Page 20 of Secret Gifts
I fling my arms, and their front line is knocked from their feet. I almost want to squeal - because I’m so fucking excited - but then a new parade of bullets slice through me, reminding me to pay attention.
I scream out as the blood runs down my legs, and I throw my arms out once more to send out a new ripple, knocking them off their feet. This time, some of them contort and fold as their bones crack and break. But that’s all I’ve got. Even if I could evoke more, I’m bleeding too much to bring out my gift.
I slump to the ground to stare at the red stains falling freely down my body, and then I taste the tang of my blood in my mouth. Screams echo in my ears as the fight rages on, and my hair clumps together as more blood sprays on it from my falling team. I pull on the mask, though I'm barely able to do such a task. I have to keep the blood out of my mouth.
I keep shooting, but I know it’s pointless. I throw my last two grenades, but the blasts only clear to show more of them charging toward us with their unrelenting hailstorm of uranium.
Suddenly, hope finds a place in my heart as the men too close to me are ashed in front of my eyes. Then several of them fold over as they’re forced to the ground. More and more are incinerated in front of my eyes, and then I see the faces behind the power.
“Uncle Grayson,” I murmur in a near whisper. “Aunt… Angelica,” I force out, begging them to see me.
“Aria!” Aunt Angelica screams as she jumps down from the sky-scraping rock of the canyon above us.
Men fly out of her way on her path to me, but suddenly she grabs her side as blood rushes free.
“No!” I scream as I try to stand, but my legs collapse beneath me, my bloody body failing me when I need it the most.
Men around her become ashes as my uncle loses his sanity to his savage.
Finally.
He releases his unfiltered power, and the thousands become hundreds within a blink. Then I hear more gunshots rattling free as men slide down the canyon side. I look up as I see the dark hair of one drawing my attention.
Jase!
I’m almost certain I’m delirious. This is all too good to be true, and now I've got a glimmer of hope that wasn't even in my wildest dreams. There’s no way we can survive this, when moments ago it was an impossibility.
Aunt Angelica stands to force more men to bow at her feet, and Uncle Grayson slays them with his flameless fire.
Jase fires rapidly into the hoards as he makes it his mission to reach our team. His body whirls through the bullets without being scraped even once. He rolls and dives before a grenade catches up with him. It’s as though he can see everything coming before it does. He’s amazing.
He’s so fucking hot right now as he fires against the crowds. I've tuned out all the chaos, all the drama... everything. He's left me mesmerized amongst the madness.
I know he’s here to pull out our captain, but it almost feels like he’s here for me. It feels like he came to save me, and I’ve never felt so good.
“Damn it, take them out!” he yells to a group of men as a new fleet charges our way with their disastrous numbers.
I see their eyes... the pupils dilated. They have savages. No. They’ll kill us all. My uncle, my aunt, and… Jase. They’ll kill all of us with that many savages in tow.
I scramble to my knees as my blood pours more fiercely, and the earth rattles beneath my hands as I try to stand up. It vibrates, quakes and damn near erupts. Their screams echo through my ears like hollow cries.
I scream out as something powerful erupts from me, booming with an invisible force. It tears through the ground around us, reaching up and pulling the life from the collapsing slew of deadly savages, and then they all fall lifelessly to the ground. All of them.
Not one of them stands up. Not one person moves. Only our people still stand as I wobble to my feet. I have no idea what I just did, but they’re all dead. I'm scared and ecstatic at the same time.
Jase staggers to a halt as he gasps out his disbelief, and Aunt Angelica clutches her mouth with both hands as her eyes dart to mine. I glance in the mirror that I keep on my keychain, and I see the purple has overtaken the blue contacts, thanks to my acidic tears.
Fucking shit.
She starts toward me just as I collapse to the ground, the blood loss finally taking its terrible toll, but Jase beats her to my side.
“Aria, stay with me. I need you to talk to me,” he panics while scooping me up and holding me to his chest as though I’m weightless.
“Our captain… he’s there,” I wheeze out in a labored breath, keeping my eyes closed while pointing to the coward still unscathed and hiding beneath the rock.
“Someone get Captain Hollis back to the vehicles,” he murmurs to a group. “Take everyone to Singleton.”
“My niece,” Aunt Angelica shrieks as she reaches us.
