Keeping A Promise

Chapter 10

The rain had eased into a light mist as I neared a huge building. Lights illuminated the slick white walls. I spotted two doors, unguarded. I easily opened the doors and entered a long hallway with other doors that led to other areas of the building. It was extremely confusing. The hallway would split into multiple hallways, and then I'd have to choose one to follow. Within minutes, I was hopelessly lost.

I started to panic. How am I supposed to save my mother when I can't even find her? Lost in thought, I continued to roam the halls of the building. Suddenly, I ran into someone exiting one of the rooms. I was knocked to the ground and landed on my butt. I looked to the person I had ran into and gasped.

The man had shaggy brown hair and a short beard. His brown eyes looked into mine, realization making them bright.

"Father?" I gasped, tears threatening to burst out of my eyes. "Is it really you?"

"Yes Lana." Father stood up, as did I. I jumped into his arms, joy flooding over me.

"Your alive." I breathed.

"Yes I am." He kissed my forehead just as big hands grabbed my arms. I whipped around to see two muscular men dragging me away from my father.

"Father! Father what's happening?" I called.

My father looked at me sadly and gave me a forced smile. Then I realized that he wasn't going to stop them. I looked at his clothes. He was wearing a white coat with the same clothes as the men who were carrying me away.

"Your one of them?!" I screamed at him. I struggled against the grip of the men, trying to reach my father. To get him to say he wasn't, to say that it was all just a joke. That he would come back home. But he just turned away and walked down the never ending hallway.

"No! Come back here you coward!" I yelled. "You left us for these people! These monsters!" But he didn't turn back, he didn't even flinch or stutter his steps. He just kept walking.

Tears burned my eyes when the men threw me out of a door and into a huge cage. I wiped away the tears and looked around. I was instantly taken aback at what I saw. Curious eyes all turned to me. It was them. My tribe.

"Lana! Your okay!" Rachel rushed up to me and swung me around in a hug. "I was so worried about you. I thought that they could have killed you, or..." Rachel stopped once she saw my face. Slowly, she said, "You saw him, didn't you?"

"He lied to us." I said painfully. "He left us to join them."

"It's okay Lana." Rachel took me away to a corner away from the staring eyes of the other people.

"Where's Mother?" I muttered. "I want to see her."

Rachel's eyes suddenly became empathic. "Oh Lana..."

A sudden burst of terror spread through me. "No... She can't be..."

"She died in one of the battles." Rachel rubbed my back reassuringly. "But she saved so many of us."

I just sat there and stared at nothing, a hollow feeling overtaking every other emotion I had. I couldn't cry. All the tears had already been rung out of me. I don't know how long we sat there in the light rain, but it must have been awhile. The sun was slowly crawling up into the sky, casting it's golden glow into the now cloudless sky. It's light made everything shimmer because of the water. It's funny how something so beautiful could show up in such horrible times. It's like nature didn't care if a war was going on, it just continued to do what it always does. Be beautiful.

Beautiful. Jake will be waking up soon. He'll probably worry, or assume that I was hunting. Maybe when he sees the sun, he'll think of me. Beautiful. You're beautiful.

I numbly ran my fingers through my hair. And what about Ali? What will she think when I come back with no Mother? I feel like I have failed what I wanted to accomplish, what I needed to accomplish.

"Your mom wanted you to know something." Rachel said softly, snapping me out of my thoughts. "She said, 'When you get back to Lana, tell her that I'm sorry that I couldn't protect her, and that I love her.'" A silence settled between us. "She really loved you."

"Yeah, I know." I looked at Rachel. I realized that she looked really thin. I probably didn't see her fully in the darkness of night. "What's been happening to you?"

"Those people don't give us much food." Rachel complained. "Or water. And they have us fight for them. I can't control when I can turn into my animal, and when I do, I can't control what I do."

"The same thing has been happening to me." I moved my hair and pointed to the thing in my neck. "One of my friends said that this may be causing it."

"I thought I was your only friend." Rachel smiled.

"Oh stop." I said, playfully pushing her.

Lana, is that you? An internal voice said. I looked up and saw Miles in his eagle form. I waved in response. Rachel looked at me quizzically, but didn't ask anything.

Jake and I are going to come for you, just hold on. I gave him a thumbs up as he flew off in the direction of our camp.

"What was that about?" Rachel asked.

"That's was my friend." I answered.

"I think you've been spending too much time alone." Rachel laughed. I laughed along with her.

Hostile yelling halted our laughter. The bulky men from before were pushing through the crowd, heading straight toward me. I instinctively back away from them. Their meaty hands latched onto my arms and started to drag me away. I struggled to get away, but it didn't work.

"Let go of her!" Rachel exclaimed. She punched one of the men in the face. He stumbled back, but didn't let go of me. The man punched Rachel harder than she ever could. She collapsed on the ground, unmoving.

"Stop! Let go of me!" I kicked and bit and scratched, but the men didn't loosen their grip. The last thing I saw before being hauled into the building was Rachel's scared face.