Across the Wildlands (Book One: The Wildlands)

Episode Forty-Five - The Loss of a Friend

Time crawled. Seconds felt like minutes. Vida's body fell to the ground like someone was slowly skipping through a scene on the television.

Before Vida even completely reached the ground, Nyx had sliced Diego's throat open. He dropped to his knees, clutching at his neck as if it would make any difference. The blood spurted from an artery and sprayed across Nyx, who reveled in the massacre with a look of complete ferocity.

Alex froze in place. She held a hand against the Glider. Her vision blurred and her knees wobbled.

Chaos unfolded.

Ace drew his pistol. Gunshots echoed like distant knocks on a door, barely registering in Alex's mind. All she saw was the blood. Metal pinged off metal, but only for a moment, as the sound ceased altogether.

The silence that followed was almost as nauseating as the sound of gunfire.

Alex drew her eyes from the twisted rage on Nyx's mouth, across the seeping red on the floor and bullet-ridden bodies, to the wide-eyes of Ace. He shakily lowered his pistol, disbelief painting his face just as clearly as everyone else's.

A bated breath allowed air in her lungs again, and Alex looked to see Cicero and Edric lowering their own weapons. Rollo let an Avoider's limp body drop from her grasp, a twisted neck turned in the wrong direction. She barely flinched as he fell at her feet.

They had all just been dancing together out under the stars. Playing soccer, eating food and making jokes with one another. The Achilles had ruined everything for them. Again.

No one addressed the situation. Words unspoken passed through exchanged looks. Alex held her hand to her chest. It was impossible to put into words what had just happened. From their escape, to their argument, to...

She felt Cicero's hand on her shoulder. There was a part of her that wanted to pull him into a hug, to seek comfort in the scent of lavender, but for some reason she couldn't fully understand, she didn't. Instead, she cupped a hand over the top of his and squeezed.

Edric knelt down beside Vida's body. He had the cowboy hat pulled down over his face, hiding any emotion he might have been showing. The leather jacket he always wore fell off his shoulders. With a gentle motion, he placed the jacket over Vida's upper body and face.

"We need to leave," Nyx said. Her haunting voice was even more chilling, and sent shivers up Alex's spine.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Rollo questioned. She motioned around at the bodies still bleeding out on the tiled floor. "We don't have enough people, and we still have Will to worry about."

"We won't have to worry about Will." Edric stood up and walked over to the armored van. He swung open the doors and pointed the revolver into the darkness.

"No!" Alex shouted. The outburst surprised herself. It was like the word didn't even have to process in her mind, but spilled out of her mouth in an involuntary reaction. "Please don't kill him."

A wild expression crossed Edric's face. His eyes widened and lips twitched from behind his beard. "He did this! All of this is his fault! I should have killed him a long time ago. I was a coward then, but I'm not anymore." He turned back around to face Will, whose outline took shape in the shadows.

"You need me," Will said, voice shaking. "If you kill me, they'll never forgive you. They want to do it themselves, and you'll take that from them. You'll never get to where you're going without me."

The revolver shook in Edric's hand.

Alex felt like someone was stomping on her chest, and she pushed herself to step closer to Edric and the van. Cicero trailed closely behind her.

"Please, Edric. Don't kill him. There's been enough death today. Enough violence the past few days." She glanced over at Ace as she talked, noticing how much what he had done had affected him. His face was pale and eyes fixated on the gun still gripped in his hand.

There had definitely been enough death.

"They don't care about you, Will, and they don't care who kills you," Edric's voice wavered.

Ignoring his words, Alex stepped closer. "Edric, you don't have to kill him. We can take him with us and let these people have him. Please, I don't think I can see one more person die today. Regardless of who they are. You'll only be killing him out of anger, and I know you will regret it. It's why you didn't kill him before."

Edric turned his head, locking eyes with Alex's. He had to know the truth behind what she was saying. The gun lowered to his side.

"He killed her. With his hand or not, he killed Vida," Edric said. His voice wavered, and he squinted hard as if to push back tears into his eyes. A trembling hand raked across his face.

Alex reached out and grabbed Edric by the crook of his elbow. She pulled herself toward him, wrapping her arms tightly around him until her fingers intertwined behind his back. He didn't pull away, which she thought for a moment he might do. Instead, Edric wrapped his free arm around her and hugged her in return.

There were no words that she could find to make him feel better. She couldn't deny the fact Will had been the cause for too much heartache. For his own selfish reasons, Will had ruined everything good the group had going for them.

And he had done it all for her.

A small pang of guilt rolled around in Alex's stomach, but she knew it wasn't her fault. She had to keep telling herself it wasn't.

"We need to leave," Nyx stated again. She took a half-step closer to the armored van, eyeing Vida by her feet with a sympathetic glance.

Alex pulled away from Edric, squeezing her hands around his arms one last time.

He glanced down at Vida's body before visibly inhaling a deep breath. "The place we're going to isn't much further. I don't know what exactly awaits us. I've only heard about it through stories from Vida. Besides Will, she's the only one I know of that's been there," Edric said. When he mentioned Will's name, a grimace appeared on his face. The expression faded quickly, and he looked around the group with a newfound confidence. "But we'll get there. I know we will. We've come this far already."

Rollo placed her hand on her hip and nodded in agreement. "If it was a good enough plan for her, I'm in."

"It's not like we have much of a choice," Ace said. He holstered his gun with an unsteady hand and folded his arms. "I just hope we get there fast enough. I want to leave this place far behind us and never come back."

"Let's go," Alex said. She looked up at Cicero with a small smile. He appeared as stressed as ever, probably worrying about keeping her out of whatever danger might still be out there. "One problem at a time, right?"

Cicero nodded his head slowly. "Yeah. One problem at a time."

Rollo took it upon herself to be the driver for the armored van and trudged over to the door before pulling herself up into the seat. There was a silent exchange between the others, then they too shuffled to their own vehicles. Alex, Cicero and Edric got into a Glider while Ace took the passenger seat of the armored van. Nyx climbed into the back of the armored van to watch over their prisoner.

The two vehicles slowly drove out of the hotel, crunching over debris and glass. They exited the same way they entered the building, thankfully with less excitement.

Cicero edged the Glider out first. He leaned forward and peered overhead. The Glider stopped momentarily while his eyes closed.

"It's clear. The drone isn't nearby anymore," Cicero said.

He pulled the car out and hopped the curb back onto the asphalt road. The armored van followed less gracefully. Once more, they were on their way out of the city.