"Stop."
After hiking through the thick woods for about an hour, Ethen grabbed my upper arm, forcing me to a stop. According to him, everybody was taking sanctuary a couple miles ahead, preparing for the war. I looked over my shoulder, hearing Temp's heavy breathing - in his hands, he was gripping his gun, one similar to the one he had used when he worked at the facility. His eyes met mine, his solemn brows knitting together, and he gave me a silent nod. It was his way of telling me that he still had my back. Ethen noticed this silent interaction between us and looked away with a frown.
I squinted through the trees. "Why are we stopping?"
Ethen pressed a finger against his lips, signalling to remain silent, then pointed to his ear. I heard the choppers before I saw them - they were two black dots against the blue sky. I hadn't realized we were spotted until they circled back around, aiming at us through the branches. "Run!" In seconds, the three of us took off through the trees, leaping over treacherous roots sticking out of the ground and large branches that had fallen. Ethen, being inhumanly faster than us, slowed down and grabbed my hand, pulling me along with him.
My fingers locked between his, the warmth of our hands calming me.
I listened to the firing of bullets, but all of them missed me. I whipped my head around, relieved to see Temp sticking close, even firing a couple rounds back at the helicopters. Since running was never one of my strong suits, I started slowing down, heaving. Ethen tugged me closer encouragingly while Temp stuck right on my heels, but I found myself becoming tired, even with the adrenaline pumping through me.
The choppers thundered above and the thin branches whipped side-to-side, their leaves swirling to the ground in the chaos. Ethen squeezed my hand, shouting for me to speed up, but I couldn't hear him, not over the blades of the choppers and the firing of bullets. I watched his lips move as he spoke to me frantically and I remembered how my lips felt against his. I wasn't sure why I was thinking about that at the moment, maybe it was one of those 'last thoughts before possible death things'.
When we arrived at a clearing, Ethen jerked to a stop, thankfully. I started catching my breath when he lifted a hand, his emerald eyes narrowed. With a flick of his wrist, I watched as one of the choppers suddenly started falling sideways, before crashing into the trees a mile ahead. I heard the explosion and the ground trembled beneath us. In rage and fear, the other chopper began firing at us, mostly at Ethen, without holding back. Ethen quickly nudged me behind him, before lifting both arms.
Temp's jaw dropped in disbelief as all of the bullets stopped merely inches from our bodies, floating. He even reached out and touched the tip of one in fascination. I wasn't as shocked as him; I knew what Ethen was capable of. Then, the bullets all slowly turned around - then, shot off back to the helicopter. In a matter of minutes, the final helicopter crashed, the explosion just as loud and terrifying as the first one.
Ethen whirled around, assessing me. "Hey, are you hurt? Thea?"
"I'm fine."
Temp stepped forward. "Want to explain to me why there are choppers out here?"
"They must have located them," Ethen muttered, shaking his head. "Hopefully, the explosions warned everybody and they're evacuating. We need to turn around - we can't go there now. My brothers will notify me soon."
"We don't have anywhere else to go," Temp said, irritated. "Nowhere safe. Those choppers almost smoked our asses." I watched as he fumbled with his gun for a second, before adding, "And, I'm almost out of ammo."
I sighed. "What are we going to do?" Ethen closed his eyes, a frown forming on his face. Judging by his expression, he wasn't happy; he was confused and upset. Temp looked at me in question and I shrugged my shoulders, stepping forward. Hesitantly, I placed my hand on Ethen's shoulder, finding the right words. "It's going to be okay. We'll find somewhere to go and -"
