Page 16 of Shadow's Chosen

"It's worth a try. Team ready up, let's move." Adrien shot up and started firing, flames licking at the station walls. Bruce started firing with him. Elise and the others, while keeping low, used their cover to dart to the next set of cars. Elise saw drogin everywhere—some still shooting, others sitting slumped over in their own blood. There were bodies everywhere, but Elise didn't stop to look at them. One of the hunters, the golden woman, leapt off one of the vehicles as a group of masked men started on a pair of defenseless drogin. The woman's face was cut up, but she didn't let that stop her. With an angry yowl, she disappeared just as quickly as she came, back into the fray of gunfire. Elise looked for the others but couldn't identify who was who. Everywhere and everything was chaos and confusion.

They made it to the nearest car from the door—which, surprisingly, hadn't yet been fully engulfed in flames—and jumped inside. The drogin, covering himself, leapt into the driver seat. As he shut the doors, air blew quickly out of the vents, evaporating the smoke, allowing them to breath. The vehicle rocked as the tunnel shook once more. Bullets pelleted the glass of their cage but didn't penetrate. Through the small openings, they fired their guns to try to stifle their attackers as their driver started the car and stepped on the gas.

The car sped through the door and hit the flaming mass that had been another vehicle, shoving it to the side of the tunnel. Metal ground on metal as the car pushed its way past. The fire licked at the glass, making the heat unbearable for a mere second before the tank finally freed itself. They drove on, bullets still hitting the glass as they neared the end of the tunnel. Elise could see the exit. Though it was very dark, she could make out the sliver of a street beyond.

The car sped for the opening. Elise looked to the others, who seemed fine save for Tom's cut up face and the ash staining their skin and armor. She glanced at Adrien and reached out, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"It's all right," he said, placing his hand on her upper arm, bringing her close so that their foreheads almost touched. "We’re good. Everything is—"

Another flash of red blinded them, and the car jumped.

Elise went flying. She hit the side of one wall, neck bending back, face scraping the glass. Something hit her other side and knocked her shoulder. She went tumbling with the others as the car's back hit the ceiling of the tunnel in a blast of fire then dropped to the ground where Elise hit her head on the landing, and everything went black.

***

"Emergency...vehicle compromised...please exit the vehicle."

A red light blinked slowly off and on. Elise came to as the light stung her eyes and the robotic voice pierced her skull, making her head throb. She groaned and tried to sit up only to fall right back down. Her vision swam, but she didn't let that stop her from trying to sit back up. Shards of glass and debris fell from her suit, and she rolled slowly to her side then stomach. She blinked several times but couldn't seem to see. She dragged herself along and fell out from what she assumed was the car's back side. She moaned as every part of her felt pain. Her fingers tingled as she scraped and grabbed at the ground. She heard a scuffling sound nearby and another groan. She blinked and squeezed her eyes shut until her vision finally began to clear. Jerico dropped from the car onto his back beside her than slowly rolled onto his knees. He turned to her and grasped her arm with a shaking hand.

"Stirling. You okay?"

She nodded, but it seemed too slow. She seemed too slow, like she was waking from a long sleep.

"The others?" she slurred.

Jerico shook his head. "I'm not sure. I'm going to go investigate." Slowly, he lifted himself up, and the ground shook once more. Bits of dust and rock fell from the roof.

The tunnel. Oh, god, the tunnel is...

Elise pulled herself around. "Jerico," she called out in a weak voice. "Jercio...the tunnel."

He didn't seem to hear her. The end of the tunnel was close—she could feel the breeze. If they just got up and walked a few paces more...

Elise tried once more to force herself up but was only able to make it to her knees. She crawled as the ground continued to shake. Shouts and sirens could be heard farther back in the tunnel, but the gunfire had all but ceased.

Get up, you idiot. Get up, they need you.

With all her strength, Elise pushed herself up and stood on shaking legs. She turned to the car and saw Jerico pulling a member out but couldn't yet see who it was with his back blocking her view. She took a step to help him, and a terrible tremor forced her back down. She went to her knees again and was about to push herself back up when something jabbed the back of her head.

"Don't move."

Elise knew from her training what a gun felt like to the back of the head. She went still as the gun moved across her skull, and the owner stepped into her line of sight.

It was one of the masked men, his face fully covered with a ventilator where his mouth was and silver goggles where his eyes would be. His head was covered by a hood and across his chest was a large red X. He looked down at her and made a gesture with his hand. Several more men came into view, each wearing the same uniform as the one standing before her, with guns raised. From the corner of her eye, she could see one of them forcing Jerico and whoever he was helping, out of the vehicle.

"Make sure to get the others," said the man without looking away from her.

Elise wanted to scream, to fight, anything, but with several guns on her and her suit tarnished and body feeling like it had just hit a steel wall, she had no chance of beating them. Even if she could get to her gun, which miraculously had somehow been thrown out of the vehicle and now lay a few yards away, she'd be dead before she could fire.

The masked man released the gun from her head and gestured at her with it. "Get up."

Elise took a few deep breaths before trying to stand once more. As she slowly stood and raised her hands, thinking this was it, that she would rather die than be taken by them and so decided she was going to try for her gun after all, something hit the back of the man's head and he went crashing down in front of her. Dead.

Confused, Elise backed up as the other men shouted, aiming their guns at her.

"I didn't do—" she began to say when something flashed past her, and another man went down.

They started firing. Elise dropped back down as bullets flew, covering her head. She looked around and saw only feet scattering around her. Then her gaze found her gun once more, and she dropped her hands. Quickly, she crawled forward. As she reached for it and snatched it up, she rolled onto her back to take aim.

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