Michaels lead the way through the building. The Gotoro soldiers walked closely together around them, their weapons in their hands, ready.
“I don’t like this,” Shane muttered to Najia.
“You get the easy part,” Najia hissed to him. “You get to sit there while I get to relive hell.”
“You think that’s the easy part?”
“You just always have to one-up me, don’t ya?”
“Shane’s just ‘fearin’ for his life,” John muttered.
“I heard he was looking forward to it,” Alex said with a smirk.
“Fine,” Shane said. “Two can play at this game. You better hope we get out of this alive or you can blow the barrel of my gun.”
“Is that really how you talk to your elders?” John said.
“Yeah, Shane,” Najia said playfully. “Come on, man. Bad taste.”
“I can’t win,” he muttered.
“Plus, you’d both be dead, anyway,” Alex pointed out. “So, it just wouldn’t work.”
“Maybe you should just turn it around on him,” Abigail suggested. “Whenever he threatens to shoot you, you threaten to shoot him.”
“Yeah,” Shane said, narrowing his eyes at John. “What she said.”
“What the smart girl said for you because you’re too stupid to think for yourself?” John smirked at Shane.
“They talk a lot for prisoners,” Marlon muttered.
“We can’t be prisoners,” Najia said. “We came to an agreement.”
“No one shook on it,” Sam said.
Michaels stopped at a door and turned to face them, smiling. “Someone’s paying attention,” he said. He met Sam’s hard gaze before turning to Najia. “I’m a man of my word. We can help each other.” He held out his hand.
Najia stared at his hand, hesitant, before meeting his gaze. “I’ve come to learn that in war, no one’s word can be trusted.”
“Well,” he said. “That’s a decision you will have to make, as I am also making.”
Najia narrowed her eyes at him. “You think a rag-tag group of runaways have the ability to turn their back on a potential enemy?”
“I think anything can happen in war. I’ve been surprised enough myself to know that not everything is as it seems.” He smiled at Najia. His eyes seemed to look right through her, sending a shiver up her spine.
Najia took his hand in hers and they shook once.
“Then it’s done,” he said simply, opening the door before them. They walked into a room much smaller than the last, but certainly big enough for all the equipment it contained. In the middle of the room was a single chair, much like the ones Najia had seen in doctors’ offices. Around the chair were various machines and cords.
“That’s not creepy,” Najia muttered.
“We’re prepared to take care of you,” Michaels said. “We’ll do our best to keep you alive.” He gestured towards the chair. Beside it stood a man in a form of white scrubs. He waited as Najia approached the chair and slowly sat down. The chair leaned back slightly and the man began to prep Najia, attaching pads and wires to her head and chest.
“Just so we can monitor your pulse,” Michaels assured her.
Najia felt a pinch in her hand. She watched as an IV was placed. Her heart raced faster and faster as something new was attached to her. She looked across the room to where the others stood, heavily guarded. She could see the fear in each of their faces as they looked on and wondered if they could see fear in her. She leaned her head back and stared up at the ceiling.
The room was darker than the darkest night she could remember. Even darker than the haze that covered their world. A darkness that would have surely swallowed her whole, yet she could somehow see through it. She could see the dark, shadowy figure standing before her. It’s eyes glowed too brightly in the room.
“Where is the Sword of Light?” it asked her. It’s voice was deep and twisted. A painful bolt of fear ripped through her chest.
“What is it, Najia?” Michaels asked.
Her eyes were wide as she stared up at the ceiling. Her chest heaved as she struggled to gasp for breath. The monitors beeped dangerously.
“It’s him,” Najia gasped. “Nox.”
“Who is Nox?”
“Their leader,” she said between gasps. “The leader of the Shadow People.”
“You can understand him? What does he want?”
“The Sword of Light.”
The monitors beeped faster, erratically. Najia’s fingers scratched at the arm rests. Her nails dug into the material, revealing the thin stuffing inside.
“What is the Sword of Light?” Michaels pressed. “Is it in the valley?”
The beeping spiked once more, growing faster as Najia’s heart raced violently in her chest.
“Sir,” the doctor said at his side. “She’ll go into cardiac arrest.”
A chilling sensation shot through her chest. Frozen air seemed to wrap around her heart as she gasped for breath. Her breath came out as an icy fog in the darkness. She gasped once more, but there was no air left to fill her aching lungs. Her body screamed in writhing agony as she tried once more to breathe.
“Go to the valley,” Nox said.
Najia choked on the air that suddenly filled her lungs. Her lungs burned as she fought to catch her breath. The chilling sensation passed through her and disappeared.
Najia gasped for breath as her eyes flew open. The bright LED lights hanging from the ceiling burned at her retinas. She closed her eyes as she waited for her breathing to return to normal. She opened her eyes slowly once more and peered to the side at Michaels.
“Najia? Are you okay?”
“Go to hell,” she muttered through her clenched teeth.
Michaels straightened and smiled, pleased with himself. He turned to the doctor, his lips moving, but Najia could not make out the words. She fought against her spinning head, fighting to keep her stomach at bay. She turned her head to the side, examining the room. Shane was on his knees as two men held him back, as if they were just fighting to keep him still. Najia stared at him blankly before turning back to the ceiling.
“I don’t think you have much more to tell us,” Michaels said as he turned back to Najia. “Fortunately for you, because anymore would have killed you.”
“It did kill her, you fucking prick,” Shane shouted to him.
“We may be in a apocalyptic war zone,” Michaels said. “But we’re not without modern technology, capable of bringing someone back from the dead. She was hardly in danger.”
Najia continued to stare up at the ceiling, her eyes searching the white panels.
“What did you see, Najia?”
“Darkness,” she muttered. Her eyes traced the edges of each panel in the ceiling. Her brows knit together. “But I could see Nox. I could hear him. I understood him.”
“It seems that way,” Michaels said. “Very interesting. What else?”
Najia hesitated. “It was cold. My chest… I couldn’t breathe.”
“The touch of the Shadow People,” Michaels said. “A chilling, deadly touch. An instant kill if they wanted it to be.”
Najia moved her gaze on to Michaels’s. “Are we done here?” she hissed.
The doctor checked her vitals quickly before removing the equipment attached to her.
“Easy now,” he said to her as she swung her legs over the side. She slid on to her feet and immediately collapsed under her own weight. Released from the hold of the soldiers, Shane ran to her side, pulling her into his lap.
“I had hoped that the sword was real, hiding in the valley,” Michaels said casually.
Najia gritted her teeth as Shane helped her to her feet. She leaned on him for support, glaring at Michaels.
“Is this the part where you go back on our deal?” she muttered.
“I’m a man of my word,” he said with a smile. “And I still believe the valley could offer us a chance at winning this war. I will defend it until I know for certain otherwise. My men will guide you back to the valley. They will set up camp around the valley where I will have an army stationed for defense. Please do treat them kindly.”
Michaels turned to his men, barking orders at them as John hurried to Najia’s side, wrapping her arm around him for support. The Gotoro soldiers guided them out of the building and back to their vehicles where an army was already waiting in various vehicles.
With Shane’s help, Najia feebly got into the Trans Am. She leaned against the seat, exhausted, her eyes closed as she sighed through her nose. She felt Shane’s hand on hers and she met his concerned gaze.
“Can we go home now?” she said weakly, her voice soft. She closed her eyes again.
Shane’s hand squeezed hers. “Yeah.” He stood and closed the door.
Najia watched as he and John spoke angrily to one another. Their voices were muffled through the car, but she was able to pick out a few words that suggested their conversation was of their dehumanizing treatment from the Gotoro soldiers. Surely Shane would be angry at her for suggesting this plan.
She watched her grandfather’s hand rest on Shane’s soldier for a moment before he turned away. Their eyes turned to Najia before John turned to get in to the truck. Shane slid into the seat beside her and stared out the windshield for a moment. As the vehicles started to pull out, Shane started the engine and joined them.
“The sword is real,” Najia said softly. She turned her head to check Shane’s expression. His brows knit together and his knuckles whitened on the steering wheel.
“Why didn’t you tell Michaels?” he asked.
Najia turned away and closed her eyes. “I don’t think he can know about it.” She hesitated. “Rasmodius has it. He’s working on it. He said it could potentially end the war. But they can’t know about him. I don’t know how much of the valley is dependent on him or not.” Her voice shook as she spoke. “I just don’t know. I don’t know what to do. But I don’t think Michaels can know. We have to keep the valley safe, Shane.”
“I don’t think the valley is worth dying over,” Shane muttered.
“Without the valley, we have nothing. We’ll lose the war.”
“Maybe we should let the trained soldiers protect the valley, then,” Shane hissed. “We’re nothing but people that accidentally found the one place everyone is after. They will kill us all to get to it. Maybe it’s time we high tail it outta there and let them nuke each other over it. This isn’t our fight.”
“No,” Najia said, her voice hard. “Maybe it’s not your fight, but it’s my fight. I didn’t choose to be in this, but I am. And I just have this feeling, Shane. We can’t just give up the valley. There’s so much more to all of this. So much more we don’t know about.”
“And when are we going to know?” Shane asked angrily. “Because time’s running out.”
“Soon,” Najia said. “This war is only just beginning.”
“Najia.” Shane hesitated, his voice softer. “This isn’t your fight. You don’t have to do this. You don’t have to die for the valley.”
“I’m not dying,” she muttered. “Not yet.”
“You did die,” Shane shouted. “You had a fucking heart attack and died. Right there in that damn chair.”
“I’m alive now,” Najia muttered.
“I can’t keep doing this, Najia,” Shane said angrily. “I can’t watch you get hurt or kidnapped or killed any more.” Shane met her gaze. “I will fight with you - for you - to the fucking end, Najia, but please don’t make me watch you die.”
“Shane…”
Shane turned his gaze back to the road.
“Why are you saying this?”
“Because,” Shane started.
“No. Stop. Don’t say anything.”
Shane turned to her. “What?”
“Just stop talking.”
Shane hesitated. “Why?”
“Because you’re going to say something stupid.”
“No I wasn’t.”
“Yes you were.”
“Why do you think its stupid?”
“Because you’re stupid,” Najia muttered. “You’re not thinking straight. Too caught up in the drama. We’re not doing this. No emotions.”
“You’re being ridiculous.”
“I’m being completely reasonable. We’re fighting for our lives. We could die at any moment. It will just be a hell of a lot easier if you just keep your hole shut.”
Shane’s brows knit together as he stared at the tail lights in front of them. “Just don’t make me watch you die again.”
