Chapter 25: Chapter 25

I can’t see anything. The only things I can sense are the sounds of the burning train behind me and the smell of thick smoke in the air. I hit the ground hard before I even realize something has struck me.

Suddenly, there’s a man on top of me. I feel the cold steel of a knife against my throat. Through the holes in his balaclava, I can see his dark eyes in the moonlight.

“You thought you could follow us, soldier? Thought you could spy on us?”

His accent is thick. My heart pounds in my chest with fear. A shout comes from the darkness, and the soldier on top of me responds. He turns back to me.

“No prisoners,” he says simply.

Fear pushes the breath out of my lungs. With a final burst of energy, I shove my hands against his chest and push him off me.

Caught off guard, the soldier rolls away. I scramble to my feet and start running. The soldier roars and chases after me. In the moonlight, I see his knife gleaming.

I can’t outrun him. My chest is burning from the smoke, and I’m weighed down with cans of food and water. I spin around, pointing my revolver at his face. The soldier stops short.

He’s towering over me, panting heavily, armed only with a knife. He stares down at me.

“Let me go,” I whisper.

I see him hesitate. Another shout comes from the darkness, causing him to briefly look away before turning back to me.

“Spy! I can’t let a spy live,” he hisses at me.

I shake my head quickly. A mistake. He’s faster than I thought. He knocks the revolver out of my hands and lands a heavy punch on my jaw. I hit the ground again, and my hood slides off my head.

The man crouches down with his knife. He places his hand on my forehead and holds the knife to my throat. My heart is racing, and my breath comes out in short gasps.

~Beth. Oh, Beth.~

I can see other faces appearing around us. Through the dead trees, the Foreigner soldiers gather around to watch me die.

I know there’s nothing I can say to convince them. We’re enemies. We were born enemies, and we’ll always be enemies. Albion has no friends.

But it’s not his knife I feel next. Suddenly, it’s his hands in my hair. Then he pulls away and puts a hand on my chest, then moves it down between my legs.

I swat his hand away. There’s a brief silence, then I hear him laugh. He pulls back and pins me to the ground.

“A girl?” he whispers.

“A woman,” I correct him.

The soldiers around us have all moved closer to get a better look at me. The one holding me down leans back to give them a clearer view.

I stare back up at them. They’re all dressed in black, with only their dark eyes visible through the balaclavas. They part slightly to let one man get a better look.

He nods slightly, and the man on top of me slides off. The commanding man crouches down next to my face and pulls me into a sitting position. Then he pulls off his balaclava.

In the moonlight, I can see his thick dark hair, the sharp angles of his cheekbones, and his chiseled jaw. My breath catches in my chest, and my heart skips a beat.

“Sanoske.”

He gives me a small smile. “Alex,” he says simply.

The men behind him stare at us in amazement. He pointedly ignores them.

“I didn’t expect to see you again,” he admits.

“Neither did I,” I whisper.

“You’ve been out here for five months?”

“Has it been that long?” I ask.

He blinks at me and tilts his head to one side. He looks at the food and water strapped to my body, then back at me.

“You weren’t looking for me, were you?” he asks.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” I reply. “I’m looking for Beth.”

“Your daughter.” He stares at me for a long moment. “We need to move out. Are you coming with us?”

I blink at him in surprise. The men around us mumble among themselves, also surprised. In the distance, I can hear the droning of planes getting closer.

I bite my bottom lip and take Sanoske’s outstretched hand with a nod.

“Do you always feel up your prisoners after trying to kill them?” I mutter.

***

They don’t let me slow them down. Even though I can’t keep up with their pace, they refuse to stop for me to rest and catch my breath.

I don’t notice when my steps start to drag. All I can hear is the wheezing sound of my breath and the pounding in my head.

Suddenly, I’m lying on the ground, staring up at the dark gray sky. Then Sanoske is there, pouring water into my mouth and making me swallow.

Then he unloads his gear onto another man and hoists me onto his back. I wrap my legs around his waist and rest my head against his shoulder.

I can feel his muscles straining under me, but he still stays at the front of the group, leading the way.

Night turns into day, and day turns back into night. They only stop for quick two-minute breaks so I can be handed off to another man and they can keep up the pace. They pass around water and food as they walk.

At dawn after the second night, the men stop and the soldier carrying me gently sets me down. Sanoske hands me water, squatting down next to me to make sure I drink it all.

Even though the men seem fully capable and content to carry me, I start to feel like a burden. “I want to walk,” I tell Sanoske quietly.

The men glance around at the sky and take sips of water. Sanoske tilts his head to one side.

“You breathed in a lot of smoke. It made your head spin. Your throat is sore, your eyes are watering, and you keep coughing,” he tells me.

“You can’t keep carrying me.”

“If you think you can keep up… You’re at risk of getting bronchitis. Then you’ll never be able to find your daughter,” he says.

I look up at him. “I don’t want to be a burden.”

He grins at me, just a little. “You’ve made it out here for five months already. You’re not going to be a burden. It’s close by.”

“Close by? What’s close by?”

His gaze shifts upward as an Albion plane streaks across the sky.

“Resistance.”