by Clara Wake
With all his weight on his stable leg, he makes his way towards a large section of thick and overgrown scrubs. Stepping through, he lowers himself and peers through carefully – the sound is only gaining – as he rises, he’s staring at what looks like hundreds of men, women, and children hanging by their necks, hooked and tied around the strong arms of the thin trees. Swaying side to side.
They all had similar clothing, and what unsettles him the most is seeing a young boy, around five years old hanging beside what would be considered his mother or sister. He’s unsure, but he can’t look anymore. With the strong vile odour and the flies that scatter and hover around the rotting bodies, he’s quick to turn away, holding his breath.
Smacking his palms down on the ground, his stable knee gives in. He catches his own breath, baffled and bewildered by what he’s just seen. He lets out a loud pant, as he feels his eyes stinging with tears. His fingers soon curl into fists as anger courses through his veins. He’s had enough…he has to make this stop. No matter what.
Sniffling softly, Nickolai soon rises once again. With even more fire burning within, he’s even more determined and adamant to make The Governor pay for everything she’s put anyone and everyone through.
This isn’t about himself anymore – that ended a long time ago – He has to stay strong for Jake and the other innocent people she’s tortured and slain.
It doesn’t take Nickolai too long to realize he’s still within the Compound’s perimeter, further out behind the infirmary building. As much as he wants to make it back to his own squad, the Infirmary is the closest, and there he can hopefully rest and make sure he’s ready.
Jake can’t sleep. He is swimming in denial, even after the second day came to an end and Nickolai still wasn’t there. He even went as far as finding a way into The Chamber, to see if he was there, but he’s nowhere to be seen and no one cares enough to notice.
Jake won’t accept it. He can’t, and he’s begging and praying to whatever damn god there is that Nickolai is alive. Hell, he hopes he is out of there and free the most. He just wishes he knew. This is the worst. He doesn’t know, and it carves through his chest now knowing where his best friend is. There is only two left now in Earth, and their Captain hasn’t even noticed.
His mind sends him through the worse of the worse possibilities and scenarios. With how Nickolai is taking Skye’s demise, he can’t imagine him obeying The Governor, and it frightens him to his core. Any bit of hope he has left is dissolving with every second that passes. He sits in Nickolai’s room. Waiting.
Jake even comes up with plans to force answers out of The Governor to find out where Nickolai is, but he can never commit and never gain the courage to do it. Even though he is desperate and dying too.
At the Infirmary, Jake is gathering all sorts of medical supplies with a bag to take to the squad. Ticking off the list, on the low supplies and adding more.
He keeps himself as busy as possible, but his mind always strays and torments him with the ongoing and screaming question: where is Nickolai?
Moving through the hallway, the infirmary is quiet. Normal – not many people were there now, as much as you’d think there would be. Considering this place is literally training men to become soldiers of the new age or whatever the hell is going on. It’s still an unwritten answer.
Along with the other medics, he’s finally gained access to the infirmary, without having to sneak in. It took a considerable amount of time, and effort to do so but he’s pleased to be able to walk in and out without having to look over his shoulders constantly.
He’s given himself his own unpaid job, checking the rooms and patients. Stocking and entering details into the computers—anything to distract him from the burning horrors in his mind. He is a regular, and it is usually where he is when he isn’t in the Squad or with Nickolai.
Stepping into the second patient room, he is unaware of its filled status. Stepping back for a second, hesitant on whether he should go in, he looks over the patient quickly before he notices those familiar ears. Those long graceful elven ears and his heart drops instantly.
Words are trapped at the edge of his tongue, air shakes in his throat, and his eyes are wide in disbelief and relief; tears escape freely.
He’s consumed by joy, seeing Nickolai there. He’s alive, he thinks as his eyes flicker to the monitors.
A long and dried out sigh finally leaves his lips; he’s so pleased. However, the more he observes him lying on his back, the more his heart tugs at him. His hair has been taken from him once again. The thick and heavy gash to his head, and his knee. Small bruises lather his arms.
Quickly, he bats his tears from his eyes, and straightens himself before he takes a seat beside him. He looks down at him watching his chest rise and fall in a hypnotizing rhythm.
“Nicko,” He softly whispers, as he’s completely unaware of what’s happened to him, what she once again put him through.
Hearing his voice, Nickolai’s eyebrows furrow, and his nose turns up slightly. Uncertain if he heard Jake’s voice or his mind was once again playing tricks on him. He could swear, he heard Skye’s voice earlier.
“Nicko, it’s Jake.” He hears and Nickolai is certain he’s there as he snaps his eyes open to see Jake beside him. That familiar concerned and puppy-eyed look staring down at him with the slight red around his eyes – he’s been crying. Nickolai slowly turns his head and realizes he made it to the Infirmary as intended.
“Do I want to know?” Jake carefully asks, still watching him cautiously as he attempts to move slowly, shaking his head at him. So impatient.
Nickolai stares at him for a second. “You don’t want to know,” Nickolai roughly states. Hell, he hasn’t told Jake everything he’s seen, and there is a reason for that. Speaking, his voice begins to crack from the dehydration he’s suffered.
“Well, thank fuck you’re alive,” Jake chimes with a very stressed huff, almost beaming at the realization, as he watches him moving like a child with A.D.D.
“Like you said, I’m a phoenix,” Nickolai shrugs before he smirks at him with a tainted smile, reminding him that he shouldn’t have doubted him – but with the circumstances – he doesn’t blame him at all. Hell, he was afraid something happened to Jake, and he was gone for a few hours. They care for each other, and that is that.
Nickolai lay awake at night, staring at the clock and the minute it switches to three am, he waits and watches his window wishing, she’d come crashing in and spreading her smile at him. It never happens, and it is the constant reminder of what The Governor took from him. His heart aches, and he knows he’s lost something, like a gaping hole in his chest. He lost someone, and he can’t get her back. He can’t stop the words he never said from flooding his mind. Wasted moments and opportunities, he’s so glad he at least said something the last time they spoke.
His palms bury his face as he attempts to drown the thoughts from his mind, but the flashes of her lifeless body continue to haunt him and remind him of what he lost and what he couldn’t save. How useless he truly was.
Days have passed, and he continues to struggle with everything. He can’t feel anything else, but rage bubbling beneath his skin. Seeing red, and only dreaming of forcing The Governor to meet her demise. Even at training, he is sloppy. His arrows never hit, and he doesn’t even bother to gather them at the end of the day. His meditation is left forgotten.
His hair continues to grow. Luckily, it did grow much faster than humans. It is still short, but it is progressing. That is something he needs right now. Something.
The more he’s left by himself to his thoughts, the more intimidating and poignant they become. The realization that he and Jake are responsible for the massacre from the name. He is responsible for Skye taking her own life. For Dana’s death. Everyone he loves suffers. He truly is better off, alone.
He can’t stand the mere thought of spending another day in this place. Hell, he can’t bear the thought of losing Jake. He is clouded and drownin
g in the dark thoughts that only intensified with each blink he makes. The silence ignites them.
Barging into Nickolai’s room, Jake enters and swiftly slams his door shut; his face is alert, and he’s shaking. His eyes are wider than normal. trembling in haste.
“Nickolai,” Jake starts, as he pins his hands to grasp Nickolai’s arms, holding him there. This is the perfect opportunity to get him out of there. The Governor is Missing in Action and possibly unaware of his return. Jake has to do this now.
His eyes fixate and stare into his, searching his eyes. He holds his breath before speaking quickly. “I need you to do something for me,” he starts, voice erratic. “I need you to pick up that bag,” Jake turns to his right and signals towards the unknown bag packed for Nickolai.
“I need you to take that bag and run.”
Jakes words are desperate and riddled in fright, as he pants between his words. “You hear me? I want you to run, and I don’t want you to stop.” He’s soon squeezing Nickolai’s arms, tears tracing his eyes, as he watches Nickolai’s eyebrows furrow; he’s about to protest, and he can’t let him do this.
“No, don’t. Don’t.” Jake shakes his head immediately, “Listen if you don’t leave… I’ll have done this for nothing. You hear me?” His grip is tight as if he doesn’t want to let go, even as they tremble. He releases them before he grabs Nickolai’s face. “You rose from the ashes, you conquered the world, and now it’s time for you to be free, Little Phoenix.”
With that, Jake moves away and starts towards the door before turning around. “You’ll know the signal,” he tells him, as he blinks away tears. He moves quickly and leaves as fast as he can before he changes his mind.
Finally, a breath escapes Nickolai’s lips. Slowly, he turns and blinks to see the large backpack. His heart is unable to comprehend what just happened, and he tries to take it all in; he needs to see Jake again, to ask him what’s happening and why. He’s clueless, scared, and lost. His hands begin to shake; the silence is unnerving.
Within a few moments, a large explosion erupts within the Compound, the sound shattering the windows as fire roars from the impact. Within that moment, he knows he has to go. Pushing himself, he jumps upwards and grabs his bow and arrows.
He gathers the bag after noticing most of his clothes are gone; Jake has already arranged everything. He almost freezes before another explosion tears through another building. Screams are heard, and guards are all scattering around the source of explosions. Fire engulfs the air. Smoke whisks and spreads through the sky.
He watches everyone run and investigate; every guard is trying to stop the fires.
Nickolai leaps from his window and runs, darting towards the gates before he steers to the tower and climbs up the tree behind it.
Jumping up onto the gate, a guard spots him but Nickolai is too quick and snipes an arrow through the man’s neck. It kills him instantly and silently, and he repels down and finds himself on the other side of the gate. Outside.
He takes another breath before he runs and doesn’t stop, tears falling from his eyes.
CHAPTER 19
Light and agile on his feet – fast and quick with his movements – he continues to run. He doesn’t stop.
Even with his lungs burning and breaths quickening, he continues to dart through the deep forest, bouncing off the trees and moving through as far as he can. Even with his stumbles from his hasty speed, he continues through until his knees and palms crash to the ground. His lungs are suffocating, and his body shakes. He’s drenched in sweat. His mind finally clears and thaws into reality.
He ran for miles, and he hadn’t realized. He only stops because his body shut down. Unable to fight on, he needs to stop, even though he wants to keep running. For once, he’s fallen – but only for a moment. He needs to rest before he can continue onwards.
Finally, he pulls the large khaki backpack from his back and shoulders and pulls it around to look at it and its contents. Several bottles of water are strapped around it. He’s quick to gulp and finish a bottle in only a few mouthfuls.
Several moments pass, and Nickolai is in a complete daze. He is still riddled in shock from the aftermath. He stares into the abyss of the forest. Thick brushes, tall and thin surroundings trees, and birds and insects.
He takes this moment to reflect, but at the same time, he’s slowly coming down to a very calm state. Looking around, seeing the forces of nature surround and shroud him. A sense of serenity is found, as he sits there gathering everything in, taking it all as the pace finally drops.
Silence is forgiving right now, it’s peaceful. No signs of pursuit. No one is after him. It is almost deafening how calm and collected it is out there, however far out he is He scans the forest that surrounds him, until his vibrant odd-eyes narrow on a large red deer. staring just as shocked as he is. Its eyes are wide and alert, closely watching his movements, tense and ready to break if he moves.
Nickolai is just as motionless, in awe of the beautiful creature staring back at him. Its ears flicker and in turn, his does as well and with that, the deer hops and darts off, mixing into the dark green ocean of the forest.
He’s left completely shocked by the deer’s presence, and how delightful and beautiful it truly was to witness such a delicacy in its own world. – so free – He finally lets a small smile taint his lips, as if the deer brought a sense of hope upon him.
Taking a deep breath, he finally decides to look inside the heavy backpack he’d been carrying around all this time. It doesn’t weigh him down at all. After the intense and excessive training, he’s endured over all the years— walking for miles roughly thirty-one to be precise - with the heavy backpacks containing roughly fifty kilos and above through hail or the sun, night or day—. They’d spend days out there. this is nothing new, only the fact that he's running a marathon in such a short time.
Unzipping the top, he’s greeted with a letter attached to a much larger piece of folded up paper sitting on top of a very familiar crimson piece of fabric – his baby blanket. Taking the piece of paper and the blanket, he ties the blanket firmly around his left arm. He’s always had a connection with it for unknown reasons, after all. Why would he? His parents didn’t want him. He was unwanted, yet he can’t shake the feeling that there is so much more to the story – and he is avid and eager to find out.
He opens the letter first, which contains an address and details, followed by what looks like pieces of his birth certificate in pieces glued to the bottom of the letter.
His palm soon traces his forehead, as confusion dashes his features unsure on how Jake got his hands on this, and soon as he unfolds the large map. His eyes widen at the large section Jake circled in bright red – which could only be located as The Compound – which soon leads to a trail, and a section that moves him up and into the city, and what looks like a house. With only a name to go with and the minor details Jake has left him. Nickolai has only this to go by. Vague and indistinct, he seeks to follow it. After all, he trusts Jake.
Other essentials are stashed in the bag: food, water, and even a small tent with clothes. Jake clearly made sure he had everything to keep him going, to keep him from ever turning around and finding his way back to the Compound.
With the know-how after learning about survival over the years, he sets up a burning fire to cook a rabbit.
Although during that moment, he apologizes to the rabbit. As much as he didn’t want to, he knows he needs to. What Jake provided is more snack food than an energy source.
Guilt is always something Nickolai feels, for almost every action he’s done – whether his own or not - and this is no different. He loves animals, and he hates to kill one for his own gain.
He digs a hole and creates the fire inside with a wall of rocks to block and hide the flames. Always on alert, he never lets his guard down.
He doesn’t even bother with the tent. It is too much work for this night and sleep is certainly not happening and as the crackling fades with the fire, t
he embers of the flames glitter the dark sky. Nickolai is left alone to his raging thoughts and of Jake. He’s afraid he’ll never see him again. He’s left to linger on that thought as he watches the fire die, while he rests. Gaining as much energy as he possibly can – for once, he doesn’t know what is in store for him the next day – and that itself is scary. He doesn’t know what to prepare for, what could happen. Everything is all unknown.
Crunch
It’s not close, but it’s close enough for Nickolai’s ears to flicker and he’s alert immediately. Not wasting any time, he grabs his bag and leaps away. Fast, he zips up his bag and throws it over his shoulders. Almost stumbling in his haste – he quickly straightens himself – and steers away from the incoming marching boots towards him. They’re fast, and they’re loaded.
Soon, their shouts start to wake the forest, scaring the birds and deer. On pursuit, they watch and look carefully; they were debriefed on how skilled Nickolai is
The Captain and Syrus are in-charge of the operation.
Codename: Search and Destroy.
Destroy is accurate. While the Governor wanted him back – to her – she wants him destroyed. Whether that means killed on sight or brought back to live a painful life in the chamber— either way suits her. He’s betrayed her too many times, and she is left without what she truly wants. She is livid, and she wants him to pay for what he’s done.
Nickolai is cautious, on guard and making sure he is silent enough to slip by anyone he may pass. Of course, he has the height advantage. He wasn’t called a monkey by Jake for nothing.
Perched above, he watches them march and scan the forest like ants. They scatter around their weapons in guard.
The Captain is soon in his view, and with that, Nickolai moves stealthily away from the mob. The Captain is persistent and certain he’ll get the elf to show himself; he starts talking and calling out – as if he knows Nickolai is around.