Imperium: Volume 1
Chapter 8.

"Ugh not again." I murmured.

"What? No June! you have to get up." He whispered.

I felt my body being shook, so much to the fact I almost fell out of the bed. I finally opened my eyes to see Raeve standing over me.

"Raeve?" I asked still half asleep.

"We need to go now!" He said firmly.

The way he insisted sounded convincing enough for me, to quickly jump up and put myself together. As I laced up my semi dried boots, he quickly jammed everything back into my bag.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"I just heard dogs." He said while scanning the room, ensuring he got everything.

"Dogs?" I asked curiously.

"It's a patrol." He replied before rushing outside to grab the remainder of my clothes. I stepped out and he walked up to me grabbing my hand.

"Com'on." Then lead the way.

We went back up the embankment and descended down the ravine. He was moving fast, and I felt the atmosphere in the air change suddenly.

He turned back to me. "Where was that lake you took a dip in?"

"It's up ahead...why?" I answered.

"Your not going to like it, but we might have to take a quick dunk in it again." He said.

"I don't understand. For our scent or something?" I asked.

"Exactly." He responded.

We picked up the pace to an almost sprint.

"Since when do they use dogs?" I asked in between my panting.

"They've been sending out new patrols, and I'm telling you right now, these aren't ones you want to mess with. These men are more ruthless and enjoy the kill. He said nervously."

We were in full run mode this time, and shortly after we found ourselves infront of the lake. We looked for the best route to take. As we stood there, we could hear the dogs closing in on our position. He grabbed my hand again as we ran into the water and fully submerged ourselves before making our way back to the shallow, and ran for it. We ran along the edge of the lake, speeding up our efforts to drop out of sight. Then peered back into the woods.

The dogs could still be heard in the distance, but the sound of them seemed further away. We stopped for a moment to catch our breath and grab our bearings.

We were both panting hard. It felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest at any given moment. I looked at Raeve, and he looked to be in the same boat as me. He looked up at me, as if he was going to say something when I felt a sudden gust of wind zip past my ear. Next thing I saw, was Raeve fall back violently to the ground followed by additional gun shots.

"Raeve!" I quickly went to him. He was shot in the arm, but luckily it was a graze. He looked in shock but quickly came too, before getting up. I looked back and saw about a dozen soldiers heading towards us, firing their weapons. I put up my field, incasing Raeve in one aswell.

"June!" Raeve got my attention and we bolted.

I kept looking back, to ensure we were getting some distance between us, but as I looked over my shoulder, they had released a dog, who was making quick gain on us. I knew with my fields up, it couldn't do damage, but if we wanted to continue running we couldn't have one on us. I grabbed my knife from the back of my belt and waited for it to get closer.

I could hear it's panting as it neared me, and maneuvered my body as it lunged for my arm. I brought up my knife and stuck it in its neck as the force of its body threw me to the ground.

"June!" Raeve yelled.

I quickly got up and threw my weight on it, driving my knife into its throat again and slicing it, before I got up and sprinted.

"Keep moving!" I panted.

With my knife still in hand and back on the move, I looked back to see some soldiers closing the gap on atv's. I purposefully slowed down my pace behind Raeve, as what I had to do next was completely unavoidable. I stopped and turned around conjuring up a force field in front of them, and watched the beautiful display as they drove head on into the invisible wall. I turned around and continued running behind Raeve as the remnants of the atv's explosion blew up in flames, temporarily blocking us from their view.

"Com'on! We're almost there!" He yelled from ahead.

Almost where? I thought. We ran another half kilometer before we came to a dead stop, almost running into him. He brought us to a cliffs edge, where I looked down to see an ever so rapid river. He then looked at me...with that look.

Fuck. I rather just take these guys head on then jump in that. I put my knife back in its holster. He grabbed my hand and squeezed it giving me the signal to jump, and before I knew it, my body just took over and took the leap shortly after he did.

The fall was a pain stakingly 5 seconds too long before plunging into the cold water below. I bopped up to the surface to see Raeve, positioning himself on his back feet first. I did the same.

The river took us down stream fast, thrashing us around before it finally came to a calm. We crossed the river to the other side and dragged ourselves up the rocky edge, where we laid to catch our breath. Raeve crawled up to me, where I lay sprawled out on my back coughing up some of the water that made it into my lungs.

He placed his hand on my cheek. "Are you ok?"

I gave him the ok sign, as I was still to out of breath from the chase. He rolled back over onto his back and stayed there panting.

"What happened back there?" He turned his head to face me.

I kept my face towards the sky. "I don't know."

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"What was that explosion though?" He asked again.

"I don't know Raeve, your guess is as good as mine. Bad drivers I guess."

I knew with my recent disappearance and the inability to come up with a better excuse, he was going to have more questions for me. I turned to him, and the look on his face was a suspicious one. I turned away again and rolled over so I was now on my knees.

"Are you ok?" I asked him, wanting to change the subject.

He sighed. "Yes"

He repositioned himself and brought his hand up to his arm, where the bullet grazed him. He winced in pain, at the touch of it.

"Here let me take a look at it." I went over to him and ripped the layers of clothing to get a better look.

"It's ok, but it's gonna leave a scar." I reached into my pack and ripped a piece of my shirt, wrapping it around the wound.

"We should be good till we get to base. The next crossing is miles in both directions, and lucky for us, they won't know where we left the river." He reassured me.

I kept quite as I tied the final knot in the bandaging.

"Hey." He looked at me. "We're going to be alright. Do you trust me?"

I wasn't worried one bit about myself. I was just hoping, he would make it. I just nodded. He looked at the bandage and thanked me.

"Let's get going. If we keep moving we can make it there by dusk." He said as he stood up holding out his hand. He helped me up and took my pack, throwing it over his shoulder.

He held out his arm pointing in the direction of base camp.

"This way." He said.

I looked at him and made my way back into the woods taking the lead.

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