Haven's Army

Chapter 12

There were too many. They were closing in. We couldn't do anything. We would die here.

Just as the enemy had sized us up and was about to engage, I heard yelling from all around us. Angels landed in, standing between the enemy and us. One landed in front of me, a woman.

"Leave this to us," she said over the noise. "It's our turn to fight for you." All the Angels threw their masks into the air in protest. The expressionless masks clattered to the ground, the noise swallowed up by another warriors' cry. Louis looked furious.

They could never win against the best of the best. But all of us combined may have had a chance. The two lines engaged. I was going to run forward when the woman in front of me stopped me again.

"Don't move, Ms. Charlotte," she said. "We can't risk the special ones dying."

"But I can help!" I yelled back.

She turned to me, a fierce fire burning in her brown eyes. A sense of purpose.

"No," she said solidly. "Keep the others back as well. Protect the healers and the young ones." She glanced to Fern.

I took a deep breath, then nodded. She smirked and went off to fight.

I felt so useless. I was itching to get out there and help. Nathan and Kathryn, who were helping me stand protectively over Fern, looked like they were feeling the same way.

"Do your thing!" Andrew yelled to us. "All the special ones are present!"

I started to panic. It wasn't that easy.

That's when I heard a scream behind me. I whipped my head around. Fern was trying to scramble away but Katie was holding her back. I looked to where Fern was trying to go. It was her two sisters, one hunched over the other, who was lying on the ground, motionless. James was trying furiously to heal her but it didn't seem to be working.

I looked at Louis, slowly retreating, a mad grin plastered on his chiseled face. He did this. He did all this. Everything. The death around me. Percy and Laura. Peter and Julia. Nathaniel.

My consciousness snapped and the world went dark.

•    •    •    •    •    •    •    •    •    •    •

When I awoke with a familiar pain behind my eyes, there wasn't as much carnage around me as I had assumed there would be. Sure, Elites and Buccaneers lay dead around me, but not nearly as many as there had been attacking us. I looked around at the special ones waking up one at a time and moaning because of the soreness. Angels were guarding us around the edge of the pillar. There was no sign of Louis or the rest of our army.

"Where is everyone?" I asked a nearby Angel.

"The civilians were evacuated to the residential area, out of harm's way. The Elites and Buccaneers fled with Louis. The rest of your army is pursuing them as we speak."

"Thank you," I said.

He looked like he didn't know what to do with the thanks, so he saluted.

"No need, soldier," I said. "Just make sure the others are safe. I'll be going with them."

"But you must rest."

"There's no time for rest," Nathan said from beside me, then held out a hand to help me up. I took it. "We need to finish this. Now."

Nathan and I took off, jumping straight off the side of the pillar, the ground rushing up at us quickly. We slowed our descent. I landed a little roughly, but then we were both off running.