Fight By My Side

“Are you ready?” Austin asked me morning. If we didn’t hurry soon, the light would be up. My friend pulled me tightly into his chest, giving me a final goodbye hug. Aus worried too much! We would be fine! Under Kellin’s knowledge and Alex’s instructions, we would get in their easily enough. Besides, Mikey was our scout and would help warn us of any trouble.

“Of course.” I sighed and kissed him on the cheek, letting go of his hand. He would be going back to his house while Kally, Alan, and Vic watched the Sanctuary.

“Okay, just be careful.” He warned me. I smiled and walked towards the rest of my group. Jack and Alex stuck tightly together. Mike and Kellin looked towards me as I approached.

“Good luck, guys.” Vic waved us off.

“Bye, Vic!” I cheered as we started out of the house. This was our one shot, the one chance to destroy the information they had and possibly rescue some Shifters in the process.

An hour and a half later, we had reached the Barrier. Alex led our little group. Mike was already flying high overhead, and found a place to perch on the giant cement wall. Kellin would be waiting out here for our signal so he could pick us up and take us out of any immediate danger. Alex and I would go in to the computer lab. Alex would clear out the data, and then I would set fire to the lab. Jack had that small amount of time to go in and set as many Shifters free as possible. We would all meet back outside and escape back to the Sanctuary.

“Come on!” Alex hissed as we casually started to walk through the gates. The guards paid us little attention as we marched through. The early morning hours were starting to get busier as men walked to their businesses to start work. In an hour, the Guardians would rotate shifts. We had to get in and out before that time.

Jack and I followed the leader as he led us towards a door in the side of the Barrier. The Guardian’s HQ was located inside the cement wall. At least it had good protection!

A note of danger crept through me as Alex flashed a badge and opened the door for us. No one was in the hallways. It was a sterile white, long corridor with multiple doors branching off the sides of it. It smelled like disinfectant.

“Jack, third door on the left, take a right once you enter, and be careful. The walls are charged.” Alex warned his partner. As we quietly crept down the hall, Jack was about to branch off to his mission when Alex grabbed his arm. Jack spun around as Alex kissed him on the cheek. It seemed to daze Barakat a little, but he regained his senses quickly.

“I’ll see you later.” Alex murmured. Jack nodded.

“Yeah, I’ll see you later.” He responded and then ducked into the door. Alex and I walked down the hallway to the very last door. Was it really this easy to waltz into the Guardian’s HQ?

The two of us paused just before Alex opened the door. He turned around to face me, his eyes darkening with worry.

“Okay, here’s the trick. They have specialized sensors in the room for extra security. It detects any possible trace of the Gift. Since I haven’t Shifted much, and these sensors are a prototype while I was still working here, I’m hoping it’ll give me a couple of minutes to hack in and erase the data. As soon as I give you the signal, I need you to work quickly and light as much stuff on fire as possible. The sirens will blare and we have less than thirty seconds to run out before the doors lock us in and tear gas drops.” Alex explained in barely a whispered. I nodded, feeling the lighter and can of fluid that I had in my pockets.

“Get in, get out. Got it.” I affirmed. With the nod, Alex swiped his badge and punched in a passcode. He was right. Without the former Guardian, we wouldn’t have ever gotten this far. As soon as the green light flashed on and the lock unlatched, Alex bolted in. I stayed outside the door, feeling bare and exposed. It was all white and for a dark coated wolf Shifter, it seemed like I was standing in a possible death trap.

I kept an eye on the hallway, but peeked in occasionally to see how Alex was doing. The screens all flashed on at once. A loading bar appeared on each of the dozen screens lining the walls. It was an incredible lab.

The alarm sounded. No, this wasn’t supposed to happen this soon! We had another minute left!

“NOW!” Alex called. I ran in, spraying lighter fluid all over the place in a big line around the circular room. As I got back to the entrance, Alex was already booking it out, searching for Jack. I flicked the lighter and tossed it into the puddle.

The room exploded in a circle of fire.

Monitor screens cracked, hard drives started to melt. Everything was being torched.

Shouts down the hall alerted me to the people waking up. I saw Alex, Jack, and about twenty other Shifters run down the hall. Jack was shouting orders to them as the door opened and an explosion of sunlight broke into the halls.

As soon as the captured Shifters, young and old alike, reached the outside, they all flooded in the direction they were supposed to go-outside of the Barrier.

Mike was turning circles high overhead. I knew that Kellin would be waiting, still in his horse form, for us before he could bolt.

A flood of Guardians started to block off the exit. A few lagging lame people that had been to injured to keep up were caught in the crossfire and shot down. I felt anger flare up as the so called “protectors” killed innocent people. The rest escaped to safety.

About ten Guardians made a line, blocking our trio from escaping. The Barrier had one entrance and one exit to the City, and now that was cut off.

People stopped, stared, and screamed as the Guardians approached us. We had no weapons on us. Our forms were our weapons, but we wouldn’t attacked unprovoked.

I saw men, women, and children all cower by the business doors, watching to see what happened. An idea popped into my head.

The people created the Guardians because they thought they were all evil and attacked for no reason, so what if we could prove that we weren’t like that at all?

“Hold on, don’t Shift.” I murmured to Alex and Jack. I scanned the ten Guardians that were slowly approaching us, guns pointed to our hearts. At the front of the line was one familiar man.

Wyland, the man who killed my parents.

I finally felt the hatred, the anger build up, but no, I wouldn’t attack just yet. Not unless they shot at us.

“Well, well, well….It looks like I finally found the girl who had escaped me yet before.” Wyland chuckled. How could sweet, innocent Alan be related to this maniac?!

“Look, we don’t want to be hunted anymore. We don’t kill innocent people! We kill the Rogues that harm civilians!” I pleaded to him. A quick glance to my side showed Alex clutched Jack’s arm, holding him back from leaping forward.

People on each side began to stir in wonder. Could this be true to their ears? Were the words I spoke real?

“Tell that to the hundreds that were slaughtered!” Wy shouted back. He held his hand and the other Guardians lowered their weapons, but his was still ready.

“No, please hear me out! That was the Rogues, led by Aaron Wild. It’s not us, but the ones with red eyes. We aren’t your enemies!” I begged for him to listen. Wy’s eyes twitched, just a hint of understanding. I could tell his brain went back to that one day where his sister was killed.

“Tell that to my dead sister!” He spat and raised the gun. A bang flew through the air as a speeding bullet went towards me.

But I was never hit, just pushed aside.

Alex took my place.

Alex took my bullet.

The former Guardian dropped to his knees as the crowd gasped. A group of children cried.

“Hey! He didn’t do anything to you!” An old man moved to the streets. Jack yelped and immediately dropped to his fallen friend. The bullet had paralyzed Alex Gaskarth, but something else unfamiliar was happening. His face immediately went pale and he started gasping for air. The bullet had hit him in the ribs-that’s where the blood was pouring from- but something terrible was occurring.

The other Guardians shifted their weight nervously behind Wyland, who just looked stunned. It seemed to register that he had shot a former solider that used to be on his side.

“Hey! Don’t hurt them! They haven’t attacked you!” Some other woman cried out, realizing what had happened. Jack was crying, holding Alex in his arms as his eyes fluttered closed. People rushed to the streets around us.

A horse whinnied behind the line of Guardians and trampled through the crowds that cleared as space for Kellin, who sensed the danger of what had just happened. Mike was hovering overhead.

Chaos had erupted. Mike was flying overhead, but a Guardian with wings was chasing him.

A Guardian with the wings of an eagle soared after Mike. It was an aerial race. So this had been what Project Upgrade was. They had actually did it. They had actually put the Gift into another a hybrid Guardian of half-animal and half-human.

“Get Alex to the Sanctuary! Hurry, he’s dying!” I screamed as the mob around me moved to protest the Guardians. Jack hopped behind Alex as Kellin took off, faster than any car I had ever seen.

The people were beating some Guardians, who just swatted them away like they were flies. Outrage was pouring through the streets. I could almost hear Jack’s sobs as Kellin galloped quickly away.

“GO!” A man screamed to me as he pushed a Guardian aside, right before an arm had hit me. I nodded, a little stunned at the sudden change of heart that the crowd had.

I Shifted into my black and silver coated wolf form, taking off behind Kellin, but lifting my head to Mike. I howled out in anger at the sight.

The Guardian with wings had caught Mike, tangling him in a net and dropping back to the ground, in the midst of the battle. Mike had been captured and now was surrounded by Guardians. I felt tears prick at my eyes, but I had to go.

I just paused long enough to see Mike change back, scream in pain, and wave his hand at me, telling me that I needed to go.

I turned tail and sprinted after the fading figures on the horse. The galloping stallion seemed to be floating on air he was going that fast. No matter the training I had gotten, how often I practiced, or how far I ran, I would never be as fast as Kellin right now.

Through the entire way back past the suburbs of the Range, I thought all about Alex. He had come as a suspicious stranger, but became close to Jack. He wasn’t as bad as we thought. It looked like there had been some misunderstandings on both sides.

Guardians thought we were all evil, and Shifters thought they were all killers. It looked like we were both wrong.

Alex had bonded to Jack and risked his life to block a bullet that had been meant for me. He wasn’t doing that just so that I wasn’t dead and Jack would still be happy, no, he actually cared about us. We’d gotten closer day after day that he had stayed. Alex was funny, smart, and genuinely kind. I had to admire him for the leadership that he used early today. I see why he had made a good Guardian.

And now he was dying.

As soon as I hit the end of the dirt road, I saw Kellin and the two boys over the hill. They had slowed down to stare at something beyond the grassy hills. I caught up to the three, panting heavily from the sprinting I had done. Man, would I be tired after this! For now, something else caught my attention.

A heavy hand of smoke rose over the hill and grasped at the air. It came in the direction of the Sanctuary.

Jack was still breaking down on Kellin’s back. Alex had passed out and was limp as Jack held one arm around his waist. Kellin was panting heavily, but I barked to keep going. We slowed down our pace a little, but cautiously made our way up the hill that over looked our little house.

It wasn’t there anymore.

Instead, we saw the wood on fire, the roof collapsed in and most of it in ashes. There were four Guardians around the building, spraying tongues of flames onto the dry wood. All I wanted was to rip their throats out, but I couldn’t.

Where were the others?!

We stood silently and Jack sobbed harder as our only home was melting before our eyes. Kellin nudged my shoulder and tossed his head in the eastern direction.

Three figures were disappearing over the hill.

We swiftly followed the three figures, taking a longer way to avoid detection by the four Guardians that roasted our only safe house. I knew where the trio was going.

As soon as we hit the forest’s edge where Vic, Kally, and Alan were waiting, I broke down into tears. Jack was right there with me, holding Alex’s body.

Notes

I'm sorry guys, I'm so sorry. :(

It....it had to be....

Don't worry, he'll get an awesome memorial....later...