Don't Let Them Catch You

25? Selfless Acts

Her body protested against the movement of him shuffling her, but she let it happen. Soon she was tucked safely beneath a single wing. She kept her eyes tightly shut and felt him grunt beneath her.

"We were at least— mmrrr— fou—rrr floors down." He growled. Aura grimaced for him.

Slowly with his arduous effort more air reached the two of them, easier to inhale.

Aura used the opportunity to gather as much of it towards them as she could, grounding herself and staying calm. It wasn't long before she'd gathered enough of it to push through and give them enough space to move by forming a tight bubble, but the effort was so strenuous it broke a sweat between her brow.

  Despite the ache throbbing at her temple, she kept pushing.

Absently she wondered how many men it would take to be able to even carry all of this weight.

Amos must've felt the strain it was having on her because he started to move faster. Using his left arm he hammered his wing and elbow through layers of concrete. He started to climb through, clutching Aura's body to his while she used her power to maintain their little bubble.

Just when she began to feel like she couldn't hold it any longer, the rumble of debris got louder, accompanied with an anxious whine. Skye's digging allowed the two to cut the time it would've taken in half and Amos' arm broke through, finally. Aura lost her grip on her power and before it could collapse into them once more, Amos slipped the two of them out.

A tiny, selfish part of her almost wished they'd stayed inside once she saw what awaited them above. It wasn't the fire that scared her.

It was the chaos.

Sure, the hot red ribbons that encroached upon them terrifying, but it was nothing compared to what it spat out.

Emerging from the flames, spilling over the crumbled fortress of the front gates were monsters. They charged over the demolished walls like ants racing to a picnic. She couldn't count them even if she tried, they polluted all the cream coloured territory they passed with unending darkness, blurring into each other to the point where it was impossible to see individuals.

They were fast and gaining momentum on all sides, everywhere she looked, north east south and everywhere in between. At the pits the shifters panicked and struggling to formation, some were smart enough to quickly mount the ballistic devices they had prepared throughout the day, aerial fighters swooped in their animal forms and defended the perimeters the best as they could, popping in and out of sight strategically. The wolves fought towards the north, moving as one single body.

They all fought, any and everyone who wasn't buried beneath the— the compound.

All of it was gone. Nothing but mountains of stone.

Aura gulped.

How many had they lost?

Their men were scarce. Did Markus—

Aura's eyes darted frantically, trying to look passed the chaos to find, Markus, Tanya— among the soldiers that shifted to full glory and charged the enemy despite how obviously outnumbered they all were.