The gunfire went off out of nowhere, and I was quickly pushed down to hide behind the trees when the enemy let out screams of surprise.
Dawson looked around frantically, finding me near the tree behind him. He got the gun ready, taking fire at the men as he motioned for me to quickly join him.
I did so, letting out a wheezing breath when we were safely behind the tree. H embeds to conserve the aim, allowing the enemy to take their shots. I feared they might come over to us, to finish the job, but the gunfire stopped altogether.
I wasn't stupid enough to check if they had left. We waited for a while until Dawson took a look behind the tree. He let out a shocked gasp. "They left..?"
"What!?" I turned to look beside him, noticing that they were gone. It was just him and me in the ruined forest.
He moved over, making sure we were good to let out a relaxed sigh. "We can't just stay here, though."
"Did you see which way they went?"
The man appeared to be in pain, his eyes shut tight. I reached out to him but paused when he pulled away to check how many bullets he had left. After inspecting the magazine, he shook his head as his gaze shifted toward the path we were about to take. "They went the same way we have to go," he said.
I scoffed with no humor behind it. "Lucky us."
He gave a small chuckle, looking at me. "You got faith in us that we can make it?"
I was about to respond when I stopped to consider the question. The way he asked it, did he not have faith that we could do it?
Or was he asking me to get him hyped up so that we could actually do this?
I bumped his shoulder, attempting to compare our muscles. "Of course I do. I'm with you, so I know I'm in good hands." His eyebrows furrowed, and I noticed a slight change in his expression. "Just like you're in good hands because you have me!"
The look was gone as soon as it appeared. He gave a small smile, nudging me forward. "Alright, Vi, let's go before we get ambushed again."
"Don't jinx it." I let out a giggle, easing the tension from my stressed muscles. I made sure I kept my eyes open around us as we were literally following the enemy. The trees opened up until we ended up in a barren 'wasteland' with no more trees and only dirt and blood covering the ground.
I kept my eyes up, sticking closer to Dawson without realizing it. He noticed it, nudging me gently so I could take a peek at him. "Calm down, Vi. This is good, we are almost back at the base."
"Right." I let out a tight chuckle. My voice felt stuck in my throat, scratchy and strained when I tried to laugh. I wanted to say more, to comment on why the enemy was going this way. It was strange—this was back to our base camp. The enemy didn't know that.
I wished we had a radio to warn the others. I was worried about them, but not as much as I was concerned for Dawson and me at the moment. I couldn't help but wonder why the enemy was heading this way. They couldn't be following us since we were essentially tracking them.
But could they be pursuing the rest of the pod? It had been a few days since we split up; by now, they must have returned to camp. So why was the enemy still moving in this direction?
It was okay right now, the sun was setting, but the questions were burning a deep hole in my mind. "Dawson?" He turned to me, taking his keen eyes off the path to answer me. "Why are they going this way-"
"LET HIM GO!"
I was back here, holding the cupid up with my hands around his neck. I tightened, watching his eyes spiral with fear, shock, and almost misery.
The female cupid clawed at my hands, trying to pull me away from him. The other male did the same, pushing and shoving to free their friend. I could feel their desperate attempts to get me off him, but they weren't strong enough. I wanted to hurt him—I wanted to kill him!
"Vienna, please!" Bunny's voice was the only thing to grabbed onto me. Her hands came to pull at my shoulders, finally making me release the male who fell on the ground. Bunny pulled me over, away from the others.
The cupids came over to the cupid, who was letting out sharp breaths. He had tears in his eyes, looking like he had seen a ghost. They said things, worried voices mixing with one another, but I couldn't make out anything.
Only Bunny, the cupid came in front of me. She was kneeling with the other cupids, who were too busy trying to calm the trembling male to notice her looking at me.
Her eyes... the fear-
I didn't want that. No.. I thought I was doing something right, he was being mean to her, he had grabbed her-
Why-
Why was she looking at me like that!?
"You are dangerous." Her voice was soft, trembling along my own body that shivered at the words. My eyes were wide, and I felt my body pull to free myself from this shaking state.
I wasn't.. I just-
"I didn't—" I tried to say, but it came out like a helpless wheeze. Bunny kept her eyes on me, shocked at her own words and the fear she painted when she looked at me—a fear that wouldn't ever go away because of me.
"I'm sorry.." I could only whimper out, tumoring over myself as I tried to leave and fly away. I fell forward, almost landing on the ground, before opening my wings and taking off into the air.
The rushing of the wind was the only thing that called after me in my escape. It was loud, thundering in my ears like a never-ending wave tempting to crash over me.
My head buzzed, and my heart ached. I was desperate to escape this feeling. I pounded in my head. I had expected to feel the pain to accompany it, but it didn't.
Instead, it felt... Good.
That scared me even more. I didn't want to feel good after doing that, after seeing the way she looked at me. The words, the way she had said it when her eyes locked with mine-
I stammered, feeling my wings cramp up at such tight pressure I had with them. I pulled at my hair, scratching at my head and digging my nails into my scalp to feel pain. I wanted to feel anything but the pleasure of what I have done.
"You're not an angel." A loud voice pulled at my ears, tugging at the feathers falling from my wild wings.
"Demon." It ripped apart my wings, tearing into the flesh until it was sizzling.
"You are dangerous."
"NO I'M NOT!" I screamed, eyes widened with tears spilling out. I felt something come at me, only to quickly stop myself as I smacked right into Angels Cove. I let out a breath, falling over onto a branch.
The pain exploded in my ears, distracting me from my wild thoughts. I let out gasps, crying my eyes out until I couldn't sob anymore. I held onto my head, knees pressed into my chest in the fetal position.
I wished to stay like this, crumbled in a ball where nothing could see me.. where I could see nothing.
Where I was alone.
The sound of footsteps approaching from my side startled me. A hand came out and I slapped it away, casting my eyes up to a concerned pair looking down at me.
An angel I couldn't recognize. They reached out to me, concerned eyes overflowing with annoyance. "Are you okay..?"
I pushed myself up, slightly wobbling from the fast movement. "Leave me alone!" I pushed past them, almost knocking them over if not for their wings coming out to catch them.
I hurried through the crowd of angels and cupids until I finally reached my door. I walked quickly, grabbed the handle, and slammed it shut behind me. Casper was on my bed, looking up at me. He whimpered, but I ignored him.
He remained on the bed, waiting for me to come over. When I finally did, my body felt horrible and sore. My wings were cramped, and my front ached from slamming into the trunk. Despite the pain, I couldn't help but fall face-first onto the bed. Casper let out a noise and scooted a little away from me to the end of the bed.
I was too caught up with myself to feel bad for it.
I had too much to worry about scaring the pup away. My body curled around me, forcing my pained wings to cover me from the fairy lights. I wanted it to be dark.
I wanted it to be over with...
The pain was growing for a reason. It wanted me to remember, to go back to Dawson and experience that pain. I didn't want to fight it anymore; every time I tried to fight it, I lost.
So I gave in. The only thing that made me question it was Janus. She didn't want me to do it, to purposely remember it, to remember that pain.
But she wasn't here. If she cared that much, wouldn't she be here?
It was a selfish thought, but I was feeling greedy; it was too late to realize that. It was also too late to back out of my decision. My body slumped, and I tumbled into the darkness that welcomed me with open arms.
The pain dulled enough for me to comprehend the situation I was in. I found myself right where I had left off. I was about to say something to Dawson about the enemy approaching from this direction when we were interrupted by gunfire again. The lieutenant grabbed hold of me before I could drop to the ground.
It pulled at me, taking both of us away from the fire and into a man-made pit a few feet in front of us.
Neither of us got shot, thankfully.
The pit was not deep enough for both of us to squat down, so I lowered myself onto my back and pressed my head against it. Dawson did the same, holding the gun close to himself. I followed after him with my blade, waiting for the shots to stop.
They did soon after, leaving both of us panting and trembling. I wasn't sure whether I should speak or remain silent.
"Dawson...?" The man looked to be. We were close together, so his face was only inches from my own. I fought away a blush; we had to focus on what was happening. I decided to just look at him. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what to do.
His lips formed a line; his body was slightly rigid. He took a look up, moving back down with raspy, uneven breaths. His eyes looked back and forth, and his body was shaking.
He was scared.
I let out a slight growl, turning to look past the pit towards the camp in front of us. I saw nothing, no enemies, nothing.
Dawson's breathing was the only sound I could hear; my own heartbeat was too quiet, lodged in my throat. I noticed another man-made pit closer to the camp. I was so focused on avoiding detection that I didn't take the time to observe our surroundings. All I could make out was how eerily quiet it was.
The enemy was there; they probably forced our team to go into hiding.
That, or something worse happened…
I couldn't afford to worry about that right now; I needed to focus on what was happening around me. I pulled myself up onto my feet and positioned myself to sprint forward. I heard Dawson whisper something as he reached out for me. I grabbed his arm without turning to look at him and said, "Get ready to run."
"Vienna no-"
I cut him off when I sprinted forward, and he fell after me without our hands connected. Surprisingly, no bullets were raining after us as we ran over and into the nearby pit. I let out a few pants, feeling my hands tremble against Dawson's. He came forward, pulling at me with a hushed, rushed voice. "What are you thinking..!?"
"We have to get there," I turned to him, seeing the fear reflected in his eyes. "The enemy is in the camp, we need to help them!"
"You're crazy!" Dawson pulled me back, trying to push me into the pit and keep us down.
I pulled back, grabbing his hand before looking over the pit we were in. There was no sign of the enemy; absolutely nothing was there. I spotted another pit, bigger than the two we had been in before. I tugged at Dawson, who was trying to hold me back with his own pull. His hand was hot and trembling in mine; I could almost feel sorry for how scared he was.
But I knew better than to hesitate. As soon as I had one foot out, I sprinted toward the new pit. It was a longer run than the last one, and I feared we might get shot, so I kept low and pushed my legs to run faster—despite Dawson pulling at me and yelling for me to stop.
I didn't until we ended up in the pit. I let out a harsh breath, finding it eerily how we hadn't been shot at yet. Something was off. Did the enemy flee after they saw us coming here? Did our team push them away while we distracted them?
It was confusing, so I decided to take a chance and look over the pit near our camp. We were closer this time, and I could see just how much of a wreck it was. The mess was horrendous. I didn't see any dead bodies, which for some reason made my skin crawl even more.
It didn't reassure me that I didn't see anyone dead.
A slight movement caught my eye, and I felt my breath hitch as a man in the enemy's uniform emerged with his rifle raised. Thankfully, it wasn't aimed at us. I quickly ducked down to avoid being seen. I turned to Dawson, who was staring silently at the ground. His fists were clenched, and tears were nearly spilling from his eyes.
Everything felt confusing in that moment. I wanted to say something to comfort him, but my mind was too occupied with finding a way in, too focused on the enemy.
"Dawson, we are gonna have to make a run for it when they aren't looking."
He crashed his panic-filled eyes with mine, his mouth opened, but nothing came out. I pulled myself up, looking over the pit to make sure the enemy wasn't there anymore.
I felt my body run cold when I met eyes with the half-masked man who held the rifle. He pulled it over to me, forcing me to quickly push back into the pit. I reached out for Dawson, turning over to him. "We have to-"
I stopped. The barrel of a gun was directed right at my face, Dawson holding it on the other side.
His lips were pressed tightly together, and his hand, holding the gun, trembled slightly as it pointed in my direction. I stared at him, completely shocked. The figure who had captured me approached, standing behind him with his own gun aimed at me.
I didn't even raise my hands; I didn't drop the blade.
My eyes were only on him. On Dawson..
"I'm sorry, Vienna." His voice was stern, and his eyes turned almost emotionless. The enemy behind him raised his rifle, only for Dawson to step in between him. He tilted his head slightly to the side, "Let me handle this."
The enemy nodded, dropping the gun and stepping back.
My eyes felt hot and heavy, limbs trembling at the tense hold I could release myself from. The realization, the absolute horror at everything unraveling before me.
Dawson was the traitor.
He is pointing a gun at me.
I didn't see it coming.
"You.. Da.." I couldn't speak, my lips were shivering, but it wasn't cold. The hold on the blade felt numb; my mind was in a frenzy.
"I didn't want to do this, Vienna. I tried to choose a different pod so it wouldn't have to be you." His voice felt distant, making it hard for me to fully grasp his words. "I like you. I really do. I never would have gone through with this if it hadn't been my job."
Job?
Was all of what we had nothing but a job to him? Nothing but an order that the enemy forced him to take?
It didn't make any sense, I never would have noticed the signs-
"You should have stayed behind with the others…" His voice was barely a whisper, the tense hold he had on the gun slowly relaxed, and I felt myself shift.
Disbelief…
Horror..
Anger.
My teeth gritted against each other, and my body was suddenly thrown violently in a crazy urge to tear him apart. Rip his inside out and throw him over and over again.
To make him feel what I am feeling.
He saw it coming and aimed his shot directly at my shoulder. I fell back with a thud, letting out a choked scream. The pain was intense, burning into my skin and tearing at my bones. It was almost as unbearable as the anger and rage building inside me.
"That wasn't very smart of you." Dawson voiced out, checking his bullets like I wasn't even below him with a bullet in my shoulder.
The pain was intense, but I knew it wouldn't last long. My other arm slipped into my pocket, searching for the heavy weight that had been pulling me down. I found it and let out a harsh cry as I pulled it from my pocket. My finger hovered over the lever just as Dawson lowered the gun, now aimed at my head.
I flipped the lever, watching with satisfaction as his eyes widened in horror. The man behind him stepped forward, reaching out as Dawson took a step back.
The last thing I saw was the look of horror on both of the men's faces.
The hot pain was gone, and I felt nothing soon after.