All I heard were screams followed by footsteps climbing up the staircase.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
We can leave her behind.
I hesitated. Would she be safe here? Behind me, I heard the sound of crashing buildings as the Mekanic caused a mini-earthquake in the ruins.
No, we have to get her.
I unmelded and ran into the building, cursing some more, with Zoe right behind me.
Inside, it was dark and dusty.
"Hey! I'm here to help!" I shouted up the first staircase I reached. I started climbing, taking two steps at a time.
I did mention we should avoid rooftops.
I know, I know.
Maybe I should have left the woman to her fate. But I couldn't quite bring myself to do that.
I've noticed you have a soft spot for brunettes.
I know, I know. There was no point lying to Zoe.
We soon reached the top of the building, where a door leading to the roof was dangling from its hinges. I barged through onto the top of the building.
The woman was near the edge of the building, her back to me, with a camera. My jaw fell open. For a moment, I simply stared. Then, my temples throbbed in fury.
"What the fuck are you doing?" I yelled.
The woman turned backwards and smiled. She had shoulder length brown hair, bright green eyes, and despite the situation, perfect makeup.
I had seen her on TV. She was a hotshot reporter, Angela something.
I didn't bother saying anything else. I melded and seized the screaming reporter in my jaws. A loud rumbling grew closer.
I quickly searched for the Mekanic, but I had lost sight of it.
Where'd it go?
Beneath us! Quick! Get out of here!
The roof underneath us shook violently, like we were in the middle of an earthquake. But the shaking didn't subside. The roof suddenly rocked to the side at an angle. The entire building dropped a good ten feet. I dug my claws into the concrete to avoid tumbling away.
What the hell?
The Mekanic is devouring the building from the ground up. This is why I said to stay low.
We were sitting ducks. The nearest building was at least thirty yards away. I couldn't leap that far, especially while carrying someone fragile in my jaws.
The woman in my mouth was still struggling. My mouth filled with the scent of flowery perfume.
"Quiet down," I growled. "This is all your fault."
The woman tried to say something, but I pressed my jaws together, increasing the pressure slightly.
"I said quiet down!"
The movement in my mouth stopped. The building lurched again, descending another ten feet or so. We wouldn't jump away, and below us, a giant Mekanic worm was waiting.
We were trapped.
I scanned the skies. A red speck was far off in the direction of the evac zone. Claire was too far away.
That left…
A shadow fell across me.
"What the fuck are you doing?" a dragon roared at me from above.
That's what I asked her!
Yes, you did.
I looked up to find Drake circling in the sky above us. I didn't reply to him. It wasn't easy to talk with a squishy human in your jaws. I had to fight to suppress an urge to bite down hard, kind of like avoiding the urge to swallow a piece of chewing gum.
I sat on my haunches and gave him an expectant look, doing my best impression of an innocent cat. Like Zoe did to me at times.
It must have worked.
"Hunter!" Drake screamed. He dove past us and the building. I couldn't see him when he went below the building, but I rushed to the edge, ready to make use of any opening.
The building we were on shook again, then went still. The building next to us exploded in a crash.
The fight had moved on. This was our chance.
I jumped over the edge of the building and ran down its side as I had done before. Rubble and debris ringed the base of the building, but I easily cleared them and ran towards the evac zone.
I heard more signs of fighting behind us, but I didn't stop to look backward.
In a few minutes, I reached the waiting vectorjet. The return portals were still out of commission with the threat of Staccato and traitors abroad.
I approached the open cargo doors. The others were already there.
"Took you long enough," Julie said.
Claire pursed her lips. She had probably been able to see what had happened. "Girl trouble?"
I dropped the reporter next to the other two men, then unmelded before shrugging. "You could say that."
The reporter stood up and smoothed her hair. She turned to me to speak, but she collapsed to the ground before she could say anything.
Mia was standing behind her, her hand raised. "We don't have time for this."
I didn't know Mia had that in her.
Mia is a warrior. You all are. Don't forget.
"Come on." I bent to pick up the unconscious woman. "Help me with this, Mia. Hurry, everyone. Get on the jet."
Moments later, we were high in the sky on the way back to the Academy.
The two men sat in the corner with the unconscious reporter next to them. The rest of us were quiet, unsure how to act in front of the extra passengers. Even Nikki and Claire avoided their usual antics.
Zoe was standing guard in front of the would-be journalists, baring her teeth whenever someone tried to get up. They got the message pretty quickly.
She's waking up.
I sat next to Stella, watching the woman stir, then gawk at her surroundings. When the reporter tried to move from her designated corner, Zoe swiped at the woman with her claws, drawing a shriek.
"Drake's going to kill us, isn't he?" I said.
Stella brown eyes met mine. "Yes. Yes, he is."
CHAPTER 3
"Don't you dare slow down!" Drake screamed.
We had moved to a slightly smaller training room after the damage to the other one two weeks ago. Today, we had been jogging around the perimeter for at least an hour. Wearing heavy packs filled with god-knows-what.
Someone stumbled and fell to the ground. It was Nikki. She looked around apologetically, straining to stand up.
Drake walked over to her. "Did I say you could stop?"
"No, sir," Nikki gasped. She rose to her feet and started to jog again.
"Did I say you could start?" Drake asked.
The rest of us had run past Nikki, but I glanced back at her. She looked around in confusion.
"Um…" Nikki stammered.
"One of you goes down, you all go down," Drake barked, pointing at Nikki. "Get back here you dumbfucks."
Kayla muttered something. The rest of us kept quiet. In the training room, Drake was a complete asshole. It was almost Jekyll and Hyde with him at times.
We trotted back to where Nikki stood, panting for air, faces and hair slick with sweat.
Looking sexy. Zoe and the other Avatars were waiting in the center of the room, except for Julie's spider, Tara. I had seen it nestled on Julie's chest as usual.
Thanks. Means a lot coming from a cat.
Not you. The girls. Thought you would have noticed.
I can barely notice my own feet.
My legs shook as I stood by Nikki and the others.
"What did I say?" Drake shouted. "Get down and give me twenty."
"With these?" Claire asked, tugging at her pack's straps. "No way."
"Yes way, Jones. And for that, make it fifty. On the ground now!"
We groaned as we started doing pushups. Claire struggled to do more than one. Nikki had trouble as well.
Mia, despite her delicate frame, was pounding out pushups faster than anyone but Julie. Stella, surprisingly, was holding her own as well.
Julie finished first.
How many did I do so far?
Thirty-five.