Chapter Thirteen: No One Left Behind
720 Words
“We’re going back,” I said.
Zara looked at me, rain streaming down her face. For a second I thought she might argue, but she only nodded.
“He would do the same for us.”
We ran back down the crumbling stairs into the tunnel. Dust still floated in the air from the explosion. The wolf inside me was fully awake now, pushing strength into my tired muscles despite the burning pain in my shoulder.
We moved fast but careful, staying close to the walls. Shouts and growls echoed ahead.
When we reached the fight, my blood ran cold.
Max was on his knees in the middle of the tunnel. Blood ran from a cut on his forehead. Lena stood over him, pressing a silver collar against his neck. Two more hunters had arrived and were aiming guns at him.
“Max!” Zara shouted.
Everything exploded into chaos.
I charged forward with a roar that didn’t sound human. The wolf took over just enough. My claws fully extended as I slammed into the nearest hunter, knocking him hard into the wall.
Zara moved like lightning. She leaped onto the second hunter’s back and sank her teeth into his shoulder. He screamed and dropped his weapon.
Lena turned toward me, eyes wide with surprise. “You came back for him? How touching.”
She pressed the silver collar tighter against Max’s neck. He growled in pain as smoke rose from his skin.
“Stop!” I yelled. The glowing veins across my chest and arms flared bright orange.
Lena laughed bitterly. “The Anomaly finally shows his power. The Order will pay me very well for you.”
Max suddenly surged upward with the last of his strength. He headbutted Lena and ripped the collar from her hand. She stumbled back.
I reached them and helped Max to his feet. He was breathing hard, but his silver-gray eyes still burned with fight.
“You should have kept running,” he said roughly.
“Not without you,” I replied.
Zara appeared beside us. She was bleeding from a cut on her arm but standing strong. The three of us faced Lena and the two remaining hunters.
Lena wiped blood from her lip. “You’re all going to die down here. Or worse — you’ll wish you had.”
She raised her hand. A small remote clicked.
Red lights suddenly blinked along the tunnel walls. Explosives.
“Run!” Max shouted.
We sprinted deeper into the tunnel, away from the entrance. Behind us, the first explosion went off. The ground shook violently. Chunks of concrete fell from the ceiling.
Zara grabbed my hand as we ran. Max stayed at the back, pushing us forward.
Another explosion. Closer this time.
The tunnel began to collapse behind us. Dust filled the air, making it hard to breathe. My shoulder screamed with every step, but I kept going.
Up ahead, I saw faint moonlight coming through a broken grate.
“There!” I pointed.
We climbed the old metal ladder as fast as we could. Max came up last, just as another explosion rocked the tunnel. The ladder shook wildly.
We pushed through the grate and tumbled out onto wet grass on the outskirts of the city. The rain felt almost clean after the dusty tunnel.
We lay there for a moment, gasping for air.
Max rolled over and looked at the collapsing tunnel entrance behind us. “Lena… she didn’t make it out.”
None of us spoke. Even though she had betrayed us, the weight of it still hit hard.
Zara sat up slowly. Her golden eyes met mine, then Max’s.
“We’re alive,” she said quietly. “That’s what matters right now.”
I looked north, into the darkness beyond the city lights.
“The safe community… if it’s real, we need to find it,” I said. “We can’t keep fighting like this forever.”
Max stood up, wincing. “Then we head north. Together.”
As we started walking into the night, I felt the wolf inside me settle. Not calm exactly, but… content.
We were no longer three strangers.
We were a pack.
But deep down, I knew the Silver Order would never stop hunting us.
Especially not the Anomaly.
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To be continued…
- Writer
