I look at the wound in my shoulder. The good news is that I can still move my arm. The bad news is that the bullet looks like it is very close to an artery, I can’t focus to tell how close it is, because of this god forsaking pain.

I watch as Rose gets on the ground and looks around the building. A couple of gun shots go over her head before she pulls herself back in.

She reaches into her backpack and pulls out a flash grenade.

I hiss out through my teeth “The sniper is in the third building to the right, fourth floor. Do you have any ideas on how we can get out of this?”

“We will have to retreat into the buildings and hope to find an exit. Unfortunately, I don’t know these buildings at all.”

“You’re in luck. I happen to know of an underground passageway that should lead somewhere near the mall.” I answer slowly as I try to control my breathing, panicking would be a very bad idea right now “Blame my dad. He was always interested in that kind of thing.” I push myself into a standing position using my good arm and brace myself against the wall. “Follow me.”

I start walking, but Rose stops to turn around. I am about to ask her what she is doing when an asian looking man comes around the corner with a shotgun.

She grabs the end of the shotgun pointing it away from the both of us and points her gun at his head. She kills him in the next second.

I stare at the dead man for a second before closing my eyes in a small prayer.

Come on Elena. You can’t fall here. Keep the feelings away until later. Deal with them when you have time.

I take a deep breath and let it out.

I open my eyes to see Rose looking at me with a sad and slightly haunted expression on her face.

“Come on, we need to get going.” I say as I kick a window open on the building, breaking it and letting us inside.

I jump in. She hesitates for a moment before jumping into the building after me.

Pain shoots through my shoulder as I land on the other side. I stumble for a moment before I get myself under control.

A number of curses escape my mouth as we walk through the building.

I stop when we reach a fork in the hallway. I look both directions as I try to remember which way we need to go in order to escape this god-forsaken place.

“Well? Which way is it?” Rose looks at me worriedly.

“YOU try to remember how to get somewhere when you have a fucking bullet in your shoulder!” I take a deep breath as I choose to go left.

The sounds of footsteps behind us makes me turn around. Four men arrive at the same fork we had left seconds ago.

I grab Rose and hug her to the ground behind a desk. My hand rises to cover her mouth.

She looks at me oddly before she hears the four men discussing which direction they should take.

She stiffens underneath me and suddenly I realize how close we are.

I know that this isn’t the best time to be thinking about these things, but wow, this girl is beautiful.

I shake my head, focusing on the task at hand. I can’t afford to let my thoughts get away from me right now.

They decide to split up. Two of the men go the other direction, while two men come towards us.

I get off of Rose before motioning for her to stay squatting behind the desk.

Carefully, I try to focus. It takes me a second, but I manage to open my third eye.

“[Eye Of Truth]” I say quietly. Suddenly the desk disappears from my sight, through it I can see the two men approaching our position.

I hold my hand in front of Rose and start counting down with my fingers.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

I jump out tackling one of the men. I manage to disarm him with my good arm before he kicks me off of him.

I roll into a crouch, my good arm pushing down on the floor in front of me.

The man’s gun is on the floor behind me, he sees it the same time I do. But instead of going for it, he pulls a nasty looking knife and dashes at me.

I dodge to the side, but he surprises me by changing directions in an instant. I drop to the floor and cart wheel backwards flicking my legs up to kick him.

One of my legs manages to hit the edge of his chin, but he dodges the other one.

Damn. One handed cart wheels are hard! I think to myself as I land on my feet.

He looks a little dazed as he rubs his chin and shakes his head. He growls a little at me and starts to move towards me.

A small Pew rings out, surprising both me and him. He stumbles for a moment before falling on the ground. A small pool of blood starts to form underneath him from a bullet wound.

A bedraggled Rose looks at me from behind him, the other man lay on the floor behind her with a similar bullet wound in his chest.

I close my eyes in a prayer for both men, before grabbing rose with my good arm and pulling her along with me towards the exit.

*******

We leave the tunnel, arriving at the mall. I lean on Rose, pale from loss of blood. A makeshift bandage I had made wraps around my shoulder.

Rose starts talking to me but for some reason I can’t hear her. I frown as I lose feeling in my legs, I pull Rose down as I fall. Rose looks at me with a worried expression on her face.

Her mouth is moving. She’s trying to tell me something.

My eyes wander to her backpack, a fleeting smile appears on my face as I remember that her gun is in there. I am glad that she isn’t holding it anymore. A beautiful girl like her shouldn’t have to hold such a terrifying weapon.

Tears come to Rose’s eyes as men in paramedic uniforms appear. I reach up with my good hand and wipe the tears away. There’s no reason for such a beautiful girl to cry so much. I look at her mouth and realize that she must be trying to say my name. How nice of her…

My eyes close as I lose track of the world around me.

Rose’s Pov.

I look down at Elena. I know that I caused this. It was stupid of me to think I could escape my old life here.

She reaches her hand out, wiping away tears that I didn’t even know I’d had. I whisper her name and grab her hand, her eyes suddenly close on me. The paramedic shoves me out of the way, he puts her on a stretcher, quickly carrying her up into the ambulance. I follow them up into the ambulance. I try to be as unobtrusive as possible as the Paramedics work. Five minutes later we arrive at the hospital.

The paramedics start talking almost too fast for me too follow. Even then I only understand half of it.

“This young female has a GSW to the upper shoulder. 123 bpm, she has symptoms of acute blood loss-“ I try to follow the paramedics, but a young male nurse comes up to me, blocking my path.

“Let me through! I need to make sure she is okay!” I try to push by him, unfortunately he stands firm.

“We will tell you when her condition changes, are you her family?”

I shake my head. “I am just a friend.”

“Can you tell us her name? Do you know her doctor?” The young man asks me urgently.

“Elena… Trudeau? Her father is a big shot doctor. He might be able to tell you more.” He thanks me and grabs a passing nurse.

“Could you show this young women to the waiting area?” The passing nurse leads me to the waiting area.

I pace the room restless. How did they find me anyway? Damn it all.

A while later a woman enters the room. She looks enough like Elena to make me certain that she is her mom.

She catches sight of me and grabs me by the collar of my shirt. “What did you do to my daughter? What did you get her involved with?!” Her voice raises a notch.

A nurse notices the commotion and breaks her away from me. She doesn’t put up much of a fight as she is pulled away.

I debate whether I should tell her the truth or not. It takes me a second before I realize how stupid that would be.

I take a deep breath before saying, “A man came out of nowhere asking for our money a-and other things… She- She stepped in front of me, I don’t know what happened next, by the time I was paying attention she was shot and the man was dead. We heard some of the man’s friends calling for him, s-so we ran.” I say in what I hope is a convincing way.

Apparently she believes me, because the next moment she sags into the nurse’s arms crying.

A little while later Elena’s dad arrives. A thirteen year old girl who must be Elena’s sister walking in behind him.

Elena’s mother grabs her dad and hugs him for comfort.

Elena’s dad looks at me. “Hello. Are you one of Elena’s friends?”

I nod “My name is Rose.”

He gives me a sad smile. “My name is Jacob.” He nods towards Elena’s mom “This is Sarah.” Then he motions toward Elena’s sister “And this is Elizabeth. I am sorry that we had to meet in this situation.”

“I am too.” I say.

“What happened to Elena?” Elizabeth asks me.

Elizabeth takes after her father with her brown hair and eyes, but keeps her mother’s facial structure.

“It would probably be best if your mom told you.” I say as I sit down in one of the chairs exhausted. With a start I realize that I have three more men that I need to add to the list. I close my eyes trying to remember their faces. Unbidden Elena’s face comes to the forefront of my mind. NO! She is not dead! I did NOT cause her death.

A doctor enters the room instantly making me alert. He looks at our small group before letting out a small sigh. “Elena is out of the woods. She will be able to receive family as long as you let her sleep and don’t bother her.”

Her family starts moving. I stop, looking at them. Her mother smiles at me and nods at me to come along. I gratefully follow.

We all enter the small room. I sit down in a chair and make myself comfortable as I watch Elena sleep.

Elena’s Pov

I open my eyes quickly while jumping up off of a bed of grass. I look around to find myself in a place very similar to the one that I met Shayla in, with the one exception of a large tree in the middle.

I look at the tree bothered by my inability to identify it.

“It’s a Sycamore tree.” Someone behind me says.

I jump in the air startled. “What is it with you people and sneaking up on me?” I say as I turn around to face the person who had startled me.

In front of me stands a beautiful woman with brown hair, eyes and clothing. On her head sits a crown, two birds similar to hawks are chiseled into the crown. They stare at me with a predatory look that causes me to shiver.

“Who are you?” I ask of her.

“I am one of those gods that your instructor keeps warning you to stay away from. My name is Isis.” I open my mouth to say something, but she cuts me off. “No, not like the terrorists. In fact they have incurred my anger by using my name in such away.”

“Actually, I was going to ask if you were the goddess from Egyptian mythology. I mean the Sycamore tree and what I assume to be Kites on your crown combined with your name, kind of point to you being an Egyptian Goddess.” I point to each of the things as I say their names.

She gives me a smile. “Some of your planet’s mythologies are correct. I am in fact, that Goddess. Although not as she is depicted in Egyptian Mythology. For example I was the one who murdered Geb, my brother. For a good reason of course.”

“Sure.”

“Maybe I will explain it to you someday. For now we have other things to discuss.” A bench appears next to me and she motions for me to sit on it.

I sit down on it. “What is it that you want to talk about?”

“I have chosen you to be one of my Paladins in the world that is coming.” She sits down on another bench she has made across from me.

“Why would I want to be a Paladin exactly? I am not sure that I want to be working for you, especially after my instructor told me that it was you and your kind that got us into this mess in the first place.” I cross my legs and search her face for any tells while she answers me.

She lets out a sigh, to my surprise a small flicker of pain crosses her face before she puts her poker-face back on. “I have grown tired of this game that my brothers and I play.” She looks into my eyes “I want it to end.” She pauses for a second, but I don’t say anything hoping to get more out of her. “You have no idea how long I have lived. I have seen civilizations rise and fall. I have watched friends, lovers and family die. I have seen the darkest of despair and the greatest of evils.” She lets out a sad laugh “You can’t have any idea the tortures I have suffered. Yet for some reason I do not understand, I cannot die. I must go on to see it all happen again. I am tired. I am lost.” She takes a deep breath before letting it out in another sigh. “I wish no harm to you or your family. I simply wish to stop the ones who keep this game going. Will you please help me?”

I stare at her and contrary to her expectations I don’t give her an answer right away.

It feels too easy. She barely knows me, why would she tell me all of this? Sigh. I don’t really see any other option.

“I don’t trust you.” Her mouth opens, but I hold out my hand, stopping her from speaking. “However, I don’t see any reason why I shouldn’t except. So I will help you on one condition.”

She studies me for a moment before nodding and saying, “What is it that you want?”

“I want you to always tell me the truth.” I challenge her with my eyes as I say it.

“Very well. Our deal has been made. See you soon Elena.” She waves her hand at me and the world around me disappears.

I wake up in a place that I know very well. “Great. I hate hospitals.” I say as I look around.

When I say this I see everybody in the room jumps and stares at me. I look back at them and say, “What? Hospitals suck.”

My mom smiles and grabs me in her arms, she whispers in my ear, “That’s my girl”

Mom lets me go and immediately after I am tackled to the bed by a small creature.

Elizabeth looks up at me with tears in her eyes for a moment before going back to hugging me.

I whisper in her ear “It’s okay Sunshine. I’m okay. Everything’s okay.” As I hug her back weekly.

Dad puts his hand on my uninjured shoulder and squeezes me slightly.

Elizabeth lets go of me as she backs up a step. “You’re an idiot Elena! Why do you always have to be the hero? Huh?”

I smile at her and respond, “Someone has to be the hero Sunshine. And I would rather that it was me instead of you.”

A slight shuffling noise makes me look up to see Rose. She wrings her hands slightly as she looks at the family atmosphere.

I drink in the sight of her uncomfortable self with my eyes. I had better enjoy it while I can. I doubt I will ever see her this uncomfortable again.

I smile at Rose and pull her to me in a hug.

“Hello Rose.”