Kai nodded, his eyes shining with the lust of the war he was about to fight.
“I will head back over to my clan. If I leave now, I should be there by tomorrow morning. I will inform my leader, and we will probably be here with our army in two days,” Kai said.
“That won’t be possible, I am afraid,” Lilly said, anticipating Kai’s reaction when she told him the reason.
“Why?” Kai said, looking up at her.
“Your leg is still broken,” Lilly said, softly. “The acid caused so much damage that it will be at least a week before the knee starts to heal.”
“What are you saying?” Kai asked, his gaze hardening.
“I am afraid you won’t be able to walk for a while,” Lilly said. “And, if you don’t start healing soon, there is a chance that you will never be able to walk again.”
Chapter 8
Lilly screamed in pain as she fell to the ground. She heard another terrifying roar and she knew this was the end. She just hoped that Kevin would pull through and look after Elisabeth, or that Brian would take the responsibility.
She closed her eyes as the bear extended its paw to dig his claw into her and tried to steady herself. She just had to accept that this was her end. She waited to feel the burning agony as the claws tore through her, but the fatal blow never came.
She looked up to see another bear overpowering her attacker and throwing him onto the floor. Her protector turned around, and she saw the bright green eyes, and then her eyes instantly flinted to the legs. The bear was limping, barely supporting its own weight on the injured leg. Lilly swallowed as she realized it was Kai who had saved her, but before she could even thank him, the attacking bear lunged at Kai, throwing him down.
Lilly jumped to her feet, grabbing her gun from the floor. Kai was wrestling with the bear but clearly loosing because of his injuries. Lilly raised the gun to her eye and took a shot. The bullet penetrated through the bear’s back, causing him to howl and distracting him enough for Kai to push him off.
Lilly aimed once again and shot at the bear, this time managing to hit his shoulder. The animal veered and growled before lunging at Lilly. She dodged and ran as fast as she could, hoping to get to a safe enough distance that she could shoot again.
Kai grabbed the bear from behind, who turned around and started to viciously claw at Kai. Even though Kai was holding his own for now, Lilly knew that he wouldn’t be able to handle it for much longer. She crouched down, taking aim once again. She knew the next bullet had to go through the bear’s heart. That was the only chance of defeating him. She watched Kai struggle, her hands itching to pull the trigger. She waited for the bear to expose his chest. As time passed by, she started to panic. She had one bullet left, and Kai was slowly starting to tire out.
He had already been ferociously injured by the bear and was bleeding. Lilly looked around but everyone was too busy fighting their own battles to help her. Lilly clenched her jaw and grabbed a mace from the body of a bear that lay dead nearby. She charged toward her enemy, swinging the mace as she did. The spiked mace hit the bear, who howled before giving a roar and lunging towards Lilly.
Lilly aimed her weapon and shot at its exposed chest, but she missed by an inch. The bullet hit its chest, causing it to fall back from the impact and the pain. It gave Lilly time to run towards Kai, who lay on the floor bleeding profusely.
Before she had time to help him, the bear managed to get up again and ran toward them both. Lilly grabbed the mace, ready to face her opponent, when a single shot rang out. Then, the bear collapsed, and Lilly could see blood pooling from his chest. The bullet had gone straight through the heart.
She looked up and saw Carlos standing there, holding one of his special guns in his hands. She gave him a nod to convey her thanks, and he nodded back, before turning his attention away.
“Watch your back!” Kai gasped out between pangs of pain and Lilly turned around. Another bear was heading her way. She clenched her fingers around her mace as an injured Kai got up.
“I got your back,” he said, standing in front of her protectively. Lilly didn’t know why but the words made her heart flush with warmth. She ignored her feelings and ran, ready to face another opponent.
***
“We might have defeated our enemies tonight,” Bradley said. “But, at what cost? How long will we continue to take such losses, Brian?”
Lilly stood in the conference room, surrounded by the council. The battle had been a hard one, and all of the bears had been killed, but the cost of it had been heavy. Many of their men had died, and even now, Lilly could hear the cries of the widows and mothers that had lost their loved ones in this war.
She winced in pain as her back gave another painful pang. Thankfully, her injuries weren't deep, and hence she had gotten away with just a few stitches. Kai, on the other hand, had multiple new injuries along with his leg, which had suffered multiple blows that had set the healing back. The recovery room was filled with the injured, and Lilly knew that she would have to volunteer to help lessen the burden.
“Do we have any other option?” Brian asked. “Is there anything else we can do? Should we just surrender and let them massacre us all?”
“Of course not!” Bradley said. “But there must be a better way.”
“There is no better way!” Helen said. “This is all we can do! We need to fight for our home and our peace! If we don’t fight, we will all die!”
“Yes, but we killed ten of their men,” Ursula, another council member, said. “They will notice that ten of their men are missing and start an investigation. Those ten men may have accidentally discovered our location, but when they start a proper investigation, they will find us! And then they will come back with a whole army!”
“I am-” Brian started to say but was interrupted with the door being flung open. Abigail stood there, her eyes wide and her voice shaking.
“Lilly,” she gasped. “I am sorry. I just went out to help a few of the injured. I thought she was asleep.”
