Chapter 3 Chapter 3

When I cam back onto the street of the village, the carnage was still unfolding. Men, women and children lay on the floor, maybe alive, maybe not. For a short while, I stood dumbstruck, unsure what to do. The adrenaline was still pumping through my veins but the shock of what had just happened was beginning to sink in. Before I had the chance to follow just one of the many screams, I felt tightening in my lungs. Then a sting and then a horrific burning sensation. I slunk behind a house trying to control the fits of coughing but nothing seemed to bring it any relief. There were others around me coughing too; they must have put something in the air. It irritated my eyes and combined with the smoke from the fires made it difficult to see. Any other sounds were now drowned out by my wrenching coughs as I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket.

"Please tell me you are safe," Leo said concern rife in his voice.

"I'm not," I said before having another series of coughs. "They've gased the air. There's fire... there are dead people. They've laid waste to the entire village."

"Get into the forest," he ordered. "Whether there are still alive people or not, I am ordering you to run."

"How can  I just leave them?" I asked.

"Because if you don't, you'd be leaving your children without a mother. Now go, Ella. I am ordering you and I mean it more than I ever have before," he ordered. 

"I love you," I said in a hoarse tone.

"I love you too," he replied before I let out all the coughs I'd been holding in.

"Stay with me, Ells," he said. "I'm doing everything I can."

I tried breathing through the sleeve of my jacket for a while but still, the gas got in and still my lungs struggled to function. Leo was still talking at me throught the phone, urging me to move but I couldn't run in this state, I could hardly even stand up. Through my blurry vision, I saw a pair of legs marching towards me. Behind them were another two sets.

"Leo," I wheezed as I scrambled backwards until my back hit the brick wall of the house and I wielded my knife. 

"What's happening?" he asked anxiously.

In my weakened state, the man let out a short laugh and seized the knife and my phone from my hand before throwing them too far away to reach. As he leant down, I saw he was wearing a mask and through the mask were a pair of hateful eyes.

"We have what we came for. Make sure there aren't any survivors and gather the men," he said to another behind him. 

He then roughly grabbed my arm and threw me over his shoulder. I was beginning to lose consciousness; I could feel my thoughts slipping away along with my control over my muscles. The gas must have been wolfsbane because the way it burnt and stung was like nothing else I'd felt before.

Soon enough, I was unable to keep my eyes opened and I fell into darkness.