Chapter 112

Flight or fight 4.

Scarlett's POV.

I wiped my tears as my resolve hardened. I was going to live, I wouldn't just let death happen to me. Before, my body had always decided to pick flight, runninf away when things got too hard, that was all I knew. But this time around things were different, I couldn't just die like that, I wanted to give myself the chance to live, to be somebody. And my body agreed with me too because it was picking to fight with me, not shut down and leave me at the mercy of the elements and whoever had bad intentions. I would survive...

But first, I had to get out of here because staying in the pack house for another day wasn't an option. If I did then my death was guaranteed because no one cared to keep me alive. The only one I could say who did was Rush but now I thought he was still keeping me around purely for his own self so that he could get back at me. Once he grew tired of me I knew he would leave me to be at the mercy of the pack and I knew that would be my end.

I didn't know where strength was coming from but I somehow managed to summon enough strength to push myself off of the ground. My legs felt like rubber underneath me and it took a lot of effort to not fall back down.

"Be strong Scarlett, you can do this!" I muttered to myself, my own personal mantra to keep me going strong. I could do this. Either I died from this damn war, from my injuries or by some miracle if I survived those two, died by the hands of the pack. None of those options were appealing and I didn't want to let stuff just happen to me anymore. I would do things on my own terms from now on, so even if I was going to die it would be on my terms. And my terms were fighting till the very end. I didn't want to be what they were all calling me, a coward who couldn't do anything for herself.

I gritted my teeth as my body protested at the movement, my back singing it's own song of pain anytime I flexed the wrong way. My aching hands held the walls for support as I stood hunched over, thinking of the closest way I remembered to exit out of the pack. One look at the window and it was obvious the weather wasn't getting any better like Beta Ben had said earlier. Wind has joined the rain, and it howled, hitting the window panes fiercely as the rain beat down on it. I pitied those who were out in it, and very soon I would be one of those people because I simply didn't have a choice. It was either that or stay here, and staying here as an option had expired long ago.

One foot at a time, I told myself, as I slowly dragged myself down the hallway towards an exit point I remembered. I would exit at the side of the pack house they was facing towards the forest and they was exactly what I wanted. I hadn't thought far enough to know what I would do if I managed to survive that long and then get away on top of that, but in everything you do, you take a single step at a time.

"Come on Scarlett, don't give up now, you can do this," I said, giving myself a list of encouraging words when I felt my legs start to fail me. I could already see the door, a few steps more and I would be out in the rain but that didn't matter. What mattered the most was getting out of here.

"Just a little bit more," I continued.

I swallowed. The closer I drew to the door, the more clashes of swords and roars of warriors filled the air. I didn't know if my ears were faulty and I was just hearing things because there was no way they had already made it to the pack house. If they was the case then I along with the few people I had come across still scrambling about were goners. We would be dead before we knew it.

"Please Moon goddess, let the war be far away," I prayed silently. I didn't think my prayer would be answered but I needed some sort of hope besides my own because they had started to fail me, and maybe the Moon goddess could be that hope.

I had been wrong all this while. It wasn't just raining, it was storming. Trees looked like they were fighting to stay with their roots still firmly in the ground and the rain looked almost invisible even though it was there. Thunder and lightning lit across the sky, giving me and whoever else needed it sufficient light to see where we were going.

It wasn't the rain itself that was the major threat, but the wind that had joined the combination. It looked deadly and I prayed I wouldn't be swept away by it because I was already skin and bones. I didn't think I weighed nearly enough to be my own anchor to stay on the ground.

Far off, I saw dots of warriors fighting and I wondered briefly who had the upper hand. Not dwelling on it longer than necessary, I braced myself to walk on my own because the wall that I had been leaning on for support wouldn't be following me outside. I was on my own now and I couldn't give up now.

"You can do this Scarlett," I said once more, encouragimg myself.

The windd was truly a menace, almost whipping me off of my feet immediately I stepped out of the pack house. My face locked on the forest ahead because that was my only option for withstanding the wind. The trees would be my shield whilst they fought their own battles. I didn't bother looking in the direction of the fight even as their roars, both of victory and of pain wafted through the air. They were louder than I would have imagined them to be.

I hissed as I walked, the little specks of rain that fell like bullets hitting my back and making it seem like I was being assaulted by bullets of salt. I can do this. I gritted my teeth, biting the inside of my lip and drawing warm blood to warm me up.

Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled but I had temporarily left my fear behind. There were more important things to think about and fear. Death being one of them.

The ground rumbled, and the mud covering the ground suddenly felt slipperier than it had been and I lost my footing, landing on my back. The sky lighted and more roaers filled the air. I thought I would fade away right there.