My Secret I Never Knew

A Surrender??

Anthony POV

“I looked around to see everyone having a good time, the atmosphere was warm and inviting even the animals came out to enjoy the party. Suddenly I noticed Nikki standing away from everyone looking around at nothing in particular, she seemed a little off tonight even for Nikki. I looked around for my brother so he could go talk to her since he’s always been closer to her than I have, but I saw him dancing and laughing with two girls so I looked for Neesh and Holly instead. They were by the Dj booth taking selfies and talking with a group of people, I didn’t want to interrupt them either. I took a deep breath and walked over to her.

“Hey Nikki, do you want to dance?” She flinch a little as if she didn’t know I had walked right in front of her 

“Uhm no I’m fine I danced a lot earlier, you can go back to the others and enjoy yourself Ant.”

“Well I can’t enjoy myself if one of my best friends isn’t enjoying herself “ I said and she turned to look me directly in the eyes tilting her head a bit. She took a deep breath then spoke.

“Anthony, I wouldn’t say you consider me to be one of your best friends. This is literally the longest you and I have ever talked without being with the group. Hell even in the group I just get one or two sentences at the most, the first usually being you saying hello and calling me thick in some form. I consider us to be friendly since I know more about you than you do about me.”

“Huh that’s not entirely true, no I’m not as open as everyone else but neither are you. We still hang out even if it is in a group, we’ve shared laughs and life experiences and even if we don’t talk one on one a lot I still know a lot about you.”

“Like what? What’s my favorite color? Favorite food or movie or snack. Better yet, what's my eye color.” She asked as she looked away. I stood shocked that she was right, of course she was. I barely knew her.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, I still consider us as friends, I'm just being an ass. I’m sorry I don’t make it easy for people to get close and sometimes I try to push people away to go in my own bubble for a while. I do it with the girls too at times, so don’t feel bad.”

“You don’t do it to Eric, he seems closer to you then anyone else, even Candice at times.” Suddenly she burst into laughter, she bent over holding her sides and was laughing so hard tears fell.

“I try to push him away more than anyone. The stubborn bastard just pushes back twice as hard until we come to a compromise. He puts in so much effort and work to be my friend and I don’t deserve that.”

“I may not know every detail about you but I know you do deserve friends that fight for you and are there for you. I also know that something is really bothering you because you’re standing over here instead of enjoying it with our friends, so please tell me what it is.”

“I….., I don’t know. Something just feels like uhm something feels wrong. I just can’t explain it but I can feel it.”

“I don’t see any signs of danger and everyone seems to be having fun. The party looks to be dying down though, maybe that’s a good thing in case something were to happen.”

“It’s not time yet, five more minutes at least just five more. I have to stay here and hold on a little bit longer, I have to make it safe. Something feels so wrong Ant, so dark, evil. I can’t explain it but I can feel it, it’s getting stronger.” 

“Nikki what’s..” before I could finish my question my brother walked over and interrupted asking what’s going on causing her to face completely towards the woods of the A.S.

“I’m not sure bro she says she feels something wrong, I don’t see anything and none of the warnings are going off.”

“Hmmm Everything seems to be dying down, maybe we should just go ahead and shut it all down completely. We can all go to the Lees and sleep there tonight, all the parents said it was ok when I asked earlier. Figured we could all use a movie marathon. Does that sound ok Nikki.” She didn’t respond, she just kept looking into the woods. Soon Neesh and Holly walked over to see what was going on.

“Nikki, you ok?” Holly asked but she didn’t move we all just watched her for a few moments before she finally turned around 

“It’s time, it’s safe I did it but we have to go now. I don’t know who all to trust but it’s not safe, something is wrong, evil is present we have to go. Get Candice, we all have to go now. We can take the small children but we have to move quickly. We can't leave them here,” She said, looking at us with piercing eyes.

“Nikki babe everything is fine, no warnings are going off and if something was wrong don’t you think my mother would have said something. You’re just overwhelmed probably.” Neesh said to her with a gentle smile that earned her an eye roll.

“I think we should find Candice and go” Eric said 

“I’ll go find Candice.” Holly said and as she walked away her hands brushed against mine.

“This is ridiculous, everything is fine you guys are overreacting. Clearly Nikki is just having a moment, I mean come on if something were wrong we would know. Hell we would be the first to know thanks to my mom.” Neesh said with irritation in her voice 

“You don’t pay attention to the signs Neesh, you never have. You don’t ever take the time to look around you. Your mom has been gone for hours, she left after I spoke with her earlier. She said she’d be back but I haven’t seen her. People have been slowly leaving but no one that’s left has taken their belongings with them, haven’t you even noticed that. And in the short time Anthony and have been talking three children have been crying unable to find their parents Neesh. I may be broken but I’m not crazy, I know what I feel and even if I can’t explain it I trust it.” Nikki said with tears threatening her eyes, Eric tried to hug her but she shook her head pushing him away telling him to start gathering children to take to the East Cabin since it was the closest. He nodded his head and walked to me whispering “don’t let her out of your sight, just try to protect her like you would Holly.” Then he walked away, how the hell did he know about Holly and me. 

I looked back to the girls and Nikki had started calling children towards her to take into the woods, kids always listened to her with no hesitation. Neesh looked around, I'm assuming looking for her mother when all of a sudden there was an explosion and the ground shook.

“We should’ve left, help who you can then get to the Cabin quickly Anthony. Neesh you go take these kids to the cabin now. Your mother is fine, trust me you’d know if she wasn’t.” Nikki said before running into the crowd of people screaming, s**t that girl moves fast. 

“Neesh go hurry!” I yelled before taking off towards where she ran, I looked around seeing a small child hiding under a table crying. I quickly ran to her picking her up before noticing a black orb heading towards us, I dodged it and it hit a chair causing it to explode. I looked around and saw strangers attacking people with black orbs and some people were trying to find back with their own orbs. I heard Hank but I couldn’t see him so I yelled out to him, “Hank have the animals take the children to the East Cabin in the Sanctuary, if they’re too far from the woods just tell them to take the kids into the safe zones until they can get them to the Cabin safely.” I knew he heard me and I ran towards the dj booth to take cover. Several kids had begun following me as I ran with the young girl still in my hands. I needed to get them to safety but how, I saw my brother fighting two guys in hand to hand combat and I knew he’d be fine so I continued to look around while taking a stance in front of the little ones. I looked to my left to see Holly bleeding standing in a fighting stance as two wolves were stalking the front of her and a third sneaking behind her. “Oh hell no”. I quickly pushed the kids further under the booth and told them to stay there, I left one who looked to be about 14 in charge before running towards Holly.

There was a steak knife on the ground that I quickly grabbed and ran towards her, “HOLLY BEHIND YOU!” I yelled as I tackled one wolf causing it to collide with the other and I stabbed the one closest to me in the eye with the knife, it retreated leaving me with the second wolf. It lounged at me and I side stepped it, grabbing it by the neck and squeezing the life out of it. I ran over to Holly who had taken care of the third wolf and checked her for injuries. Besides minor cuts and bruises she was fine. “There are kids hiding under the Dj booth, get them to the East Cabin as quickly and safely as you can.” I told her before kissing her and placing my forehead on hers. “Holly please be careful.”

“You as well.” As she darted towards the kids I saw a man gathering energy as he watched her, before he could throw the black orb at her I ran tackling him and snapped his neck. When I looked up I saw Candice frozen, s**t, she was just standing there and two hooded women were walking towards her. I started running as fast as I could, she didn’t even notice them, I could tell she was panicking. “CANDICE” I shouted in an attempt to get her to run but she didn’t and the women were about to attack. I was too far away and I wasn’t going to make it. I heard a roar and saw Athena emerging from the trees but she was too far as well. I pushed myself to get to her and I looked at her face as the women threw their orbs at her. She just really closed her damn eyes, s**t at least duck or dodge. 

I was tackled by someone one and we began to fight, rage filled me as my hands sparked and once I had an opening I punched him cutting through the guy's chest like butter, I ripped out his heart and threw it to the side and looked back in the direction of Candice fearing the worst.

“Get on Athena’s back And let her take you to safety.” I heard Nikki say as I got off the ground and started running again, Candice just stood there I’m guessing in shock.

 “CANDICE. GO. NOW!! ahhh, damn that hurt” Nikki groaned in pain but didn’t move, my brother is going to kill me. I grabbed Candice and placed her on Athena, she instantly held on and I told Athena to go before making a small energy shield in front of me and running towards the hooded figures. “Nikki cover me” I yelled running past her and noticing her nod. As I came close I dropped my shield leaping into the arm to tackle them, when all of a sudden they disappeared leaving black mist swirling in their places and me falling to the ground. 

“You ok bro, what happened “ Eric asked helping me up

“They retreated I think we were winning so they ran” I replied with pride

“No, they couldn’t get to Candice so they left. Probably to regroup, we need to go to the East Cabin.” Nikki said walking from behind us but before we could start walking we were engulfed by a purple mist.