Chapter 05

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SAILING OVER THE winds and past the edge, the duo flew through the air for some distance, seemingly frozen in time, before they started to lose against the alluring pull of gravity. The sky of fire above their heads had darkened to midnight blue, shielding them from the eyes of their enemies with only the stars to light the way. With the night, their escape should be more than easy. However, life was not made that way.

Nothing was ever easy.

As they fell, bullets whizzed through the air blindly. They flew without direction, attacking anything and everything it could land on in a crazed attempt to take them down. Their enemies were relentless and they had bullets to spare. They didn't care that the bullets had a high chance of missing their targets. All that mattered was that there was a chance.

Unable to properly dodge while flying through the air and plummeting to her imminent doom, Devora could only helplessly watch as the deadly pieces of metal skimmed the air right next to her body. Just as fate planned, a single bullet found its way towards her, piercing through her flesh like a sharpened sword to embed itself in her leg.

The pain was immediate. Devora had never felt another sensation quite as bad. As soon as the bullet made contact with her skin, she screamed herself hoarse, clutching onto her wounded leg as if her life depended on it. She didn't care that her enemies could hear her. After all, she was no trained soldier. She was just an average girl that had a miserably horrible week. It wasn't possible for her to keep her lips sealed with the way her flesh burned and scorched with agony.

Her voice, which reverberated through the night, caught Nathan's attention. He looked over in a panic, finally realizing that the girl he was supposed to protect had incurred an injury all while he wasn't paying close attention. Cursing under his breath, he tried to push himself closer to her, finally grabbing onto her hand after much struggling. Hugging her close to his chest as they crashed through the winds, gravity eagerly worked against them.

"Hang on!" He yelled.

Devora barely even heard Nathan's voice in her mind. All she could think of was pain and pain and pain, her mind too lost within the world of torment.

Reaching behind him, Nathan pulled at a string on his backpack before quickly moving so that one hand was wrapped around Devora's waist while the other held onto her head, protecting her as best as he could. As the parachute was deployed, they jerked sharply to a stop due to air resistance, their quick fall slowly turning into a slow descent. The cliff wasn't that far of a drop. Ultimately, they still landed on the ground before it slowed down completely but it was enough to make a safe landing for someone as experienced as Nathan.

Arms still wrapped around Nathan, Devora held on for dear life. While her legs were limpid and lifeless due to the excruciating torture of the bullet wound, her arms could still shakily grab on to whatever was available. Even though she was wrapped in the warmth of Nathan's strong arms, Devora still shivered with cold. The night, this night, had been brutal towards her. More than once, Devora thought that it might be her time to face death at long last.

It was, nonetheless, not in her stars to die at an age so young.

When they landed on the forest floor, the two tumbled dangerously down a small hill. The residual energy from the fall sent them rolling a good distance, leaves and dirt clinging onto the fabric of their clothes. They only came to a halt after Nathan had reached out for a tree trunk while they were still rolling around helplessly, grabbing hold of it to force themselves to a halting stop.

"Shit," he cursed, hissing slightly in pain, arms still cradling Devora tenderly.

Two hands reached for the girl's shoulder, shaking her from her disoriented state. Slowly, Nathan's face came into view, taking shape after a few seconds worth of hallucinations.

"Am I dead?" Devora asked, mind groggy.

The pain in her leg had mysteriously disappeared. However, it wasn't because the wound had magically healed itself. Rather, the pain that erupted from all parts of her body was just as mind-numbingly sore. Instead of focusing on just her injured leg, there was more than one spot bombarding her senses at the moment. As a result, her whole body burned with ache.

It was impossible for her to even move a single muscle. Every time she took in a breath of air, her ribs would ache, a sharp pain tearing through her body like that of a thousand searing blades. Even moving a single finger felt too difficult for her. If she wasn't dead yet, then living didn't feel that great either. She would rather have it all ended with one swift blow to her head, her pain ceased.

"Not so easily," Nathan replied. Gently letting go, Nathan propped himself up to his knees first, shrugging his now-useless parachute bag off. He pulled a small crossbody bag from the parachute bag, strapping it tightly across his upper body before reaching for Devora again. His arms curved below her knees, carrying her bridal style. "Don't die on me, Evans. If you die, I'll get skinned alive."

As he lifted her off the forest floor, trails of blood trickled down the side of Devora's leg. The warm, scarlet liquid dripped from her wound and onto Nathan's hands before finally hitting the ground, turning the green moss and grass beneath his feet ruby. Her breathing was getting weaker and weaker by the second, eyes hooded and lips slightly parted, almost seemingly desperate to cling onto the last bit of life the world had to spare. Although the pain made her wish she was dead, her body was clearly still fighting to live.

Gritting his teeth, Nathan quickly scanned his surroundings before deciding on a direction, kicking off into a run. With Devora now quietened down to occasional whimpers of pain, Nathan could hear his surroundings better. While there were nocturnal animals out there prepared to strike at their weakened state, there was also a group of humans after their heads. When they fell from the cliff, Nathan caught some of the words exchanged between those men, all indicating that they were in favor of chasing after them.

If they stayed in the same spot, they would be fresh meat on the chopping board, waiting to be slaughtered. For now, it was better to stay on the move. That was the only way Nathan knew how to stay alive.

 That was the only way Nathan knew how to stay alive

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