The Unknown

xl. ally

I hurled myself forward as fast as I could without crashing into the dense trees. Branches slashed at my skin, while tangled undergrowth threatened to trip me. The sensations felt eerily like clawing fingernails or hands reaching out to grab at my ankles. 

After several minutes, I couldn't hear any boots stomping after me nor see the perilous glow of flashlights. I paused to give my lungs a break and allow my overloaded mind to catch up with this abrupt change of plans.

In the encompassing blackness, it felt like I was certainly being watched. As if the trees had eyes, or the stars above were really millions of twinkling cameras.

Just as my paranoia began to subside, I caught a real flicker of movement in the distance. My heart thudded erratically in my ears. I slid behind a tree, peering cautiously around it. 

It was a pale figure stumbling around, carrying something heavy. Squinting in the moonlight, I recognized Zara's short amber hair, her body hanging limply over Shaun's shoulder. He struggled blindly through the thick foliage, arms outstretched.

I started toward them, but Shaun's head whipped toward my leaf-crunching footsteps. His eyes were wide and gleaming with panic. He geared up to run.

"Shaun, it's me!" I dared to speak in my loudest whisper.

He froze. "You nearly gave me a heart attack—"

"I hope I don't finish the job," said a vaguely familiar baritone.

Someone emerged from the trees between Shaun and I—then was immediately thrown to the ground by a larger figure from behind. 

I took a few shocked steps backward, struggling to discern faces as the two shadows wrestled, rolling over and trying to pin one another to the ground. There were a few angry grunts and sharp breaths, but nothing to reveal who the fighters were.

"Tess, stop him," choked the same voice, triggering a distant pang of recognition in my brain. "He's going to kill—"

"It's a soldier," Kyle said in a low, threatening growl. "I'll hold him off while you two run—"

"It's me, Matt!"

There was a split second of silence as everything clicked into place. "Let him go," I insisted.

"Are you crazy?" Kyle seethed through his teeth. His hands were clenched around Matt's neck, knuckles white from the strain. His entire torso heaved with violent breaths.

I calmly approached the brawl. Matt looked up at me with pleading, bloodshot eyes as he gasped desperately for air. "We can trust him," I continued. "He was my best friend before all of this. He let me go free at the school after Jason's—"

"He'll call the entire squadron if we don't—"

"Kyle, he is the one who set you free when you were captured. You might not be here if not for him. Let him go."

"Don't you understand? He's a soldier—"

"So were you."

He looked up at me with unconcealed disbelief. When it sunk in that I wasn't backing down, his fingers slowly released Matt's neck, who coughed furiously as color rushed back into his bloodless cheeks. Kyle hovered closely over him, like a predator ready to strike the moment its prey let its guard down.

I knelt down at Matt's side. He struggled to speak, his words punctuated by wheezing breaths. "I...want to defect. I won't be a soldier...for this depraved city...any longer. I'll help you guys. I'll do whatever you ask."

"I don't trust a word of it," Kyle muttered, crossing his arms. He looked at me. "They probably figured out your connection to him and wanted to use it against us—to lure us into a trap."