The Rebel Queen

Chapter 17

The southern rebels glared down at me, quickly realizing who I was by the northern star necklace hanging from my neck. A lot more sensible than there stupid red bandanas but I feel like telling them that would make them more angry and hostile.

I cursed under my breath as I heard Maxon's feet run up behind me. I turned my head in his direction and instructed him to hide behind the wall with my hand. The woman rebel sneered at me which made me turn back to face her.

"How may I help you?" I asked politely, holding my hands in front of me.

Like Thelma, this girl didn't think now was the proper time to joke.

"Northern scum,"  The girl growled.

"I'm actually from the south if you'll believe it," I said, and swung at her head.

The girl pushed  me away with a swift kick to the stomach. I groaned in pain, and knocked her back with an elbow to the chest.

"I'm from Carolina ," I told her angrily.

Her arm blocked mine and are arms pushed against each other as we both tried to push the other away with our forearms.

"So am I!" She sneered, winning our small battle with a particularly strong push of her arm. I stumbled back a bit. "You're betraying the south by working with these northerners!"

Suddenly the guy was behind me. He gripped my arms behind my back and attempted to restrain me. I bent over until he launched over my back and onto the floor.

"The northerners are a good cause," I scorned down at the guy. "I can't say the same about the southerners."

He used his arms and legs to jump back onto his feet. He was at least a foot taller than me and towered over my tiny form. That didn't stop me.

I swooped my leg around until it connected with the back of his knees causing his knees to buckle. I than swooped my leg around again until it hit his butt and propelled him forward, making him fall flat on his face. The girl didn't appreciate this and came running at me. I used her momentum against her and ducked so that she went right over my head, also falling flat on her face.

The girl didn't like this apparently and kicked my legs out from under me causing me to fall quite clumsily into the mans arm. I used my perfect position to knee him in the groin. He gasped out and threw me off of him. I went soaring through the air because of the strength he used, but had a clumsy landing. My ankle twisted as it collided with the floor and I choked out a sob from the pain of it and collapsed on the floor again.

The man was bent over in pain, but seemed to be getting better. I was sitting on the floor, trying to hold back tears as my ankle ached. And the girl was using the wall to help herself back up. She used the man and I's moment of weakness to lean against the wall and catch her breath, obviously winded by the fight. I took a quick glance at Maxon and saw him cowering in the corner, watching the fight like it was a tennis match. Back and fourth. And back and forth.

I scrambled to retrieve a dagger out if my boot and calculatedly threw it at the girl. It hit just below her ear, the sharp edge cutting off a chunk of her hair. She jumped away from the dagger that was now stuck in the wall and looked down at her hair that was now on the floor. She turned her murderous gaze to me and I took this moment to throw another calculated dagger. This one soared behind her head at an 180° angle and chopped off the rest of her hair, leaving her with a bob cut.

"You little..."

I cut her off by propelling myself into a forward roll and knocking her over. This left me on top of her mag gave me the upper hand in the fight. I sent punches at her face and she sent punches right back at me, hitting a couple good ones on my ribs, cheek, and collarbone. My ankle was protesting painstakingly as I put pressure on it to get a better angle over my opponent, but I ignored it.

I had completely forgotten about the man up until this point, but I suddenly remembered him when I heard a loud shot. Than a scream. Than the sound of a body hitting the ground. The girl froze from her current position above me and I pushed her off me and looked up. Maxon was laying on the ground with a new red stain soaking through his shirt. The man was no where to be seen, the only sign left of him being the gun laying discarded on the ground.

My face took on a probably permanent sneer. I jabbed my elbow into the girls ribs and stomped my bad ankle into her foot. I ignored the ache it caused my ankle because it was absolutely nothing compared to the pain of seeing Maxon laying hunched up on the floor. I rushed over to him, leaving the girl to lay groaning in pain on the floor. There was a blood stain soaking through his shirt between his shoulder blades and heart. I had no idea if anything important was there, but I just prayed that there wasn't.

"Maxon!" I called, shaking him frantically. "Maxon, are you okay?"

"I'm alive," He rasped, his eyes fluttering open. I gasped in happiness and collapsed over him sobbing into his chest.

"You're okay," I whispered incredulously. "You're okay."

"Not dead yet," he corrected, his voice growing weaker. "I'm not okay, I'm just not dead yet. Thanks to you."

"If I hadn't come back you wouldn't be in this mess," I argued, tears falling down my face as I tried to apply pressure to his wound.

"If you hadn't come back I would provably he safely tucked away in a safe room," he agreed. "But if you and the northern rebels hadn't been.........here to fight those sout-t-t-thern rebels more people.....would of surely....... died. I was down.......in the kitchen before I came..... up here ......to see you........ They would........of.......surely.......gotten..............me."

His speech was becoming slower, less frequent, and more confusing by the second. I took this as a bad sign and knew we needed to get him to the hospital fast.

"We need to get you help," I reminded him.

His eyes were beginning to flutter closed and open, but he managed to choke out one last sentiment.

"Break my heart. Break it a thousand times. It was only ever yours to break."

He passed out at that liken but I didn't drag him to the hospital wing. I realized he thought we were going to get back together. That everything would be back together after this. But it wouldn't. I had to deliver the books and leave immediately. Go back home to my family and help support them. I wanted to stay here with Maxon. To make sure he survived this and lived to see the day he would marry Kriss. I had to leave. But not without making sure he survived.

My head shot up as I heard rustling around the corner. I saw Lucy, Mary, and Anne run around the corner followed by Kriss. That's when I realized that he would survive. He gad all these people here to make sure he lived and I dud the have to be one of them.

I collected the diaries that I had previously dropped, waned a quick goodbye to my friends, and ran before any of them could protest.