Chapter 20

Nathan

When I disappeared from sight, I shifted and sprinted like my life depended on it.

Now I know what you’re thinking ‘Holy crap, Nath just expressed himself!’

And yeah. I did. What of it?

Lance had been spending most of his time with Ren. And I admit, the guy has had a hard time and he did deserve some fun ‘cause anybody who’s been in a room with Lance for more than two seconds can tell that he’s got a lot of issues behind him, but that wasn’t an excuse to just ignore me and Tails.

I shifted back when I thought I was far away enough and I punched the nearest tree repeatedly. My knuckles stung but I didn’t care.

When I stopped, I looked at my knuckles and saw that they were already bleeding. I swore under my breath when I realized that they hurt like hell now.

Note to self; don’t punch trees

I felt something wet hit my nose and I looked up and realized that it was drizzling.

Lance is probably beating himself up right now, I thought, I should get back.

But I didn’t make any effort to move. Part of me didn’t see why I should. Lance was the one being a jerk; all I did was made him realize it.

I heard a twig snap and instantly froze.

‘Hello, Nathan.’ A voice cut into the silence that had followed the twig snapping. ‘Had a little falling out with Lance, have we?’

I turned to see Bat standing there, a smirk on his face.

‘It’s none of your business.’ I growled.

‘I know just how you feel, Nathan,’ Bat continued, ‘after all, Lance and Renee did the same to me once before. I can help you get revenge.’ He was toying with me, like the bag guys always do on TV shows.

‘Get lost, Bat,’ I snarled, ‘I’d die before I helped you.’

‘I’m under orders to take you and your little friends back to the Freak Show, where they plan to terminate every last one of you,’ Bat said, ‘I’m offering you a chance to live, Nathan.’

‘We’re not going back there. You’d have to kill me before you got me back into a crate again.’

‘That can be arranged.’

And with that, he lunged for me, his fist collided with my face and I was caught off guard. He shifted while I was falling. I felt his claws dig into my shoulders and I yelled out in pain.

Bat smirked. ‘Having fun?’

I swore at him in response, and kicked him off me. Blood was trickling down my arms but I didn’t have time to worry about that now. I stood up and was about to shift right but Bat jumped on me again, I felt his claws rip through my shirt and break the skin in my back.

The pain was immense, I fell onto my knees, feeling like my back was on fire.

Bat stood a few feet in front of me, he shifted back, and he laughed.

‘That was pathetic, Nathan.’ He said. ‘You sure you don’t want to take me up on that offer?’

‘Go to hell.’ I spat out.

‘Wrong answer.’ Bat said, and pulled a gun out of his pocket. He aimed it at my head. I felt my eyes widen to the point that I thought they were going to pop out. I tried to move, but my body refused to respond.

He’s going to kill me, I thought, I’m going to die. And Lance is going to think I hate him. Damn.

I closed my eyes and I heard a bang as Bat pulled the trigger.

Then I felt myself being shoved through the air and I hit the ground.

My first thought was ‘Holy crap I’m not dead’ and then I opened my eyes to see who had shoved me out of the way. In front of me, Lance was on his knees. I saw a wet patch forming in his stomach, and I couldn’t hold back a sigh of relief that it hadn’t hit his heart or head.

‘You idiot, Nath.’ Lance turned slowly to face me, ‘Don’t you ever give in to death like that again or I’ll give you a fate much worse, got it?’

‘Why did you…?’

‘Not now.’ Lance said, I don’t know how managed to keep going with a bullet in his stomach, but he did. I nodded, and winced when I moved. 'Take it easy,' He told me, then he turned to Bat, ‘You,’ he said, ‘are going down.’

Suddenly I was aware of running footsteps and a hand gently touched my shoulder. I bit my lip and winced.

‘What hurts?’ I turned slightly to see Renee leaning over me.

‘Back and shoulder.’ I shifted slightly, groaning.

‘No wonder,’ she said, softly, ‘he really got you, huh?’

‘I’m fine.’ I said, gritting my teeth. ‘Lance’-

‘I’m on it,’ Seth mumbled, on my right. I had barely noticed him, he paused for a few seconds, waiting for the right moment to jump in to join the fight, before launching into battle with Bat.

Black spots were starting to appear in my vision and I almost gave into the darkness but Ren’s voice cut across.

‘Stay awake, Nathan.’ She said, sharply.

Lance appeared beside me, ‘Yo, Ren, can you patch him up?’

She shook her head, ‘Bandages wont do. We need Wizard to stop the bleeding.’ She said, and I could just make out in the desperation in her voice. I closed my eyes.

‘I’ll take him,’ Lance said. ‘I can carry him. Can you help Seth?’

‘Lance, you can’t, you’re bleeding…’

‘I’m fine. When I bring Nath back, I’ll come straight back and if it’ll make you feel better, you can bandage me up, okay?’

There was no out loud response so I guess she must have nodded. I felt myself being moved onto Lances back and he stood up, the next thing I knew Lance was sprinting.

There was a silence while we got back to camp. I felt completely drained, but the pain in my back and shoulders was beginning to fade. I couldn’t feel them anymore.

‘Nath,’ Lance mumbled, and I felt his head turn slightly, ‘stay with me, okay?’

I didn’t have enough energy to respond.

‘What the heck’s going on?’ I heard Wizards voice, ‘Nath runs off, then you run off, then Ren rushes off to get Seth before’- Wizard cut him self off. I’m presuming he realized that Lance was carrying me.

‘What happened?’ Raven asked.

‘Bat attacked Nath.’ Lance said, then I felt myself being lifted back onto the ground. I opened my eyes. ‘Seth and Ren are fighting him just now. I told Ren I’d be right back. Wiz, can you heal him? His back…’

‘Yeah, Lance, I got him.’ Wizard’s face came into view.

‘I told Ren I’d be right back, I have to go.’ I heard Lance say, he was talking rushed. I could pick up on the edge of panic in his voice.

‘I’m coming too.’ Raven said, quietly.

Then I heard running footsteps fading away and I knew they’d gone.

‘So,’ Aaron said, looking at me. ‘I take running off like that wasn’t a good idea?’

‘Aaron, shut up.’ Wizard said, then turned back to me.

Black spots appeared in my vision again and I closed my eyes and gave in.

A/N: 'Kay, guys, my computer is busted, so everything I've wrote of the next chapter - which wasn't a lot anyway as I hit a major writers block - might be lost. It depends on my Uncle, since he's the only one who stands a chance of getting the files back for me. So the only reason I have this chapter is 'cause I realized that I had uploaded the document - but never actually put the chapter up, so sorry for the wait for this chapter.

So I won't be able to update this story for a while, 'cause currently I'm on my brothers computer, and I don't wanna write anymore of CORP and save it on my brothers computer, 'cause he's always invading my privacy and reading my stories and stuff.

I will try to write the next chapter in one of my notebooks + then just copy up what I've wrote, save it, upload it, then delete it off the computer after the chapters been safely put up for you guys to read it. And before anybody points out, yes, I'm aware that I go to insanely long lengths to keep things hidden from my brothers - which is kinda pointless since y'know, it's on the freaking internet.

I will have to put this story on hold for a while anyway, 'cause I have prelims to anyone not familar with the Scottish school system - that's basically mock exams in November, then in May I have actual exams.

No doubt majority of people have totally skipped reading the above note, and if thats the case - Read the authors note. It's important!