Twelve

The last blow roared through her body. Struggling for breath through uncontrolled sobs and broken ribs she spat a mouthful of blood on the floor before her assailants. Amber felt the gash over her cheekbone throbbing as blood rolled smoothly down and dripped off her chin. From several knuckles meeting her face, her left eye had swollen shut. She hurt in ways that she had never known before.

            The beard lit a fresh cigar and, blowing smoke in her face, leaned into her. "What else can you tell me about this base of yours?"

            Shredded lips melted her slow, breathy response into a subtle mumble. So, he leaned closer. A sudden burst of anger sparked deep inside her, and sent her forehead crashing into the man's oversized nose. She heard and felt the bone give way with a solid "crunch." A scream erupted from him a second before his fist knocked the consciousness from her.

She awoke again in the same room. This time, however, she was strapped to a table with a sharp beeping sound and two nurses wiping her cuts and gashes clean.

"Why bother?" she wondered silently.

One of the nurses noticed her good eye open slightly, "commandant, ubit yeye. Wake now..."

The beard walked back into the room with a fresh bandage on his nose, the bottom of which was stained a deep red.

"You think you are smart," he said, "but now you are to be shot in the head in morning."

Amber just rolled her eye, but when she focused again, she saw a man through the high, small window carry a body into the trees. Ramirez. She had been dragged through the town, chained to a wall and spent her captivity being tortured for any information they could squeeze from her. How in the hell was he planning on getting to her?

A few minutes passed with her eyes closed, thinking. Maybe, if she could find the strength, she could cause a diversion. It might get him in. if it worked, the rest would be up to him. She couldn't even walk at this point. So, she reviewed the time since they had first stepped into the forest. She thought of every cruelty, every shot, and every shattering blow she had endured. Her eyes darkened. She thought of nick. The poor naïve boy, wounded, scared, left dead under some tree in the shittiest part of the world.

She opened her one eye, looked at the basement ceiling, and erupted. Heat and adrenaline-fueled rage flew from every pore on her body. The table she was strapped to exploded sending her flying across the dark, stone basement. Even her clothing was vaporized as she seared the bodies in her room.

 "Perhaps I overdid it a bit." She thought briefly as she slammed into a wall and the world faded through what felt like the inside of an exploding grenade. The crack and twist of wood shredding and steel being torn apart was the worst sound she had ever heard. And it was the last thing her brain registered before she slipped back into the darkness.

The first thing to happen, as pieces fell back to the ground, was a short but profound hesitation. Nobody could move. Those sent to the ground, remained down, merely staring at the scene of destruction. Seconds ago, it was a calm fall day, now there was a crater where a building had stood. The smoke and flames reached toward the sky while debris, shrapnel, and bloody limbs fell from it. Their friends and colleagues were rendered into pieces. Then, came a shot followed by men screaming orders. Hands flew around gesturing for guards to clear the mess.

Immediately, the smoldering house was swarmed with a dozen armed guards, most had their rifles up searching every direction for a horde of attackers. Civilians ran in all directions, and for a few moments the place was in turmoil. Some guards had begun digging through the wreckage for their commandant, and Ramirez was right behind them all. He picked up a rifle one of the guards dropped and squeezed.

Nobody saw it coming. Rounds burst from his guns until both magazines were empty; he threw them down and pulled his pistol. As soon as they realized what was happening and raised their guns back at him, the west building erupted in a swarm of shrapnel. Somebody had tripped the grenade.

A few shots finished what was left of the guards, and he climbed into the building's crater. Boards and sheets of steel were layered across every inch of the property. He found her slumped across a desk with her right arm broken beneath a pile of stone. There was so much blood sprayed through the debris, he couldn't tell how much was hers.

She looked pitiful. Red saliva was strung from her lips; her hair was matted across most of her face. Over half of her now-naked body was an impossible shade of bluish purple. There was a lot of damage to her. He knew in an instant that there would be no way to search for nick. She took priority.

Like a father, he clawed at the stacks until she was clear. He scooped her limp, scorched, naked body in his arms, and climbed from the pit. So much power was contained within her tiny frame, that he truly feared what she could do. He feared what she would do. But he also knew the goodness he could build in her. If she survived. There was no more fighting to be done, the people that were left simply shut themselves in their houses and locked the door.

Carlos Ramirez limped, bleeding, through the center of town with confidence, he did what was right. But he had questions. Where was Nicholas Halbert? How did this happen? Who was responsible? He walked as fast as he could with her wrapped in his coat. A thought came immediately to his mind, "god, let the damned boat be waiting."

He crossed to the shoreline and started toward the pier. Her breathing was labored but still steady, strong. She was one hell of a survivor. Patient and silent, the boat was bobbing gently against the wooden dock, just on the western side. Gently he set her down and cranked the engine. Where the hell were they going to now...?

This was far too big to be a simple mistake, something overlooked. She was assigned to this cove from above, and he couldn't bring her back until he knew why. There was so much work to be done, and it would start with saving her life.

He looked at her frail, broken frame and glared. Somebody tried to kill his recruits, kids that he was responsible for. Their safety was his entire job and he'd be damned if he was going to overlook this betrayal. The engine roared as they rode swiftly over waves, there was one place he could take her, nobody knew it existed.