"Then she said she liked me too!" Arianna squealed.
I nodded, showing that I was actively trying to listen to her rambling as we walked down to entrance to the outside.
Two days ago I had told Lucky about Arianna's affection towards her, which was apparently something one doesn't do, and the two of them have been dating since that moment. And Arianna wouldn't stop talking over it.
When is she gonna stop?
Arianna hugged me. "Thank you! We wouldn't be together if it weren't for you."
I smiled softly. Well her rambling isn't so bad.
She quickly let go of me while looking at me carefully. "Are you sure you're okay with touching others now?"
Our conversation made me realize that in order to live, I needed to break down my walls. Although I wasn't completely okay with touching others, I wanted to work on it.
"I'll work on it." I said honestly.
Arianna nodded, slowly placing a hand on my arm. "I'm here to help if you need it."
"Snow! You ready for today?" Tristan came into our view with a hop.
"What are you doing here?" Arianna frowned.
"Well I walking towards the base entrance when I saw y'all in front of me. Rather than that, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you go and play hooky with your girl?"
She blinked slowly and seriously at him. "One of these day's I'm gonna kill you."
He turned his attention towards me, effectively ignoring her. "So are you ready for today?"
"Is there something different than normal?"
He thought for a moment, "Well no, but doesn't hurt to ask right?"
Someone accidentally bumped into him, as they walked in the other direction. Before the kid could apologize, Tristan grabbed him aggressively by the collar.
"What do you think you're doing? Don't you have eyes?"
"Tristan! Stop!" Arianna grabbed his arm but he quickly shoved her off.
Moving forward, I placed a hand on Tristan's. He looked at me confused but before he could say I word I squeezed as hard as I could.
He let out a shout of pain and quickly let go. The kid stumbled backward and Arianna rushed towards.
"Are you okay?"
I glanced at the kid and my eyes widened when I saw who it was. It was the scrawny kid with black hair, his eyes curved as Arianna smoothed out the crinkles on his shirt.
"I've okay!" He quickly looked over to Tristan. "I'm sorry I bumped into you! I was a little distracted."
"You-" Tristan closed his mouth after seeing my face..
Looking back at the kid, his eyes seemed to be calculating and observant but I blinked and he was smiling again.
Am I seeing things?
He smiled at me, "Thank you for helping me! I'll be on my way then!"
The boy quickly bowed and ran away.
Arianna without hesitation, smacked the back of Tristan's head. "I forgot how much of an jerk you were."
"I'm not-"
"That was the exact definition of a jerk."
I nodded slightly, agreeing with her.
We continued to walk, Tristan complaining the whole way, until we hit the crowd of people waiting to go upstairs in their respective order.
"Snow! Ari!"
Parker waved at us as Tristan glared at him pettily.
"Take care of her P. I want her looking pretty for the dance tonight." Arianna looked at him expectantly and he nodded.
"Don't have to tell me twice." Parker informed and Tristan mocked him.
I waved back at her as she retreated back into the tunnels that lead back into the base. My other hand placed over my chest, where the necklace I put on hang.
Like normal, we made our way outside while going to our respective places. Today, our leader went by the name Danny. He wasn't much of a talker but I didn't mind that about him.
Danny, unlike the other leaders, liked to stay close to us as we patrolled his section of area.
She should be okay right?
Nukka seemed to be wary of others, so she never came near when Parker and I found ourselves in the company of others.
Parker began to fall behind slightly, motioning me to do the same.
"Hey, I just- I never got to speak to you properly after the incident two days ago. I just wanted to say that I'm here for you too."
My eyes wandered far.
The girls had already approached me with the same words. Every time I heard them say such things, my heart tingled and I felt warm. To think that people can make such promises to a person who wouldn't trust them back.
"Thank you." I muttered quietly.
He smiled softly, making my heart feel weird again.
Before I could think much about it, I heard something move not far away.
My eyes searched Parker's for some kind of concord but he didn't seem to hear it.
It's definitely something larger than Nukka. Is it maybe someone we know? No. I can't let my guard down.
"Parker." My voice was low but urgent enough to catch his attention.
Once glance at my alarmed eyes and his body stiffened. "What's-"
"Hands up!"
A couple appeared in front of us and in their hands were small handguns. It was a man, with a height of at least 6 feet. His partner, a small woman, glared at us but seemed a bit distracted.
I quickly put my hands in the air while the other two seemed to freeze.
"I said, hands up!"
Parker glanced at Danny, who seemed unsure of what to do. They both raised their hands hesitantly when Danny decided to.
The man nodded. "Good. Now drop any type of weapon you have."
I slowly reached for my handgun that was nestled in my pocket. Parker glanced at me, unsure whoever to follow me or stay still like Danny.
This time, he decided to follow me.
The only one left was Danny.
Don't do anything stupid. Don't do anything stupid.
I recognized the look in their eyes. I had seen it too many times on my own. These two were desperate enough to kill.
He finally reached for his pocket, however it wasn't for the gun. A loud beep was heard and the air went cold.
Half a heart beat passed and a loud gunshot followed by a grunt was heard.
Parker watched with horror as Danny fell to the ground.
I knew he wasn't dead, the man's clearly missed his shot. However, Parker didn't know things like that. He inched forward but stopped when the man shouted again.
"Don't you dare move!"
Parker's voice was shaky but loud. "Let me check if he's okay! Please!"
"Don't move."
"He's fine. He just fainted due to shock." I muttered at Parker then looked up at the man. "There are more of us, and you've just alarmed them."
We have to distract them.
On cue, the radio buzzed with Sharp-Eyes voice. "Section two. Is everything alright? Is everything alright? Over"
"I'll tell them that it was an accident." I said carefully.
"Snow." Parker stared at me with alarm.
I ignored him, "Is that alright with you?"
The man glanced at his companion, who after some thought, nodded slowly.
I carefully made my way to Danny's limp body and searched for his radio.
I brought it up to my lips. "This is section 2. Snow testing. Parker's gun wasn't in safety. I repeat, Parker's gun wasn't in safety. Everyone is fine. Over."
There was a tense moment of silence.
"Understood. Over."
I immediately lowered the radio and shifted my foot slightly. Parker looked at me as I glanced back the couple.
As I had hoped, Parker took it as a sign to distract them while I grabbed the pocket knife out of my shoe.
"What do you want?" Parker asked while holding his hands up.
"We want everything you have in that backpack." The woman pointed at me.
Since I felt uncomfortable going outside without my bag, they decided to let me be porter of a med-kit and a couple of water bottles. It wasn't worth much, still, there was no telling what would happen after they found what they need.
"Listen. We have a base not far from here, if you come with us we can give you-"
"Why would we trust you!" The man shouted causing Parker to flinch.
That's what I thought.
Everyone down there is so open to trust. They had no idea of how dangerous the people outside really were. Out here, meeting a stranger more than often meant death.
After realizing they wouldn't budge, I slowly took my backpack off and threw it in their direction.
Their attention was off us for a moment, a second, but that was enough to send Parker a message.
"Distract." I mouthed.
"My name is Parker Small." Parker said suddenly calling the man's attention. The woman began to sift through the bag.
"I used to live in the little town just outside of the woods called Lanbard."
As he rambled on, I swiftly grabbed the knife, hiding it in my sleeves.
"My parents died just about three years ago."
The couple froze.
[Now.]
Without hesitation, I launched the knife while aiming for the woman's arm. She screamed and while the man turned to look at her, I launched at him, swooping down for my gun.
"The rest of the weapons!" I shouted, indicating what Parker should focus his attention to.
The man was slow to react, allowing me time to grab him and knock the gun out of his hands. My feet hooked around his and I threw him to the ground. The gun in my hand was pointed towards his face and he froze. I glanced at Parker, whose hands were full of our weapons.
"Don't move!"
The woman recovered faster than I had hoped and was currently aiming a gun at Parker with one hand.
"I won't hesitate to blow your friend's brains out." She snarled.
We stood in those positions, engulfed by tension.Suddenly, a low and drawled howl was heard in the distance.
Nukka.
The couple turned in the direction of the howl and their faces went white.
I looked in the direction. Something, or someone is over there.
"Lewis." The woman's voice was barely a whisper, then glanced over at her husband.
At that moment Parker squirmed and attempted to attack her, however, his attack did not go far. Instead the woman managed to wrap her hand around his neck, effectively trapping him.
He let out a grunt.
Damn it. Now we're both easy targets.
"Let my husband go." She growled. "I won't hesitate to kill him."
"I know you won't." I said calmly.
My calmness seemed to disturb her. "Th-Then you should let my husband-"
I shoved the gun closer to the man's face, in an attempt to scare her. He stiffened as I did. "I don't hesitate either."
In the distance, my ears picked up the sound of rustling bushes coming rapidly towards us. However, the sound didn't seem to be picked up by anyone else.
Sensing that there was no other way, she quickly changed her aim towards me.
[Move!]
I quickly rolled out of the way of her bullet but as I recovered the man attacked me, knocking the gun out of my hand.
He managed to roll on top of me and I did my best to squirm out of the situation.
[His eyes Snow!]
My hands reached for his eyes, but before I could press hard, he let out a painful scream.
Pushing him off me, I sat up to see Nukka aggressively dragging him away by biting his legs. Blood seeped through his pants.
"Lewis!"
I glanced at the woman in fear. Just as I thought, her gun was aimed towards Nukka and her finger was actively on the trigger.
No. No. No!
My hand desperately grabbed the ground for my knife or gun. But my knife laid by Parker's feet and my gun was far out of my reach.
No! No! I need to save her!
[Don't you dare-]
It happened so quickly.
The gun fired, and I had no other choice. I had- no other choice.
A thick sheet of ice blocked the several bullets that were about to make contact with Nukka.
In a shock, everyone froze in their place while staring at the ice.
It's too late, I can't go back anymore.
[Stop, you need to stop.]
Not yet.
Carefully, I made small daggers with my hands. Luckily, no one had moved just yet.
Taking one of those daggers, I shot one towards the woman, hitting her the back of her palm. She screamed as her gun fell to the ground.
With my hands raised, I wished with all my heart, Melt. Please melt.
Luckily for me, any trace of ice was gone, as though it had never happened.
Parker still seemed in a daze when I shouted at him. "Parker!"
He snapped out of it, and took advantage of the woman's state to struggle against her.
Nukka was still biting down on the man's leg, who could only struggle against her as he attempted to pry her jaw open.
After rapidly crawling over to my gun, I grabbed it and ran to the man.
My hand raised and came down onto his head. A loud sound rang out and a few moments later, the man had collapsed onto the ground.
"Are you okay?" My eyes were on Nukka as I crouched.
Nukka let go and looked at me while wagging her tail, as if smiling at me with her bloody teeth.
I looked over at Parker, who continued to struggle with the woman.
"Go!" I commanded Nukka, pointing towards Parker's direction.
Without hesitation, Nukka ran towards them and instantly picked her target.
The woman quickly let go of Parker when she saw the large wolf running towards her. She spun on her heels and run as fast as she could, but she wasn't quick enough. Nukka pounced, landing on the woman's back and forcing her onto the ground.
Nukka growled, saliva dripping onto the ground by the petrified woman's face.
Clutching the gun in my hand, I walked over to them.
I need to keep them quiet.
"Please! Please don't kill us! I have a boy, he's sick! We only wanted medicine!" She begged.
The click of unlocking the safety trigger was heard as I pulled the gun towards the woman's face.
"Snow!" Parker cries behind me.
"You or your husband will not say a word about what you saw." I snarled quietly.
"I promise! Please just let me live!"
"If you say a single word, I'll kill you and your family. Understand?"
"Yes! I understand! Please!" She cried, tears falling down her cheeks.
Satisfied with her answer, I lifted the gun and as she relaxed brought it down on her head.
"No my bab..." Her eyes fluttered as she fainted.
I glanced over at Parker who only stared at me with a conflicted expression on his face. My heart clenched at the idea of threatening him but I had no other choice.
I want to stay.
I quickly stood up and walked up to him, grabbing his sweater. "The same goes to you. If you utter a single word, I am going to leave this place. I- I am going to leave and never look back."
Because if you do, all of you would be in danger. So please, please don't say anything.
He nodded hesitantly.
"Do you understand?!"
He nodded more confidently, raising his pinky. "I swear on my life I won't say a word!"
I looked up at him, his eyes sincere and honest. Following him, I hesitantly hooked my pinky with his and made contact with his thumb.
We feel into an awkward silence as I walked over to the walkie that laid next to Danny.
"This is section 2. Snow Speaking. A situation has occurred, please send back up. Over."
Within seconds Sharp-eyes responded. "Understood. Sending two groups over. Over."
I placed the walkie back down.
Nukka stood next to me the entire time and as if realizing I was no longer occupied, began to whine.
"What's wrong?" I asked as I rubbed her head gently.
She whined again, only this time hopping to the direction she appeared from.
"Stay here." I spoke to Parker.
As I was about to walk away, Parker asked me a question. "How long?"
My steps froze.
"Don't tell me- you could always use your element? Since before you got here?"
Trust hurts doesn't it?
I swallowed the knot in my throat. "Forget it."
Then I left without uttering another word.
He probably won't speak to me again, I thought. At least now he knows what trusting in the wrong person felt like.
Pushing those thoughts out of my head, I focused on Nukka, who guided me to a large tree not far from the fight.
I watched as she walked up to the truck and began to sniff onto a pile of overturned dirt.
A weak cough rang out into the sounds of the quiet forest.
A small boy was buried in dirt, only his face was peaking out but was also smeared in mud. "Their kid." I whispered, placing a hand on his pained face. "He's burning up."
Nukka whined again.
"He'll be fine." My hand rubbed her head. "You did you good job. Good job."
Keeping my element a secret was everything, but for some reason, I couldn't just let this creature die. I had no reason to protect it, so why? Why did I risk everything for it?
You might've ruined my chances of dying.
The wolf leaned her head against my hand and let out a satisfied sigh.
Ugh. Why are you so cute?