Forever Hold My Heart

We were in the lounge as Mathew started to give a brief explanation to all the students. He had all the weapons set out for them. He didn’t want to leave them vulnerable if things did get out of hand.
“They’re on their way,” Mason said and I gave Mathew the sign to wrap it up.
We all jumped over the fence and up into the trees. We started to make our way towards them but Mason gave us the sign to stop.
“They’ve stopped, only one of them is coming this way.” Mason said and I already knew who it was.
“Katelyn, I’d like to have a word,” Eli called out and I saw Marcus aiming for him.
“Wait,” I said and I was about to jump down but Blake grabbed me by my elbow.
“You’re not seriously going down there are you?” Blake asked
“Relax they can’t kill me,” I said to everybody and I jumped down.
“Not yet,” Eli said and I just shook my head
“I wouldn’t tempt them,” I said throwing his words back to his face.
“It’s all fun and games babe,” He said
“Still have the nerves to call me babe after I kicked your ass.” I said and he shook his arms.
“Oooo you give me the chills,” He said
“Shut up, so did you come to tell me what you wanted on your grave,” I said and he laughed.
“Don’t worry babe, because in the end the only shoulder you’ll have left to cry on is mine. I mean unless you want to cry on all of their dead cold shoulders.” Eli said motioning towards the guys.
“Keep thinking that way and we’ll see who gets the last laugh.” I said
“Alright well I just came to ask you one last time.” Eli said
“My answer is still the same,” I said and Eli let out a chuckle.
“Fine then,” He said and he jumped up the tree and left. I quickly did the same.
“They’re splitting up, some of them are coming our way the others are heading to our left.” Mason said
“Towards the Royals, how many?” I said
“10 of them,” and I whistled, “My team head out, we’re following Mason. I need three more to follow.”
“We will,” Mathew said motioning to himself, Devin, and Marcus. I nodded as we headed out.
“They’re splitting up again.” Mason said
“Take us to the ones who are getting too close to the Royals.” I said
“The other ones are going around and going back to the others.” Mason said
“Shit they’re trying to out number them,” I said and I looked at my team.
“4 of them are heading around,” Mason added
“Derrick, Jeremiah, Tyler, and Oliver head back.” I said and they nodded and left. We continued to follow Mason. Mason gave us the sign that we were close to them. We saw 5 of them waiting for us. Hunter, Bryson, and I were the first ones to make a move. I was fighting against Carissa. Marcus was helping out Mason, I had a talk with Marcus before and asked him not to use his Bow and Arrow unless he was a hundred percent sure he was cleared.
Fighting Carissa wasn’t an easy task, she was angry which only made her that much more determined. She jumped up to the branches and I followed her. She had made me follow her deeper into the forest away from the guys. I pulled out my gun and aimed at her but I was shot from somewhere else. I fell down from the tree, I had been shot in my left ankle, this wasn’t good at all. I tried to get up but was kicked over by Carissa.
“Golly o’ pal, would you do me a favor and open the safe,” She said mocking me.
“Go to hell,” I said and I kicked her with my good leg. I jumped up and put all the weight on my good leg.She pulled out a gun and I jumped out of her way but she shot my right thigh. I fell to the floor, this was going to be to be nearly impossible. I reached for my gun but she stepped on my wrist. I hope the guys were okay and that someone would find me soon.
I was laying on my stomach and she sat on top of me. I tried to get her off but it was useless. She had stabbed my right hand to the ground so that I couldn’t move it.
“They told me not to kill you and I promise I won’t,” She said and I tried to get up but then I felt a pinch on my right leg, followed shortly by a pinch from my left leg. My legs started to become numb, I couldn’t feel them anymore.
I tried to elbow her but she grabbed my arm and pulled it up my back.
“You can break my bones but I still won’t open the safe.” I sneered
“Who said anything about breaking bones.” She said and she opened my hand. I fought her as much as I could but she had her knee stabbed into my back. I could feel the cold knife against my index finger. I clenched my teeth and squeezed my eyes shut. I tried to pull my hand away but she moved my forearm so that her knee could could push down on my forearm. She started cutting through my finger, I tried to kick my feet but they wouldn’t move. I tried to hold back a scream, but then she slowed down when she started cutting through the bone. I let out screams and cries. I was so helpless I still tried to get her off of me but she didn’t stop. I could feel the knife going back and forth on my bone.
I could hear someone yelling my name but they were so far away. I cried as Carissa threw my finger by my face. I was in so much pain.
“Open the safe or I’ll move on to the next one,” Carissa said and I didn’t feel her on my back anymore. I quickly reached over and pulled the knife out of my right hand. I rolled over and sat up. I still couldn’t feel my legs, I saw Nate fighting with Carissa. I started to pull myself to my gun. When I finally reached it I aimed and shot Carissa in the head. I kept my gun up as Nate turned around. He looked at me and he jumped up a tree and left. I pulled myself over to a tree. I looked down at my hands, I was shaking so bad. I sat there and listened to the gunshots and all the yelling.
I vaguely heard someone yell to retreat. I prayed that if the guys left then the Figuris wouldn’t see me.
“They’re retreating,” I heard someone say. “Where’s Katelyn, she’s not dead is she?”
“She went with them.” Another one said
“How do you know,” He said
“I saw her run off, I think she ran out of ammunition or something,” He replied. I recognized it as Nate’s voice. I couldn’t understand why he lied. Did he feel sorry for me? Or did he have a change of heart. It was quiet now, not a sound in the forest, I leaned against the tree and silently cried. I took off my shirt and ripped the bottom part off with my mouth. I wrapped the fabric where my finger use to be, I put my shirt back on but didn’t even bother buttoning it. I sat there looking up at the little moonlight that escaped past the leaves.
I froze when I heard a branch snap behind the tree I was leaning on. I slowly picked up my gun. I slowly peeked out and saw a bear. He spotted me and I quickly pulled my head back. I couldn’t just shoot the bear, I don’t think Mason could ever forgive me.
The bear walked in front of me and laid down. I slowly reached out to him, he didn’t seem to be bothered by it. I used all my strength to pull myself up onto the bear. I tried to wrap my arms around him as much as I could so I wouldn’t fall off. The minute he got up I fell over. The bear then picked up bridal style and slowly started making his back camp. Never in a million years would I have imagined that I would be saved by a bear.
He walked all the way to a Royals house. We reached the gates and he got me close enough so that I could pull the lock open. I pushed the door opened and the bear took me all the way to the door. I opened it and he walked inside with me. He set me down on the floor and left. It didn’t look like anybody had been here. I pulled myself over to the door and closed it. I pulled myself to the table in the middle of the foyer. It had keys to different rooms I reached up and grabbed as many keys as I could I looked through them and the first aid was being kept up stairs in the last room in the hallway. I looked over at the stairs and just laid down defeated and started crying.
I hear footsteps coming from upstairs. I stopped crying and pulled my gun out. I pulled myself under the table. I could hear someone coming down the stairs. I held my gun tightly, dropped it when I saw Adrian.
“Katelyn!” He said and he pulled me out from under the table. He tried to help me up.
“I can’t feel my legs,” I said and he picked me up. “Where’s everyone at?”
“We got split up when we retreated,” he said, “How’d you get here?”
“Mason’s bear.” I said and he took me upstairs to the first aid room. We didn’t need a key because the doors were already opened. When we walked in I could see bloody sheets and some bloody tissue by the trash can. “Who’s here?”
“Evan, Daniel, Charlie, and me,” He said as he set me down on one of the beds. He started tending my wounds starting with my ankle.
“Do you know if the others are okay?” I asked
“I don’t know,” he said and I slowly nodded and I took off the piece from my shirt off of my finger. My hand was still shaking, a part of me was hoping that this was all just nightmare. After Adrian was done with my ankle he moved to my get the bullet from my thigh.
“Mathew made everyone retreat,” He said as he cleaned my wound. “We all heard your screams and it was like we had forgotten everything you told us. We lost focus and we tried to go to you, but we had to go through them first. Like you said they toyed with our emotions and then your screams just stopped. We all froze up, even they did. That’s when Mathew ordered a retreat. We thought we lost you.”
I looked down, I should have kept my mouth shut, it almost cost them their lives.
“I’m sorry,” I said and he moved on to my hand.
“Don’t be, I’m just happy that you’re okay,” He said
“What are we going to do about my legs?” I asked poking at them.
“Well what happened?” He asked
“Well after I had been shot in my legs she gave me two shots.” I said
“I would assume that with time it should wear off,” He said and he picked me up. “For now you should get some rest.”
“Have you contacted the others?” I asked
“Evan did when we got here,” He said and he took me to a room. “Now don’t worry about a thing.”
He laid me down and tucked me in. He started walking away.
“I’d hate to make this sound awkward or maybe even sound like a baby,” I went on, God I was being worse than Travis. “I guess what I’m trying to say is would you please stay.”
He walked over to the opposite side and laid down with his back facing me.
“Goodnight Katelyn,” He said
“Thank you,” I said and I tried to go to sleep. It was a repeat of any other night without Travis. Cold sweats, crying, screaming, and not healing as much as I should. I finally gave up when I realized I could move my legs again. Walking on my ankle was bearable, I left Adrian a note saying that I was going to go check on everyone else and that when they were ready to meet back at camp. Before I left I checked on Evan, Charlie, and Daniel; they seemed to have been healing pretty well.
I got into a car and drove off to the nearest Royal house. It was a hassle having to get out and open the gates. Once I drove up to the house I quickly got out. I limped to the door, once inside it was quiet. There were some missing keys on the table. I went upstairs and started checking the rooms.
The first three were empty. I peaked my head into the next one and I saw Damien sleeping he looked fine, I scanned the room and saw Blake sleeping on the couch. In the other rooms I found Gilbert, Jerry and Tracey. Tracey had his torso wrapped and I could see the bandage had been soaking up his blood, it needed to be changed. I went over to the room that had all the first aid and grabbed some scissors, a gauze wrap, and some thing to clean the area. I limped back to his room and softly woke him up.
“Katelyn,” He said in a groggy voice. I put my finger over my lips and told him to be quiet. I cut the old wrapping, his wound was healing nicely but I could tell that the original wound was probably pretty big. I wrapped his torso again and gently pushed him back so he could go back to sleep.
“Get some rest,” I whispered and he seemed confused as I walked out. I did the same thing by writing them a note and left it on the table.
The next house I went to only had Jeremiah and Hunter. I felt bad but I woke them up because I didn’t feel comfortable if it was just them two by themselves. They both hugged me when I woke them up. Hunter looked worse than Jeremiah though.
“How did you get out?” Hunter asked as he carried me to the car. Once he saw how I looked he didn’t even let me walk.
“Mason’s bear,” I said and they nodded. Hunter place me in the driver’s seat and they got in the car. “When we get to the next house I want you guys to go back to sleep. Also try to be as quiet as possible I don’t want you guys to wake up the others.” I said
“Are you staying at this house too?” Hunter asked and I shook my head.
“I still have to go check on the others,” I said
“Then we’ll go with you,” Jeremiah said
“No, you guys need to be in top shape.” I said
“What about you” Hunter asked
“Like I said before they won’t kill me,” I said and I sighed, “Plus I have to find Travis.”
“But-” Jeremiah started
“No, I don’t care and don’t make me use persuasion on you guys,” I said and they stayed quiet. “It’s for your own good.”
The next house we went to was empty. I started getting nervous, I still haven’t found anyone else from my team, or the camp leaders. I was mostly worried for Marcus because of his catch. I was also scared that Travis would try to go out and find me.
The next house we went to had Jason, Ben, and Mason. They looked okay, Hunter and Jeremiah went to a room and went back to sleep without any more questions. I scrawled out another note saying to meet at camp when they were ready.
I hurried off to the next house, that one was empty as well. My ankle was really starting to bother me so I stopped and wrapped it tightly with a gauze. I left that house and headed to the next one. When I got there I found Oliver, Bryson, Derrick and Tyler. I felt a bit relieved to know that they were okay. I wrote them a note and left. I started to pray that everyone else would be in the next house I went to. I limped in but the door was locked. I wasn’t sure if I should knock or find another way in. My finger was throbbing so I just rang the doorbell. After a couple of minutes I pushed the button a couple of times.
Maybe Clarence accidently locked it, I started to limp back to the car. When I heard the door being unlocked. I turned around as the door was opened to reveal a distressed Travis. We just stood there and stared at each other and he ran and hugged me. I wrapped my arms around his neck. When we pulled apart he looked me over looked at my wounds, he stopped when he saw my hand. He just hugged me and I started crying again. It was hard trying to be a leader and staying strong when everything was falling apart at the seams.
He carried me upstairs and set me down on the bed. We were facing each other. He ran the back of his hand against my cheek. When I was with Travis, no words needed to be spoken. He laced his fingers with my left hand and I pulled my hand back. I didn’t want him to feel how weird it was holding my hand without my index finger. He kissed my forehead and grabbed my hand again. He kissed the palm of my hand.
“You’re still beautiful to me.” He said I felt another tear fall down. “I won’t let them hurt you anymore.”
He pulled me in closer and we laid there until sleep took us with it.