The Gemini

3. Regroup

Carter Reynolds

Aaliyah's wolf towered over the agents that surrounded her. Everyone scattered in fear, hugging  the walls of the courtyard. The agent behind me shifted in surprise, and I quickly grabbed the gun pressed against the back of my head and pushed him into the wall.

Without thinking, I slammed the hilt of the gun into the agent's head, and he dropped to the ground instantly. I only let myself stare at his body for a second before turning around. He wasn't dead yet, but I didn't trust myself to be near him for another second.

A border of black uniforms circled the wolf, their weapons aimed. The remaining Forbidden huddled away from the chaos, no longer in their Forbidden form. All of their hope was resting on the wolf creating some kind of miracle.

"Come on, Aaliyah." I whispered. "You can do this."

The amber eyes of the wolf met mine, but only for a moment. The wolf bared her teeth at the agents that surrounded her, but they didn't step back. I watched the scene unfold with bated breath.

From the corner of my eye, I could see that the windows along the courtyard were filled with agent spectators, their greedy eyes glued to the wolf. One of the agents was scribbling down notes, not bothering to contain his excitement.

"Fire!" one of the agents yelled. At his command, a torrent of gunshots echoed into the dome as the agents aimed for Aaliyah's wolf. The wolf howled at the sky, the bullets bouncing off of her fur like pebbles.

"Holy crap." Kiara whispered, standing next to me.

"We need to figure out what the heck Aaliyah is." I whispered back.

Aaliyah grabbed a gun from one of the agents with her teeth. The agent held tightly to his weapon, his entire body suspended into the air. The wolf shook her head like a dog trying to dry off. The agent went flying like a child's plaything, and crashed right next to a window. The observers behind the glass didn't even look down at their fallen comrade. They were too entranced by the unfolding spectacle.

Kiara grabbed my hand. "Come on." she instructed. Her eyes were locked on the door, which was still wide open.

Without another word, Kiara and I slowly moved towards the exit. Aaliyah had placed a spell on the mad scientists behind the glass, and two Forbidden attempting to escape weren't about to break their focus. At least, that's what I hoped.

The endless gunshots were deafening, and I had no idea when the ammunition would run out. A stray bullet almost hit Kiara, and she froze in her tracks, her face frozen in shock at how close she had come to injury.

"You're okay." I whispered to Ki, squeezing her hand. Kiara nodded silently.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted an agent turning his firearm away from the wolf.

"No." I muttered.

"Carter!" Kiara screamed as I dashed across the courtyard. I forced my way into the crowd of violent agents, trying to reach him in time.

"Don't!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, the sound lost in the chaos.

I was too late. The bullet soared across the sky, striking Aaliyah's rib. The wolf, which had been impenetrable to the waves of ammunition so far, buckled in pain. I could make out the sound of polite applause from spectators, making my entire body shake with rage.

The agents were watching our suffering like it was TV show, and I couldn't tear my eyes away from them. Everything else was fading into nothingness, and I already knew that my eyes were glowing bright red, ready to kill.