Elementalists (completed)

Chapter 23

I quickly whirl around on my heels, taking in the scene.

We're surrounded. Somehow the stupid snakes used their pea sized brains to sneak around us, forming a circle and cutting our escape off.

I hear Ignis curse and turn back to Zhen, my arms crossed to and a scowl on my face.

"What do you want you....rat." I snarl, instantly regretting calling him a rat.

A rat?!? Really? Can't I think of anything better!?

Ugh, apparently not!

Zhen's smirk widens, stretching across his ugly face, but for some reason it doesn't go as far as I thought it would be. I take a closer look at him and see he has some burn marks on his face. My eyes travel down him, taking in his injuries. He has a gash in his knee very much like Kin's and burn marks all along his body, all though not as bad as mine used to be. His, however, appear to not have been treated, so they're just as bad as when he first got them. For some reason his clothes are slightly damp, making my angry scowl be replaced with a frown.

He shifts and fidgets when he notices me staring and I glance at him before looking around at the others. They are just as bad if not worse than Zhen and a couple are missing, all their clothes just barely damp. I don't see the ice or metal elementalists. Maybe they're just hiding in the trees, but I have a strong feeling they're not, the sad look in the wind elementalist's eyes and the tears in the earth girl's supporting it.

A scene of what must have happened plays in my head, all my anger gone, replaced with shock and tinted with.....concern? Worry? I don't know.

They must have run as long if not longer than us, Zhen probably Darting ahead. They must not have found somewhere to stay until they reached a river, maybe the very same one they once occupied, and hid in the water, staying there until the fire went away. The two elementalists missing must not have made it.

I look around at my team and see them coming to the same conclusion, their faces sketched with shock.

"Rat, that's all you can come up with?" Zhen sneers, trying to compose himself.

I just shake my head, not feeling angry anymore, but my pity and concern gone too.

How could the leaders have let this happen? That never really happened before, they could have stopped it. The deaths in the rounds before had come fast and unexpected, not leaving the leaders time to save the kids. They even saved a couple if they had enough time, so why didn't they do it this time? Had something unexpected happened?

But what? They were running from a fire, what could have happened so sudden?

I shake these thoughts away and turn back to Zhen, "No. I can come up with many more names, but there are children present." I indicate Neve, who plays with her hair, a trait I recognize she does when she's nervous.

And cue the furious glare from the angry boy in front of me.

"Yeah." Ignis snaps, "Like-"

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Anemos interrupts, leaping forward and covering the angry girl's mouth with his hand. She glares at him with such force he backs away, but she doesn't continue

"Why are you here?" Fotia, who is to the left of Zhen, demands.

I glare at her, my anger back, and open my mouth, but Anemos speaks before I have a chance.

"We thought, since, you know, today's the last day and everything-"

"Wait, today's the last day?!" The water elementalist exclaims in shock.