The Seal

10

Ezeriah held on for dear life. The horse was rearing, and bucking up almost as if the gunshot had awakened it from its drug induced relaxation. Li held his arms tightly around her, squeezing with his thighs to keep her on. The horse was belligerent, and Li knew he'd have rope burn, but the sound of hundreds of hooves thundering over the ground was enough for him to hold on even tighter.

"Don't let go!" Li shouted, as she tried to adjust her grip.

"My hands are sweaty!" She yelled back.

He held her tighter as well, watching as his friends also clung for dear life. Dust blew up in clouds with a smog that caused a barrier to him, leaving them miles apart from each other.

The plan had to work.

Deyja shrieked, watching as gunfire rained down around them, leaving some animals collapsing and to be trampled over. At least it wasn't them. Her heart beat faster, some of the gunfire was so close it almost sliced her skin like grading cheese.

"Jaxton! They're shooting at us!" She screamed.

He nodded, glancing back at her. "Just keep low against the horse!"

She held his waist tighter as they leaned onto the horse. Both were skilled equestrian riders, but even this was difficult for them.

"Yelun, and Ziof! We need to tell them!" She shook him.

"There's no time, Dey!" He yelled, trying to focus on seeing, despite the rock and dirt that flew up in his face. "They're too far ahead! I'm sure they hear it, too!"

And they did. Yelun has detected them, and was already throwing gas bombs into the sky to disturb their computer systems. It was working. The gun fire came to a cease at once. He sighed, but still held tight to his gun.

"Almost there!" Ziof roared, hoping everyone had heard him.

Mostly everyone did. Except Ezeriah. Her tattoo began burning and she knew no matter how close, The Academy wouldn't let her make it. She began trembling, breaking out into a sweat and seeing sparkles in her vision. She began to get lightheaded, slacking back onto Li.

He held her tighter, noticing her wooziness. "Hang in there! We're almost there!"

But she was shaking, her muscles jumping and her eyes rolling back as her body went into a seizure.

"What the hell are they doing to you?" He growled, looking up at the sky.

"Please, hurry." She felt her heart speeding up, a speed she imagined would be going faster than the horse beneath them, galloping in barbaric fear.

She screamed, as her body jolted with excruciating zaps causing her to convulse. He tried to grab her to settle her back onto the horse but suddenly she became an aura of galactic hydrogen, a bright light, and a burning fuse. She shot up out of his grasp, and almost to a melting point to touch, he had to chose to let her go.

"Ezeriah!" He screamed jumping upwards to pull her back down.

But she was too far up.

Her named seemed to be heard by everyone. Jaxton felt his soul crack through his heart and piercing through his body. Oh, no.

His head whipped around seeing her as she levitated. As quickly as she was in the air, she was plummeting to the ground. Raising his gun, he shot at the animals diverting to her path. With a cloud of dust, she landed on the ravaged terrain. She heard the gunshots, and felt animals passing her, instead of over her. She figured as well as the bullets, they feared her, seeing the fuse and electricity that left a mark on the ground around her. Slowly, life around her drained to darkness.

"Fuck!" Jaxton shouted, as he realized he was low on bullets. He looked backed at Ezeriah even further from him, and now unconscious.

"Jaxton no!" Deyja read his mind. "You'll get killed!"

"So will she!" He yelled incredulously. "Wound the horse, with your blade. Get your gun ready to shoot around me. Li!"

Li looked up, resoluting in fear and uncertainty. He watched as his friend stared at the unconscious girl, and then dived off the horse. He knew what to do. Shooting into the air and at animals, to reroute them, he yanked on the horse turning it towards the girl his best friend was set on.

It happened all at once. Jaxton was never extemporaneous, but seeing Ezeriah hit the ground, he was quick to action. Jaxton waisted no time; shooting at anything that came near him, running full speed to get to her. His lungs burned and his heart was racing but the more ground he covered to Ezeriah, the less he noticed.

As Jaxton neared her, Li kept pulling the trigger. The loud bang ricocheting were scaring the animals away. Good. He wondered what The Academy thought.

"Ezeriah!" Jaxton yelled, hoping to awaken her.

Even when she didn't, he kept running towards her, despite the heat rising from her body. He dropped to his knees, scooping her up. He hissed in pain, knowing he'd have some short of blisters or burns, but seeing her dark brows furrow against her red clay and dark bronzed skin he didn't care. On impulse, and doped on adrenaline, he took off running again. He threw Ezeriah over his shoulder when he saw a horse in the dusty clouds.

Li came to the rescue. Almost throwing Ezeriah onto the horse, he promptly made sure she was was secure on the saddle. Jaxton clawed Li's clothes, flinging his leg over the horse, as it took off again at high speed. They both held tightly to the horse and her. It's mind seemed to snap back into the stampede mentality and blended back into the crowd.

Their eyes were almost closed, as sweat, dirt and rocks arrayed their vision. As soon as they made it close enough to see a large body of water, Jaxton ripped Ezeriah's blade from her jeans. He stabbed the horse in the leg, wincing as the horse roared out in pain.

It began to slow down, with a stagger. The herd was running along side the water. Their horse was trying to keep us, but with force from their rope, they reined it towards the water. Slowly, still trying to stampede away, it began to collapse under them. Li imagined a Jengja came. The horse would crumble.

"Get her off!" Li yelled to Jaxton. "I've got it from here!"

Jaxton wanted to protest, but the horse was already knee deep in the lake. He slid off and held Ezeriah in his arms, running through the water.

Once we're off, we run into the forest, we run like hell.

He sprinted as fast as his legs could take him. The stampede was still going, the thundering hooves mirroring his beating heart. In an odd way, it also made him run faster, feeling the beast within him as well. He heard gunshots, and this time he knew it wasn't his friends, but he didn't care. He didn't care if he got shot. As long as he got Ezeriah to the forest. He prayed as he ran. Prayed to make it there. Begged. The Creator seemed to have overheard, he concluded as he made it into the forest after what seemed like miles of running. Seconds were years, and each footstep that pounded onto the ground towards the forest seemed to only bring him further. Finally, finally, he made it. Involuntarily, his knees buckled under a large shaded purple cedar tree.

"Ezeriah..." He whispered, wishing she'd wake up, but he too was drifting off into a sleep from the excursion.

The world was spinning, but he saw several bodies running towards him. Before he could do anything, the world went black.