The Guardians - The Collapsing of the Wall (Book 3)
Chapter 9: The evil from inside

“It’s time for us to go to the battle”, says Tamara to the other Guardians on her way upstairs. “We will take them by surprise and end Leonor’s tyranny once and for good.”

She gets confirmations from the Guardians, who rush to gather their things and join the great battle that is about to come.

“We will approach a different route, one that goes near the Wall’s Portal. We will leave here a group of well-trained Guardians, so they can contact us in case anyone appears around. I don’t believe this, but it’s better to be cautious”, Artemis completes.

Mark gulps and rubs his hands in a stressful way, rolling on his heels. He finds his way to Tamara’s office, for the thousand time in those days, trying to catch a moment alone in there. But when he knocks, Tamara is already there with Artemis, for she had arrived there somehow before him.

“Yes, Mark. Can I help you with something?”

“Yes… I thought the Guardians were asking for you downstairs.”

“Who?”

“I didn’t see who asked. I just heard on my way.”

“I will go down now”, she says rushing on her way out.

Artemis follows her, and Mark steps out behind them, leaving the door half-opened. He gets out so he won’t turn their attention on him, and now he is walking behind them until the end of the hallway, from where he suddenly turns around and heads to the office again.

He is nervous and walks from one corner to another until he sees Tamara’s communication tablet. He grabs it before thinking twice and hides it under his battle suit, and he runs outside the room, closing the door behind him. He doesn’t want to be seen by anyone near that office if they would find out the tablet is missing, so he ends up in the shed for the food. He presses the buttons and makes a video call and, soon, Leonor answers him from the other end of the line.

“I thought they killed you”, she says cold.

“No, but I couldn’t access the office anymore. Someone has always been in there. Tamara even slept there twice!”

“What news do you bring me?”

“Uhuu, you won’t believe it, but first let me start with the most important thing.”

“Tell me.”

“They prepare to attack you. They will leave tonight. They will take the route near the Portal’s Wall to surprise you on your way here or at the Base.”

“That’s good. We will be very surprised”, she laughs. “I thought you switched sides.”

“No way.”

“On the other hand, I am still surprised that you accepted to tell us things from inside your Base, but also that you crossed your heart and betrayed Dean.”

“That night, on my way to the Unity, I was a little scared to talk to you. But I knew I was choosing the winning side.”

“I see. Anyway, you played your part very well, even in the fight. I even thought, at one point, that you are not with us anymore. Are you sure no one has figured it out?”

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He rubs his hands and prepares to tell them about Dean’s betrayal and, of course, about Lily, who is still alive.

“We will leave tonight as well. The road is a long one even with the vehicles, but we will surprise them near the Wall. This is what I foresee.”

“That’s good. They won’t know what hit them. You have the numbers.”

“Actually, we don’t have so many warriors. We were attacked by the dragons.”

“We were too. We lost a lot of soldiers.”

“That’s good.”

“Now I shall tell you about Lily…”

Leonor is waiting curiously at the other end of the line, but Mark’s look is distracted when he hears a noise behind him. Leo is standing there, and he had heard with whom he has been communicating all along.

In a heartbeat, Leo attacks him and hits him, making Mark drop the tablet. It breaks, and the connection with Leonor is lost. Mark hits him too and, even though neither of them is armed, the fight is a real struggle. Two of the best soldiers are made to hang on for long.

“Traitor! You sold us! You were the rotten apple?”

He replies with a malefic laugh and pushes him forcefully in the metallic shelves. Leo falls, and the objects fall over him, hitting him pretty bad. Mark doesn’t think much and he smashes a jar, from which he makes a weapon. Leo grabs a metallic box and hits him in the head, making him lose his balance.

Now they are both on the floor, rolling around and fighting for their lives. When Mark stabs him in the chest with the piece of glass, Leo makes a loud crying, but he doesn’t give up and he pushes him with his legs, throwing him on other shelves. The sound is loud enough to catch someone’s attention, but only the Guardians are too busy preparing for the battle than wandering around in the hallways.

He gets up and runs at him, full of blood and with his battle suit ragged, carrying in his hand a sharp shelf which he plans to use on Mark. But when he prepares to hit, Mark grabs a long pipe and hits him straight in the head, throwing him back between the shelves, where Leo hits his head by some metallic corner. He falls down instantly, and a pool of blood appears around him.

Mark gets up pretty fast and starts looking around for some new clothes to put on. He doesn’t want to be discovered, so he cleans the blood off him in a rush, and takes another black cape to cover his tracks, he wipes on his pants, and he looks brand new. He rushes to the exit, but he notices the door opening and he hides behind it.

Brook walks inside mumbling something about leaving, but she freezes when she sees the mess around. She takes another step forward, taking a good look at the disaster in front of her. She can’t notice Mark behind her, who slowly closes the door, without drawing attention to him. He grabs one of the broken glasses from the floor, and he approaches her, but he winces when he hears her terrified voice.

“Leo! No!”

She runs and bends over her lover’s dead body, breathing heavily and with hiccups. She’s sitting with her knees in the blood, and she looks up when she hears steps behind her. She sees Mark throwing at her with the weapon, and she jumps aside from an instinct. She desperately looks for a weapon around, but the shock and the pain can’t let her focus. Mark grabs her foot and pulls her at him and, even if she’s struggling, he stabs her with it and throws her above the shelves. He arranges his costume, and then he walks out of the room, blocking it with the electronic code from outside. He joins the other Guardians who were gathered in the hall.

“What will we do with Lily?” Addison asks Tamara.

“We will leave her in here. Dean has a plan that includes her alive.”

“I will go and let her know”, says Isaac hearing their conversation.

“Do you honestly think that you can make her stay in there? Isn’t it better if we just don’t tell her?” asks Tamara.

“I will not leave like this. If I won’t see her again, at least I should say good-bye.”

“This is absurd! We are not going to die!” says Addison.

“A lot of us will die out there, and I don’t know for sure I am not one of them. I am going.”

“Very well, but I will join you”, she says briefly.

Isaac rolls his eyes and then leaves to Lily’s room with her. When he walks inside, she jumps down from the table, for she had made a bed from it since she had been closed in there. She looks at them concerned and she knows well what they want to tell her.

“I am not staying in here! No!” she says out of the blue.

“You will! We are not here to argue. I am here to see you.”

“Oh, in case you die?” she asks pissed off. “Don’t you dare say goodbye to me because we are leaving this place together!”

“Lily”, Tamara says,” Dean has a plan, which includes you alive. If you go there you will ruin it. Understand this. He did what he did for a reason. Don’t let everything be in vain.”

“And what if he doesn’t have a plan? What if Isaac is right?”

“We will deal with them. We will take them by surprise.”

Lily is skeptical, but she considers Tamara’s version as well.

“What if I cover my face?”

“Lily, what if someone recognizes you? What if we have other traitors among us?” asks Tamara. “This is the reality, and whoever knows you he will recognize you through that mask or costume.”

She puts her hands on her head. She understands what she is told, but she doesn’t want to accept the fact that she will be sitting here doing nothing while lives will be lost on the battlefield.

“I don’t want to stay here…”

“I know, but do this because, if there’s any chance that Dean has a plan, it won’t be in vain,” says Isaac.

She sighs and goes close to him.

“This will not be out goodbye. This is why I won’t hug you.”

When he hears her words, he feels so disappointed, closes his eyes, and he barely holds on not to say anything else.

“I will fight to get back to you”, he whispers.

“Don’t hurt Dean”, she says in a whisper too. “Please, save him, for he doesn’t want to be there.”

“We will do this”, Tamara answers even if Lily was looking at Isaac.

“Me and Addison… we have a thing…”

She looks at her brother trying to seem shocked. A part of that feeling is real, but another part isn’t because she didn’t expect him to feel the same way about her. Her head is about to explode but she tries to focus on the present.

“Just in case…” continues Isaac.

“Shut up! I don’t want to hear it!”

“We will leave now. Wish us luck” says Tamara and waves at Isaac to get out.

“I hope you all get back in one piece. I trust you guys!” she says biting her lip.

The two of them get out, and Tamara makes sure that Lily is locked in that room. She remains touching the door, sighing heavy, and she seemed to be looking through the wall, wishing she was there too. She had tried a lot of times to use that trick and look through the walls or door, but something was wrong because she had never succeeded it.

“It wasn’t so difficult, was it?” asks Tamara ironically.

“Yeah”, mumbles Isaac.

When they arrive in the hallway, the Guardians were already prepared. Ones grouped outside, and others inside.

“We are ready when you are”, says Artemis.

“I say we hit the road”, speaks Tamara.

They get in the electric cars and head to the horizon, on the Wall’s Portal route, in the orange light of the sunset. Mark smiles malefic in one of the cars, watching them closely. He is disappointed that he couldn’t tell Leonor about Lily, but he is pleased that he had warned her about their attack.

“What are you laughing at?” asks Addison from the other car.

“Oh, I’m thinking about how we are going to beat them”, he answers calmly, as if he didn’t kill anyone a couple of dozens of minutes ago.

Since she had got inside Lily’s mind, Addison had become like her, skeptical and insecure about some of the Guardians around. She feels something weird, but she doesn’t listen to her instinct, so she doesn’t make a big deal from it. She touches Isaac’s shoulders instead, who grabs her hands in a gentle way.

“We will make a team out there, just like I did with Lily”, she says.

“I will have your back.”

“And I will have yours.”

The light becomes reddish, and neither of the Guardians associates it with the bloodshed that’s about to come in the battle. They are too focused on the road, too thoughtful about how they can beat them or how can they save their own skin.

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