Broken Nightmare
Chapter 4

“Claire!” I screamed from Liam’s arms. I protested and cried out for her, but Liam still held me in his rock grasp.

“Liam! I have to get in there! Claire is still there and I need to find her! Please!” I screamed at Liam, who still hasn’t moved.

“Elana, the firemen will get her. It’s their job. Leave it. Maybe she’s already out, but you just haven’t seen her yet.”

“No! You don’t get it! If I don’t help her, she’s going to die! I had a dream about this!”

I turned back to face Liam and I saw his face twist in confusion until it turned into understanding. He seemed uncertain now and glanced anxiously from the school to me. After what seemed like forever, he made up his mind. “Okay, but I’m going with you. I don’t want you to get hurt in there. If anything goes wrong, we will leave, okay?” I nodded and he let me from his grasp.

I knew that something was going to go wrong. Heck, everything is going to go wrong. I couldn’t leave when it happened, either, and there was no way I was going to let Liam go in there and get himself hurt. There was only one solution. “Sorry”. Liam’s face flashed in confusion until I brought my fist to his temple, striking a pressure point. I whispered another apology and ran over to where the blazing school was.

I sprinted into the on-going traffic and hazardously dodged cars and people on the way. I could hear the fire sirens in the background and picked up my pace to beat them into the building. There was no way they would let me in if they had a chance.

I reached the front doors as fire exploded through them. The heat smashed into my face and I stumbled back to catch my concentration. I caught my train of thought and barged through the holes in the doors circled with black from the fire. I felt the flames licking my legs and feet as I stumbled down the hallway and black, thick, oily smoke invaded my lungs, scratching them and making me choke. The distance to the cafeteria seemed much larger with flames reaching out to me from everywhere. I found it ironic that I wished many times for the school to burn down, and now it was happening, all I wanted was for it to stop.

Claire was where she was in my dream, so I didn’t have to search too hard to find her. She was still smack in the middle of the cafeteria, unmoving. I tried to reach her as some building terrain smashed in front of me to block my path. This did not happen in my dream until later. I tried screaming her name, but she was still in shock. I knew any second the firemen would come in and get me, but if they wouldn’t get to Claire in time; she will be gone.

I took a step towards the cafeteria where Claire was when a board from the wall collapsed. I tried to dodge it, but while lunging out of the board’s way, it landed on my calf and knocked me down to the ground. I felt what fire was on it burn through my jeans, but the flames never reached my leg. I tried to squirm from under the board, but it just seemed to get heavier. I tried to draw in a breath so I could try to push the board, but I just inhaled smoke and ended up in a coughing fit. “Help! Please, help!” I struggled to scream, but there was nobody around. Mustering all the strength I had left, I twisted my body uncomfortably to push the board off my leg. Strangely, when I saw the board, it was still flaming uncontrollably.

The flames never even heated my leg. While I tried to comprehend the phenomenon, a man appeared. I let out a sigh of relief at seeing my brother come to help me, but then a shot of fear trickled down my spine at the realization that Liam was in danger. “Hold on!” He yelled at me in a deep voice. That’s not Liam . . .

He appeared to me in the matter of a few minutes and immediately went to work on the board over me. His eyes urgently searched for a spot that wasn’t covered in flames, and when he discovered it, his hands shot out to lift it. It’s either I’m really weak or I was hallucinating, but he lifted it off of me in the matter of seconds and threw it to the side. “Can you walk?” He asked me.

I tried not to gawk at what happened too much and attempted to get to my feet. I put weight on my leg, but between the feeling of somebody squeezing my muscle and a thousand needles in my calf, I resented and gave up. I sat back down and glanced up at muscle man in defeat. Before I could say anything, he was carrying me effortlessly through the burning building. Debris smashed down in front of us several times, but it was as though the man knew it was going to happen and always dodged it. We were almost out the side door of the school when I remembered why I was there in the first place.

I started to squirm in the man’s grasp, but his arms on my back and legs were like stone. He shot me a dirty look and after my shock faded off, I returned one as well. “Claire’s in there! That’s why I came back in! We have to go find her!”

He was still glaring at me when he replied, “We already have the other girl. Blake has her.”

I gave him a quizzical glare before resting in his arms again and waited for him to open the door. I felt a cool breeze splash across my face as the air settled in around us. The fresh air sent me into another coughing fit that I couldn’t control. The boy darted towards the woods where, I assumed, Claire was. I heard the wailing of the sirens and yelling coming from other men around it. I didn’t try to turn around, because the only thing on my mind right now was whether my best friend was alright or not.

We entered the forest’s line and I felt at ease. I couldn’t understand why, but something about the forest calmed my nerves. The young man ran with me in his arms for a long time, until we made it to a dead patch in the forest. He slowed his pace as we made it to the center. I glanced around, expecting to see Claire there, but I couldn’t find her. The young man strolled over to a log in the center and propped me up against it.

I glanced up at him and, for the first time, got a good look at my rescuer. He had a large, heavy build surrounded in tight muscles. He had deep brown eyes that almost looked black and dark brown hair. He was very virile—at least 6 ½ feet tall. His whole appearance screamed intimidating. Yet, something about him seemed so familiar. His gorgeous face hiding that mystery.

I snapped out of my trance when somebody shook my shoulder. I focused my attention on the guy shaking me. It was another young man—probably a year older than the one that carried me here. He had a medium build with sky blue eyes and sandy blonde hair.

Embarrassed that I was caught gawking at my rescuer, I felt my cheeks heat up and I looked at my leg instead. The blonde guy followed my gaze to my leg and scoot down to inspect it. He looked at it for a minute before placing both hands on my wound and I winced in pain from his contact. He sat there with both hands on my leg for a second before looking at me in horror.

“She’s a foreseer,” he whispered.

Another boy with a large build, dark skin, and dark brown hair and eyes stepped forward and crouched on the other side of me. “Are you sure?”

“I—I can’t heal her.” The blonde responded.

Okay… maybe that fire did more damage than I thought… did he just say he couldn’t heal me? So, I’m a foreseer?

I felt the pain in my leg pick up and I grabbed for it. The pain spread up my thigh and I squeezed above my injury to stop the blood flow and slow the pain so it was bearable, but the blonde slapped my hands away before the action could take effect. I felt lightheaded and my vision started to splotch with black from the blood loss.

My vision returned and I noticed the dark-haired boy that saved me in the back with his arms folded over his chest. He had on a black shirt that was tight on the top, but got looser closer at his hips because of his amazing figure. He had on a pair of straight jeans that stretched down to his ankles, despite the desert heat. I tried to tear my gaze from him, but he was so beautiful, I just couldn’t. He turned his attention from the boys next to me and caught my eye. I quickly turned away, not wanting him to catch me staring at him.

I looked to my left and saw that the boy with the brown eyes was closer to me and his lips were moving. I instantly felt bad that I wasn’t paying attention.

“What?”

He sighed and started speaking in a soothing voice, “You have to allow us in. we can’t fix your wound until you open your mind to us.”

“What? Are you crazy? Just get the paramedics. They can take care of this.”

“No, the pack can’t. Trust me, okay? Just, open your mind.”

“Trust you? Why? I just met you!” I screamed. “For all I know, you could be a mass murderer or—”

“Just do it!” The dark haired boy commanded from the back.

His outburst caught me off-guard and I figured if he saved me, he wouldn’t just kill me now, right? I closed my eyes and waited for further instructions.

“Now,” the light blue eyed boy started, “find your boundaries. In your mind, find the outside walls.”

I listened to what he said and seared through everything in my mind until I found the wall surrounding all my thoughts. I nodded and he continued, “Now, go along that wall until you find a door or gate. No matter what, do not leave the wall, alright?”

I walked along the wall of my mind and kept walking until I touched something cold and metal. A handle. I nodded and the boy continued, “Alright. Open the door. Once you open it, run away from the wall and the door and don’t turn back. Don’t leave too far from the door, but run far enough until you are a safe distance away.”

I pushed down on the door lever and started to turn to run when a blue light started swirling around and coming closer to me from the midnight black. I stepped in front of the door and squinted to try to see better. The blue light was floating softly to where the door was and I stepped closer to try to find out what it was. The pattern of the soft waves of blue sent me into a trance and I couldn’t move my head or legs. I found myself inching towards the edge of the door—where the cliff of my mind was. The blue swirls were picking up speed now and racing towards the doors. The swirls turned into a deep blue sea as it approached my wall. I realized the waves were getting too close and turned to run like instructed. I started to bolt from the wall, but it was already too late. I was washed with the waves.

I felt my lungs collapse from lack of air and split my eyes open. I jolted from the log I was resting against and leaned forward, taking in as much air as I could. I glanced up to find the more people surrounding me. The dark-haired boy that saved me from the fire was the first—sitting at my feet. To his right, there was another girl. Stunning. She had rich caramel skin and light brown eyes. Her dark hair complimented her high cheekbones and she had flawless skin. Across from her, there was another man. This one was much older than the others. He had a tight jaw and hard face settled in behind cold dark eyes, but still a full head of hair, graying at the temples. I didn’t look at him long because, to be honest, he scared me. I looked next to him to the last guest, who was holding my hand.

“Claire!” I screamed and threw my arms around her neck. She laughed and returned my affection by cupping my shoulders with her hands in a tight hug. I only held her for a few moments before releasing her from my death grip. I glanced around at the rest of the group and noticed there was somebody else I didn’t know that joined the huddle around me. “What’s going on? Are you okay?” I asked Claire.

Claire’s joyful facial expression dropped as it was replaced by a wall of seriousness. “We need to talk.” She declared, looking to the rest of this little group to actually do the talking.

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