Simple Secrets || N. Mikaelson

~22~

✧✶⭒☆⭒✶✧

She was running, she didn't know how long she had been running, but she was running. Her bare feet hit the warm earth, the spongey dirt and dead leaves, mixed with twigs. Dress ripped, hair in its natural state filled with leaves and twigs.

How long had it been? Days? Weeks? Months? She didn't know anymore, she didn't know much of anything, besides the fact she had to keep running.

They had never let her out of the tunnels before, she wasn't even sure how she had gotten into the woods. Had she been freed?

Talia couldn't recall, all she knew was that she had to keep running. Her legs burned, her lungs swelling with oxygen. She just had to get to a phone . . . was she even still in New Orleans?

Call . . . Klaus? Marcel? Rebekah? Elijah was probably still daggered, locked away somewhere. Far away. What day was it?

She felt her head begin to pound and realized how dry her tongue was, it felt like a solid mass in her mouth. A mass of sandpaper scraping against the roof of her mouth, swollen behind her teeth like something unnatural.

Find water then civilization. A phone and call Klaus.

Her bare feet hit pavement and she looked down, realizing she had found a road. A road? Had she really escaped? But, the girl knew not to let herself be lulled into such a false sense of security.

She should've followed the road, that's what a normal person would do. But if she did they would follow, it was what was expected of her. No, the Companion had to fight what they planned for her to do. To do the unexpected.

She crossed the road, running down a ditch and moving deeper into the woods. Her head pounded, filled with cotton balls that were soggy and heavy, weighing her body down.

Stumbling, Talia fell to her knees but leaped up again. Just as she did, a crossbow bolt whizzed past her ear and she spun, falling to her stomach and wriggling towards some underbrush.

This was new, they had never done this before.

Her dark eyes peered wild-eyed out and if her mouth was wet, it would go even more dry at the sight of Rebekah. Her friend collapsed to the forest floor a stake sticking out of her back.

Ahead of her, Hayley kept running, far more pregnant than the last time Talia had seen her. The young woman was sprinting through the woods and behind her wolves came out of the trees, killing the mysterious attackers.

Talia followed Hayley, grabbing the girl's arm and whipping her around. Hayley had wild eyes and terror clear across her face, but confusion became apparent at the sight of Talia. "Talia? You're alive? Oh my God, Klaus . . . oh, God." Hayley's dark eyes flooded with tears and she flung her arms around Talia, obviously overwhelmed by fear and the pregnancy hormones.

The Companion stiffened under the sudden physical touch. Physical touch meant pain, that was a fact. At least a fact recently. Hayley released her when she felt her stiffen, her gaze moving past her to the bodies. "My baby, they tried to kill my baby." Her hand flew to her swollen stomach, something flashing in the girl's eyes. Rage.

Talia grabbed Hayley, pulling her back and away and further into the trees. They were still after her. Whoever was after Hayley might still be out there, too. "Come on, we're not safe." The Companion croaked, her voice hoarse from not being used, and began to run, sprinting in fact, away from the bodies and Rebekah and everything.

Phone, she just had to find a phone. Phone meant Klaus. Klaus meant safety.

Seeing Hayley confirmed she was still in New Orleans, that was good. She hadn't gone too far. Her head was pounding, something was wrong.