who's coming?" asked Anna, lifting the gun.

"Hans' men! They've got Peter and Mark is dead!" He stopped and his eyes fell on my wrapped up hand. "You're hurt," he stated the obvious.

"Don't worry, I can handle this," I said, trying to sound convincing.

"What do you mean Hans' men? You said he doesn't know where we hunt!" Anna exclaimed.

"He doesn't! Well, didn't, they must have followed us or something," he said. Anger was evident on his face. "Anyway, we don't have time for this now, we have to run and get away from here."

When he was about to start running, Anna grabbed his forearm and stopped him. "What about Peter?" she asked. "We can't just leave him here!"

"Anna, we have no other choice! There are too many of them and I don't even know where Baker and the rest of his group are!" I could hear the hurt in his voice. It was obvious it wasn't an easy decision for him to make. "Look, Peter knows we have no other option. He wouldn't want us to get hurt or killed." Then he looked at me and glanced down at my hand. "And Elsa needs help, she's losing blood."

With that Anna only nodded and we started running towards our cars. We didn't get far before we heard shouts echoing through the forest. Flynn cursed silently and Anna's body stiffened as we stopped abruptly. "Get down," instructed Flynn and we all lowered our bodies. The voices were coming closer, I could almost distinguish between the spoken words, but what was more important and worrying was that I couldn't recognize the owners of the voices. Anna looked at me with a worried expression; she too must have come to that conclusion.

She raised her hand and grabbed mine, pulling me slowly towards her. "What are you doing?" I mouthed the question for fear people out there could hear me. Anna just shook her head and pulled me all the way behind her, shielding me with her body. When I was about to argue she just pressed a finger against my lips and shook her head again, lifting a gun and pointing it at my injured hand. Not giving me any room to object she quickly turned around. I couldn't do much to convince her otherwise, so I stayed quiet and tried to ignore the throbbing pain.

"... I don't know, I can't see them."

They were so close now, I could hear what they were saying.

"Fuck, we gotta find them, they can't be far," said the other guy.

Flynn nudged Anna who turned her head towards him. "Can you see them?" he whispered.

"No," she replied.

"Stay here. I have to see how many of them there are ." He leaned his rifle against the tree and pulled out his gun. Then he moved slowly, close to the ground and almost soundless.

"Do you think she's alive? The blonde girl?"

"I don't know. Hans will have our heads if she's dead."

Me and Anna exchanged glances, our faces reflecting worry.

"Shit. She better be alive. That fucking idiot got what he deserved."

"Yeah. He blew up the whole operation. How are we supposed to get them alive now?"

"I've no fucking idea. We should leave it to Paul."

"We're screwed," Flynn's voice reached me and almost caught me by surprise.

"Why? What's wrong?" I asked.

"As far as I know, there are six of them. I couldn't see Peter and since I know Mark is dead," he said through his gritted teeth, rage evident on his face, "I can say for sure we are probably outnumbered even if Baker's team is still alive."

"Shit. What do we do now?" asked Anna and as if the sky heard her question, drops of rain began to fall. We all looked at the one that landed on Anna's knee and Flynn smiled at the offered answer.

"We wait and hope it starts pouring," he said.

And it did. In less than five minutes, the sky started weeping fat and numerous tears and the noise they made with their landing gave us a perfect cover to continue our way soundlessly. Even though we were soaked to our bones I couldn't have cared less. The only problem was that we couldn't hear them as well, so we had to pay attention to our surroundings. Nevertheless, we were progressing quickly and that was all that mattered.

"We're almost there," said Flynn, relief colouring his features. I turned my head to catch Anna's gaze who smiled encouragingly back at me.

"We're gonna fix you up, Elsa," she said, wiping the rain from her face.

"We sure gonna do that."

I stopped. Anna and Flynn stopped. My heart froze. The sound of rain hitting the ground and branches filled my ears and for a moment that was the only thing I could hear.

We were surrounded.

A man in front of Flynn chuckled. "Long time no see, huh?" Paul.

"Drop your weapons," growled a man standing next to Paul. Five of Hans' men pointed their guns and rifles at us until Flynn looked at Anna and slowly nodded. They both dropped their weapons and raised their arms above their heads.

"Leave us alone. We haven't crossed any boundaries. This is no-man's land," said Flynn, his voice cold.

"You fucking liar," spit Paul. "You know exactly which boundaries you've crossed."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Paul chuckled again, sarcasm dripping from his tone. "Do you think we don't know it was your group who helped our prisoners to escape?"

"It. Wasn't. Us." Flynn made sure to emphasise every single word.

"Right and I'm a helicopter," he laughed out loud and his comrades laughed along with him. "You can lie all you want but you're still coming with us. An eye for an eye and if I remember correctly," Paul eyed Anna and me, his gaze stopping for a moment on my injured hand, "Hans's got some unfinished business with these two."

Anger was slowly boiling inside of me. I didn't come this far for these men to take us again. I was sick of this constant fear and pain. I wanted it to end.

"How can you be so sure it wasn't someone else who released your prisoners, huh?" Flynn asked. "How can you be so sure it wasn't your own people who helped them escape? As far as I know, dictatorial military societies don't last long. They're bound to collapse at some point because there always comes to an uprising."

"Is that so, pretty boy? The only thing collapsing you'll be seeing is yourself when I cut your gut out," spat Paul. "Tie them up and let's get out of here."

"What about her?" One of the men asked and pointed to me.

"Just stay close to her. The left hand is useless anyway," answered Paul and the man grabbed my arm. I tried to yank his arm away, but his grip became even tighter. "Oh, and by the way, since you've mentioned a collapse of the ... system," he air quoted the last word, "Are you sure your system isn't already failing?"

"What do you mean?" asked Flynn, confusion displayed on his face.

"It appears that there's a snitch in your ranks." Paul's face was smug and that terrified the hell out of me. He took his HT and spoke into it, "Bring him in."

Anna, Flynn, and I were all confused by now, not knowing what he was talking about. Who he was talking about.

Something or someone was making their way through the bushes, not even trying to conceal the noise they made. It didn't take long before they came into plain sight and what I saw filled my heart with dread.

"Peter, I'm glad you joined us!" exclaimed Paul when the seventh member of Paul's party dragged Peter out, beaten and covered in blood, by his arm.

"Peter, what's going on?" asked Flynn, confusion unexplained situation slowly settling on his face. Anna's eyebrows were knitted together when she looked at me, both confusion and fear displayed in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Flynn," said Peter through tears, which were slowly rolling down his face and leaving thin trails through mud and blood behind them.

"C'mon Peter, don't be shy. Tell your friends," Paul emphasised the last word, "What's going on," he quipped, obviously enjoying the whole situation.

Peter only shook his head and with that he earned a punch into his stomach. He doubled over and fell on his knees. Flynn jumping towards the boy, but one of the men grabbed him before he could reach his friend.

"Stop whining kid," spat Paul at Peter and then turned back to Flynn. "Your darling, Peter, has been spying for us."

I'm sorry, I just realised I've posted the wrong file which wasn't beta-read. Sorry.