Good, Evil, and the Gray Area (FIRST DRAFT)

Chapter 45

"No!" I screamed, running as fast as I could toward her. "Ava!" 

The battle had long since resumed, when I stopped thinking about it. Streaks of colored light flew above my head, as well as plain old bullets. 

She was laying there helplessly, the bullet embedded in her chest. I finally got there, tears streaking down my facel. How many times would I have to lose her? 

"She's safe..." Ava said. And then I realized. It was Achen. 

"I- Achen? Is it you?" I couldn't help being relieved, though I felt horrible about it. 

"Yes, it's me. Don't worry, Ava's fine. She was captured by the wizards, though, and they have her underground. I'm dying, Lee. Help me!" The sentence left her out of breath, and I realized that she was right. The bullet was too deep, it was too late for her. Even with a wizard's magic, it was too late. 

"No, you'll be fine. I'll go get help." I didn't wait for her reply, instead running off to find a wizard. Maybe I was wrong, maybe she could pull through. She was a werewolf, she was tough. 

"Hey! I need a medic!" I screamed. The closest wizard just looked at me sceptically. 

"You're fighting for the other side..." the man said. 

"Yes, but my friend is hurt! She's young! Please, have mercy!" he turned away to fire a curse at someone else, not caring a bit about my explanation.

"I could kill you. So run, Lee. Run." He said. 

How did he know me? I didn't bother wasting too much time wondering that, instead making my way through the thick tangle of bodies to another wizard. 

"Please, sir, help me! My friend is dying!" I pleaded. He turned toward me, and fired a curse in my direction. I flattened myself to the ground, scurrying away, as I did so coming to the conclusion that I wasn't going to be able to get a wizard to help because evidently they knew that I was fighting for the other side. 

Defeated, I rose to my feat and grabbed a werewolf that was just beginning to shift. "Can you tell me where I can find a medic?" I asked, "I've got a girl that's really hurt..." I trailed off, realizing that the wolf had stopped listening. 

If I could find Ava, I could find a medic for Achen.

The past sequence of events ran through my mind as I darted to the edge of the clearing, tripping on bodies that were still warm and slipping in the damp, bloody slush. 

I had been running, and all of a sudden the people had unfroze. I had screamed, and then I'd lost Achen. I ran, fighting a little as I did so, trying to take out wizards, but not really caring. I had killed a few, wounded many with fire. Then, I had morphed, becoming a tiger with eyes huge with bloodlust. Then I had killed many, and I couldn't even remember their faces. 

They had been mothers, fathers, sons, brothers, sisters, daughters. People, with a family at home waiting, and I couldn't remember their faces. 

I leaped out of the clearing, avoiding one more body with deep teeth marks in the neck, and stopped as my eyes adjusted to the gloom of the forest. I had to loop all the way around to get to the trapdoor that I knew lay in the ground on the far end of the clearing where the battle was raging. 

First, though, I took stock of my injuries. A deep burn on my calf that I should take care of because it was done with magic. I was foreign to the pain of burns, because I was fireproof, but evidently that didn't matter with wizardry, and it hurt. A cut on my neck from the claw of a werewolf. I pulled out a sharp little claw that had been embedded there, wincing. A shallow gash on my bicep that was oozing blood slowly, I dismissed that as a surface would. A broken rib, I could feel it. Being too tired to create fire to clean the wounds, I just took a handful of clean snow and wiped them down. Then I took another handful and pressed it to the calf injury, sighing in relief. 

I took off, droping the bloody snow and running as fast as I could, ignoring the pain shooting from my calf and the protests of my rib as I began to breathe heavily. Forced to take my breaths in tiny pants, I soon became winded. 

Morphing was unthinkable, as I didn't think I could withstand the pain it would cause with the broken rib without passing out. I slowed to a walk, gasping and holding my abdomen. The neck and bicep wounds were bleeding heavily, then, and I was starting to get dizzy. I grasped a rough barked tree for support, wincing as the snow that rested on it's branches fell down the back of my neck. I eased down to sit, grabbing snow and pressing it to my calf again, which was burning with a fire that was inching it's way up my leg. 

I leaned my head back against the tree, staring up into the pale blue winter sky. It would be great if it would snow to obscure my travels, but in such bad shape I couldn't go back into the battle. With the adrenaline rush seeping away I could barely move, let alone run and maneuver through the throng of warriors. 

I let out a sigh in defeat. I was as good as dead, sitting under the tree like roadkill, and so was Achen, laying in the middle of the battle with a lethal bullet wound. I should've at least dragged her out so she could die in peace. 

The sky was laced with streaks of light. I couldn't tell if I was hallucinating, or if they were wizard made fireworks. They were bright yellows, oranges.... dark purples and greens against the pale blue sky. It was pretty.... I hadn't thought beauty still existed after the gore of the battlefield.

With that thought in my head, I drifted off into a faint. 

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Ayo!! Well, heres a chapter for ya... that is, for anyone whos reading.... if theres anyone reading... hopefully im not just talking to myself! ANyway! Hope ya liked it.... if u have any suggestions on how to make it better TALK TO ME! i dont bite! (well, not during summer vacation anyway....:) :[ 

so!! um a cast... any ideas? well... enjoy..... vommetan..... 

-wren