Chapter 16

Layla

Layla ran from the house. The fire had done its job taking out the hunter, killing him. The explosion surprised her, hurling her from the house to the ground roughly. He must have had them on once the fire hit him as the place went up in a blaze of glory. Nothing would remain. She could barely make out Alex in the distance, her head and ears ringing off the hook from the damage and landing poorly from her ungraceful escape from the house. She would live, but the hunter was dead, and they made it. It was beautiful. She used her powers, but it took him down without exposure and saved them both from his early arrival.

“Layla!” She heard Alex approach closer before attempting to speak back, her voice raw from the smoke and pain flaring through her system. Waving her hands, he ran toward her, fully armed and prepared for a battle, to lean down, taking her pulse first and helping her off the ground. Blood poured freely from her head, where she had cracked it on the landing. “Where is he?”

“In the house, dead. I threw sticks with fire on him and ran. He had on several grenades, and I thought it would work. He set the house on fire before, so I was out of options.” It was close to the truth. She had set it on fire and tossed a fireball at him, but in general, it was close enough to be accurate, for now.

“We need to get out of here. The whole town is on fire, and he left grenades scattered,” he said for the second time since she was not making out all his words. Grabbing the backpacks she had tossed out once the alarms set off, they ran out of the town, avoiding the fires and traps, to the edge, watching it burn down. The few buildings had become an inferno and out of control. Not that the fire department would know or arrive. The homes' kindling would die out with the fires, leaving only a husk of the town, a blackened scar to be taken back by the desert.

Alex took several minutes to bandage her head and sling her shoulder that had been knocked out of place from her fiery exit. The frayed edges of her braid had seen better days, and her throat had begun to scream in pain from the smoke she sucked in, but she would live. Once he was satisfied, he made the call to the General, explaining the situation quickly and that they needed an evacuation out of the area with medical. It helped that Thomas Clark was dead. They would be able to find whatever remains in the house once the fires died down, but they had succeeded without either of them breaking.

Alex fussed over the bandaging until the first set of helicopters arrived with blinding lights, landing to take them to safety. Others swarmed the area, to do whatever they needed, Layla thought but didn’t care. She lived and was getting out. Soon she would be free of this. She survived the dangerous man and somehow got the guy. It was not all terrible.