Chapter 3.6

In the morning I tell the man that I can't help him. I wonder if Rickon knew that he'd try and persuade me, but I was reminded once again of the power Rickon held. Even if I did escape with him, we would never get away from his grasp. For the sake of survival, I killed those feelings of empathy I felt for that man. Better that one of us die than both.

The mans eyes went frantic, darting back and forth looking for some source of comfort, but he found none in the harsh terrain nor the squad of murders. "I'm sorry." I apologised again.

"NO! you've got to help me! Please! I can help you; you don't have to do this anymore!"

My expression went hard, "I can't, we'd both die."

He began begging for his life, shouting, crying, even threatening me, but I walked away from the noise and settled back into the car ready for departure. Unfeeling, and unconcerned, the boot was slammed shut, cutting him short.

I knew he was going to die- he knew it too. But there was nothing I could do. A few moments later, the cars start moving again, and the man's cries are drowned out by the engines.

Loius Grey was quiet after the initial outburst, so much that I thought he might have died already. We travelled North again across a flat plain, at mid-day we met a road and followed it north west.

Through half closed eyes a dark shadow filled my vision, and suddenly fear swept through me "Stop!" I shouted, before my eyes shot open with alarm. The truck skidded to an abrupt halt, its tires screeching and slipping on the loose stone. The truck ends up at a right angle, and the car behind swerved off the road completely, clipping the back of our car, jarring it forward another foot and pulling out seat belts taught. There stood in the middle of the road was the shadow figure, black swirling fog forming a head, two arms and two legs, but no features could be distinguished in the great expanse of black. Fear was replaced with dread as I knew I'd made a mistake. I'd open my mouth on instinct- too soon. I shot a sideward glance at the fury filled Rickon. He stiffly gets out the driver's seat, and walks round to my side, carefully unlocking the door before roughly seizing me by the scruff of the neck, lifting me with one hand and throwing me to the floor.

"I do not play games brat!" he kicks me in the stomach, and I skid across the dirt and hit my back against the tires of the truck. He brings his foot back once again and the metal in his boot crashes against my nose, and I hear it snap. Dark shapes fill my vision, and I feel warm wet ooze down my face. I'm so stunned by the pain and sheer suddenness of the series of events that I couldn't move. I'm frozen, collapsed at the base of the truck with no energy left in my limbs.

"Rickon, Wait a minute. Have a look at this." I heard Jay's voice through the confusion, and I feel the fury walk away.

I let out a shaky breath and tenderly touch my nose. I wince, which sends further daggers of pain shooting through my face. When my vision clears I see the shadow lurking in the middle of the road, and if it had eyes it would have been looking right at me. Jay and Rickon are bent over, inspecting something it its feet, I watch through the underneath of the car as he carefully uncovers something metal and round from the dirt, "It's a land mine." Jay stated with a hint of surprise.

Rickon eyes shift with suspicion, "how did you know that was there?"

I watched past him as the black shadow disperses and evaporates like a mirage in the heat. "I don't know."

He scoffed, "Get back in the car. We'll go around that."

My mind raced, as I stumbled back into car, trying to stem the blood racing down my face. I looked out the window where the shadow stood, but it was already gone. What are you? I wondered. Was it a ghost? Was it even real?

Jay watched me suspiciously out of the corner of his eye, and all I could do was stare straight ahead at the back of the seat.

When the roads got busier, we pulled over to the side of the road. On the horizon was a city, and it was clear we'd entered Paela. I was instructed to get out of the car, and Jay pulled Louis Grey from the boot while the others remained behind. We climbed down a ditch running the length of the road and followed it three hundred meters before stopping. Above us, several roads intersected, and the traffic was heavier. Louis Grey was propped against the wall of the ditch and cowered against the men looming over him.

"You were so concerned about the boy, now he will be your death." Rickon marvelled at the expression he pulled.

Jay offered me a gun, it was larger than the guns Dark Moon Squad carried, it was loaded with one bullet. "Shoot him." Rickon ordered.

I stared at the object in my palm, my fingers curled around the grip, my thumb hovering over hammer, and my index finger over the trigger. It was heavy and cumbersome. "Kill him." He repeated. I hesitated; the gun trembled in my hand and my mind froze up. "shoot him." His voice was edging with anger; he grabs my hand and raises it to his head, he forces my tumb to pull back the hammer, ��Kill him now!" his voice possesses me, I'm sorry. I pulled the trigger. Bang! A harsh noise resounded in my ears, and the force ripped my arm up and jarring the rest of my body. Louis Grey slumped. My aim was off, the bullet teared through his throat, splaying blood in every direction. There was so much red, there was a horrible gurgling sound, and air whistled in the hole in his throat and he struggled to breathe. He didn't die straight away, he struggled, his hands desperately gripping his throat and slipping on the blood. His eyes bulged and he gagged, coughing blood on my face.

My body went cold and numb. Everything else went dark- all I saw was dying man's face, paling under layers of new and dried blood, and red torrenting through his fingers at his neck. My hand still holds the gun, it slips through my fingers and bounces at my feet.

"Leave the gun." Rickon instructed.

I follow them, as if pulled along by an invisible string. We leave the corpse, still grasping his neck, fallen in a pool of blood and dirt.