Blood Warrior(2)

Nothing so magical had ever happened to me as watching all that water hit the shield. It was like being inside of a fish tank. The entire world vanished, aside from what we could see in the bubble. Thank goodness, Alice had included the vehicles within the protection of the shield.

We waited for the area to clear, watching the water slide down the outside of the barrier. The time it took was probably less than one minute in real time, but it felt like freaking forever to me.

Gavin had returned to his normal stance, but was gently moving his hands and forcing the water over the bridge to clear the way.

When the majority of the water was gone, I visually searched every inch of space I could see, hoping that the wave had taken most of the soldiers with it. But, the first sign of life that I saw was an angry soldier trudging toward us. He had no weapon, most likely having lost it when the wave hit.

“Drop the shield,” I ordered.

I heard a sigh of relief as Alice let the shimmering bubble fall, exposing us to the soldier and any others who happened to be out there. For me, there was always a decision when it came to weapons. I had my fire, which was a constant inner force begging to be let out. So, as this man steamrolled toward me, I felt the urge to roast his ass. Instead, I pushed back the fire and raised one of my guns. He was in full military gear with the flack vest and Kevlar helmet, so I aimed for the neck.

Again, the remorse of killing a human being and not a vampire sat heavy in my stomach. I didn’t like this at all, not one little bit. But, like before, this guy was going to kill us if I didn’t do something. Kill … or be killed. That was the bottom line.

“Don’t hesitate, Chloe.” Drew’s words drifted into my ears like whispers on the breeze.

Bang

Of course, I hit him with the first shot. He stalled and then jerked sideways, his hand going to his neck. Blood spewed out from the gunshot wound where I’d hit him. I charged forward, through the inches of water still on the bridge, knowing I had to finish the job. Even worse than shooting a human being, was seeing one suffer from a wound which I’d inflicted.

The soldier had fallen to his knees and his hand was pressed against his neck as if he was trying to keep the blood inside. He appeared to be in so much pain that he didn’t even seem to notice that I was approaching.

As soon as I was within distance I kicked him in the shoulder. He cried out and toppled over onto the wet pavement, causing water to splash up all around him.

Don’t think, Chloe, just do it.

I was on him before he had time to put up any sort of fight. I ripped at the straps of his vest, flipped it up and fired before I could give myself any time to think about what I was doing.

I stood and backed away from the solider. My eyes closed and the bridge seemed to sway under my feet. Suddenly, the snacks I’d had in the car churned within my stomach. “Oh, no,” I whispered, right before the first heave hit me.

I turned to the side and bent over just as the trail mix and jerky made a reappearance. “Dammit.” I clutched my stomach and moaned. I was the worst survivor ever. Getting sick every time I had to kill an enemy just wasn’t going to work in this new world.

I felt a hand come to rest on my shoulder. “You all right?” Drew asked softly.

I nodded and coughed a little, wishing I had some water to swish the nastiness out of my mouth. “Yeah,” I spat on the ground and then wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. Unladylike I know, but I wasn’t known for being very ladylike in the first place.

“We have to go,” Drew told me. “We have to get over the bridge before more soldiers come.”

I straightened and then turned to look at him. Our eyes locked and all I could see in those green irises was pity reflecting back at me. I didn’t need his damn pity. The last thing I wanted was anyone feeling sorry for me. “Yeah,” I agreed, “let’s move.” With that, I trudged ahead, leaving him to wonder what in the hell was wrong with me.

The bridge still had at least a good inch of water covering the pavement so I sloshed through it, making my way over to the others. They stood in a half circle, surrounding the military vehicles.

All the soldiers had been washed away with the water, but the vehicles were too heavy for even that amount of water to move.

“I’m gonna have to drive it to get it out of the way.” Zander climbed up onto the truck, opened the door and hopped into the driver seat.

While he fired up the engine, the others and I headed back to our vehicles. I climbed into the back seat of the escalade and buried my face in my hands. I wanted to cry, I wanted to let the tears fall until there were no more left. But, there just wasn’t time for a breakdown like that.