Flames erupted in the corridor just as Azad, carrying me on his back and Xandra in his arms, bounded along it. Fresh searing pain. The shredded remains of my shirt along my back had been set on fire.

  I continued to hold onto Azad as tight as my nubbed arms would let me. Enough strength had returned to me to do that much. The flames continued to burn. I had no will left in me to do anything other than hold on and wish for the burning to stop.

  A Pied Piper Task Force officer wielding a flamethrower, and another with a standard rifle, had been standing in the middle of the corridor when Azad turned the corridor and ran into it.

  The Pied Piper Task Force officer wielding the flamethrower gave chase behind us. More flames erupted, joined by gunfire from the other Piper officer.

  The black set of double doors which had been burst open by the Pied Piper officers before rapidly grew in size as we neared it. The fresh smell of rain met my nose.

  Azad leaped into the veil of thick rainfall beyond the black double doors and then kicked off on the hard gravel outside the factory entrance, bounding into the air. He made it halfway up the opposite factory building, kicked off the wall, and then landed atop the building we had just escaped.

  He ran, then bounded again, picking up as much momentum as he could despite Xandra and I weighing him down. His body was almost as hot as the flames which had been at my shoulder, flames which had been snuffed out by the rain.

  Dawn had broken, though it was still miserable and dark with thick looming clouds above. Azad leaped over the gap between the building he had just sprinted across and the one ahead. It didn't feel like the jump was powerful enough to clear the distance. Worse, bright flashes and the racket of gunfire from below promised yet another audition for death.

  Azad cleared the distance. Several bullets whizzed past my right ear.

  And then he jumped again. My stomach lurched. Pain in my arms and chest as Azad landed on the barren ground on the outskirts of the factory buildings.

  More gunfire, though from a distance. The light from the helicopter which I had spotted roaming around before searched for us.

  I quickly lost track of where we were. All I knew was the sound of the gunfire and the helicopter was quickly falling away, swallowed up by the constant rush of heavy rainfall.

  The heat of Azad's back became a comfort in the new cold. I gripped tighter to him, thankful beyond words to have been taken away from the slaughterhouse that had been those factories.

  "Can you hear me?" Said Azad over the sound of the rain.

  "Yes," said Xandra, her voice pitifully weak.

  "Yes!" I shouted over the sound of the rain and Azad's heavy footfalls and ragged breathing.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  "My body is going to tear itself to pieces," said Azad, "I'll get us as far as I can."

  He had to concentrate on breathing and dodging obstacles ahead which were just large gray blurs to my heavy eyes, he then said, "You need to heal yourselves, I won't be able to do anything to protect us soon. So hurry!"

  Xandra and I muttered that we had heard Azad's request, but I knew I at least would not be up to the task.

  Azad continued on through the rain. Jumping, running, ducking, weaving, but his progress was slowing. His breathing became more ragged.

  CLUNG!

  Azad cried out in pain. He began to limp. A tendon in his left leg had just snapped. He whimpered, his strained grunts becoming even more desperate.

  The rest of his body powered on, but our progress had slowed considerably. Had we even cleared much distance from the factories? I had tried to keep track of our progress but I could hardly focus on much more than the pain and the cold, and holding onto Azad for dear life.

  CLUNG!

  Another agonised cry from Azad. This time a tendon in his right shoulder gave way. It had been several minutes since the first tendon snapped.

  His progress slowed even more. The rain had cleared up a little, allowing for a view ahead of what appeared to be a construction site of some kind.

  I had tried to focus on healing myself, but I simply had no more willpower or mental focus left to give to anything except holding on tight and staying awake, both of which were a monumental struggle.

  At a normal limping pace Azad entered the construction site. His breathing had become so raspy, so strung out, I wondered if he might die of a heart attack.

  Huge heaps of crushed rocks passed by our left and right. Azad took us down a smooth path which dipped down.

  Finally, at the entrance to what looked like a mining tunnel, Azad collapsed to the ground. He dropped Xandra in the process, and I rolled off him immediately after Azad impacted the ground.

  Some steam continued to rise off Azad, he was still bright pink. His whole body looked raw. I felt terrible, but I knew whatever he was experiencing was several orders of magnitude worse.

  Xandra sat up on the ground. She had a lot more life in her than she had before. The bloody stumps of her legs had stopped bleeding at least.

  "Burgess! Help me get him under cover!" Xandra yelled at me.

  She grabbed hold of Azad's wrist and yanked hard. Azad cried out in pain.

  "I'm sorry!" Xandra yelled, "But we have to get out of sight! Burgess help me!"

  I had just stared at the miserable sight of both Xandra in her horrible state, and Azad who seemed to find every drop of rain falling upon his skin an indescribable torture. His skin, like tissue paper, seemed to fall away at parts from the falling rain. Where Xandra had gripped his wrist the skin had come away there too.

  I sprang to action, understanding even better how quick we needed to respond. If we didn't get Azad out of the rain soon–

  I had to force the image out of my mind. I moved across the ground, feeble, and slow. Without hands the best I could manage was bringing my arm under Azad's armpit and using that nook to hoist him forward.

  Slowly, awkwardly, Xandra and I managed to get into the tunnel out of the rain. The pair of us gasped and breathed heavily from the effort. Azad, face down against the dirt of the tunnel, huffed weakly.

  SNAP! SNAP! TWANG!

  More pitiful whimpering from Azad. His body was still ripping itself apart.

  I met eyes with Xandra, her good one, and the other bloodshot one. Together we acknowledged the horror of the current moment. Alive, but all three of us badly wounded; Azad by far the worst off out of all of us.

  CRUNCH! CRACK! CRACK!

  Azad's whimpering became a series of awful screams as if he were experiencing the worst possible torture.

  And then he passed out. His head thumped down, drool escaped his cracked, bloody lips.

  Sweat had broken out across his skin. He had started to sweat blood.

  With my back set against the hard rock wall inside the tunnel, I trembled. Both from the cold, and from the stark horror of seeing what had happened to us.

  At some point I lost consciousness. It came on so quick it was as if a switch had been flipped.

  I thought I heard Xandra screaming my name, but it was too late by then.