I had barely placed the ice wall up for cover when the first rain of bullets came. It began to crumble and fall over itself, so I began to maneuver myself over the rocks, grunting as I directed ice pellets towards the men, who had begun to scramble into their positions. The blood continued to run down my injured shoulder as the sound of bullets in the air echoed in the humid, dense air. Ignoring the pain exploding in the middle of my skull, I focused on an upcoming wave in the ocean. It splashed over the cliff, and, grabbing hold of it, directed it to fall over a squad of soldiers who were scrambling to get away from it. As ice traveled up their shins and stomachs and arms and left them in a permanent, frozen state, my eyes fell on Baldwin.

He wasn't looking at me. His gaze were focused on the cliffs below us as he kept firing, gritting his teeth. Clutching my bloodied shoulder with my left hand, I fought to make out the shapes on the beach, where the stench of the decomposing corpses were carried in the air. He fired a few more shots at the men rushing onto the beach, kicking up sand with their heels, who soon had blood spurting out of their necks and heads.

I attempted to direct an ice shard at Baldwin, but a piercing pain struck through my head, and I lost my balance, tumbling behind a boulder. The remaining men kept climbing up, ducking for cover, under the hail of bullets that kept raining down upon them. Something warm and sticky dripped down the sides of my head, and, managing to gather enough concentration, I focused on the soldiers above, who were lying on their stomach, some perched behind the trees and bushes, others sitting on top of the sharp rocks. A deep ringing settled in my ears as I slowly held a hand out, sensing a strong wave of energy traveling through my veins. Several screams erupted from the soldiers their bodies flew off the cliff, despite them fighting and clawing against the limbs that were not their own. Their heads split open on the rocks below like melons.

Despite it all, I struggled to generate a wall of ice to block the oncoming of wave of bullets that kept breaking through its surface. Swinging from boulder to boulder, layers of thick ice and snow began to follow my path as I attempted to make it to the top once against, freezing everything that I encountered in sight. A sudden orange and red explosion went off, shaking the entire cliff side. Several more followed, almost as a chain reaction, breaking off more ice shards that plummeted into the raging salt water before, splashing down below. I ducked for cover as Baldwin's bullets penetrated the rock I was crouched behind.

I swallowed, tasting the fresh blood in my mouth, desperately trying to see in the smoke and dust in the air. And, from the corner of my eye, I spied Baldwin biting off something with his teeth and throwing it in my direction. We made eye contact.

It was foggy below, and I could hear the ocean crashing against the splintered rocks, where the dead below were being washed out. Somehow, I had managed to make it to the end the rock before jumping off into the gray water, the force of gravity pulling at my insides. Heat and dark smoke filled the air as I fell into the ocean with a heavy splash, bubbles rising from my mouth and nose. The hand of a nearby corpse brushed against my arm as I began to swim, keeping myself underwater as long as possible to avoid the spray of bullets that were popping on it's rough surface.

When I finally went up and gasped for air, the remainder of the cliff was caught in a serious of explosions. Grateful for the fog that fell over the air, I turned my head to the side, continuing to tread the water with my hands. There was faint shouting on shore, and I could make out several bodies laying on the ground. Once I stumbled out of the water, wet sand clinging to my legs and bare feet, the shouting became more audible.

A grenade explosion appeared a few feet away, and I threw myself into the ground, bracing myself for its impact. Once more, I began to scramble to my feet and run, the stinging sensation in my shoulder worsened from the salt water. What met my eyes next; I found myself quite unprepared for.

Rufus laid on his back on the ground, screaming m. He was coughing up blood, and his rifle was snapped into two pieces. William was on his knees by his side, yelling, but as I got a closer look, I saw that Rufus' right leg split open, right to where the shattered bone was still visible. His mouth was open, eyes wide open, his shouts audible even above the gunfire and grenade explosions. William stared at me, startled. His dark eyes were large, caught in a state of shock.

"Get him out of the open," I yelled; but my voice was carried from the wind. He continued to look at me. Halfway tripping in the sand, before I knew it myself, I helped Rufus sit up and ordered him to wrap his arms behind my neck. Somehow, he had done it, and I scooped him up on my back, trying to avoid his leg. William still kneeled in the sand. I began to pull at his arm in an attempt to make him come with us. At this point, Rufus was throwing up uncontrollably, slipping in and out of consciousness. Half a mile away from us, a grenade bomb went off, throwing dirt in the air,

Frantically, I began to look around, breathing heavily. To my horror, the village above on top of the cliff was swallowed in flames, including the woods behind them, and the pouring rain had done nothing to extinguish them. A deep pit of nausea settled in my stomach. I turned to look at William. His eyes were frozen now, lost in the rain, the smoke, the hot air. Something came over me. I struck his shoulder, causing him to snap out of it.

"Where is everyone?" I hollered on the top of my lungs, yet I dreaded the answer he would most likely give me. Strands of wet hair fell over my face, and despite how much heat was in the air, I found myself shivering uncontrollably. "You need to tell me where everyone is."

Rufus gagged and coughed. He had stopped screaming. I tightened my hold on him to prevent him from slipping off my back, startled at how little he seemed to weigh. William struggled to stand.

"The caves," he hoarsely said. "They're in..."

The sound of crumbling rock made us both look up. I yanked at William's arm and began to drag him with me, ignoring the pain shooting down my limbs and bloodied shoulder. As we ran across the beach, past the engulfed palm trees charred corpses, I tried not to look at them. William followed me in a daze. Knowing that I would likely be unsuccessful getting information from him, I tried to remember which part of the beach we were. Did he mean the coral reefs? That was only a few miles away. Most likely, Baldwin's men were attempting to reach that location as well.

Coughing uncontrollably, I continued to drag William along, not realizing how tight my grip was on his arm. A few more palm trees were standing, and I could make out shadows and people in the distance. Relief washed over me as someone called Rufus' name. As soon as our forms became more visible in the distance, I could see everyone huddled around the entrance of the underground cave, Khonie and civilian. Their faces were smudged, clothes dirty, eyes red.

What startled me the most was the sight of George, Ian, Jene, Covey, and Ki'luwani. They were leaning against a wall, talking amongst each other, before their eyes fell on me. While Covey stiffened up at the sight of me, George kept a cold look at me. His arms were folded--and his mouth slightly dropped at the sight of me carrying Rufus.

The man who had shouted at Rufus rushed over to us. I had barely made it to the entrance when another explosion created a vibration in the earth, causing a few children to start crying--they were further down in the cave by a few lit torches. At first glance, I hardly recognized his features, but soon recognized him as one of the men who had been present at one of the meetings, the one who had carried out Rufus' orders that day. Steven. He, alongside a couple of others, began to lay Rufus on the ground. A few propped his head upright, and he began to groan in pain as he glanced at his mangled leg, before sighing.

"Where are they?" he whispered.

"On the eastern side," I replied, my teeth still chattering. "They're going to come up this way."

All eyes fell upon me. The silence in the air made my heart skip a beat. My fingernails dug into my muddy palms and I had no right to be in their presence. Water dripped from my drenched clothes and made a puddle onto the ground in which I caught my reflection. The salt in the air was present, but now filled with smells of moss and dirt. And suddenly, I found myself terrified of how much I had been laughing merely before, and not knowing why had put me in great unease.

"I'm going to hold them back as much as I can." My voice was shaky. "That should bring you some time to make a break for it. Hopefully around dawn, you and everyone else will be able to get out yourselves and the young'uns out of here. I should be able to find a way to deal with them."

"Don't be foolish. We're outnumbered," William muttered. Startled, I turned my head to glance at him. He kept his head low, avoiding eye contact with me. "There is no way for us to leave."

Rufus gazed at me. His blue eyes fell on my face, which were halfway open. I tried to not look at his leg--the fresh, gaping wound a breeding ground for infection. Then, to my surprise, he slightly smiled at me, blood outlining his gums and teeth.

"That was you, wasn't it? I should've known that those fools wouldn't have drowned in the ocean on their own accord." He began to chuckle. "And all those bodies in the woods, scattered around like garbage. That was you, wasn't it, boy?"

Steven looked at him in bewilderment. "Sir?"

Rufus wagged a finger at me, still laughing. "We aren't going to starve to death yet, ladies and gentlemen. Not for the next couple of weeks, as long as we ration properly. There should be enough for anyone." He closed his eyes as his smile faded. "I've stocked the supplies he'd gathered here. I knew that they would come. I just didn't expect them to show up all at once like they did." He slammed a fist against the ground, and his face contorted in pain. His voice became thick. "Looney bastards. Wouldn't never brought those men with me had I known. Had I known."

"We're most likely going to need to amputate," William said. He cleared his throat and took a few steps towards Rufus. "Your leg."

He hardly flinched. "Do it, then. Just keep my little girl away from this until you finish the process."

"I'm going to hold them back," I repeated, but it came out in a whisper. Silently, I gave them a slight bow, put at unease by their deep stares, before making a quick exit out of the cave.

* * * * * * * *

Lightning flashed against the sky as I stepped out in the clouded air and near the raging ocean. Gunfire echoed in the air. After spreading out from cave's entrance, biting back the severe pain in my head, I held both hands out to the sea. The water began to morph and shape, and, as I began to focus, the crackling sound of ice filled the air as I continued to build a sturdy ice wall around the cave. Frost and powdered snow flew out in streams from my palms, the bright blue glowing from my fingers. My head was killing me, but I wanted to create several more layers to make it more sturdy, well aware of the limitations that it posed against grenade attacks. The taste of blood in my mouth was strong in my mouth, to the point it was overwhelming. Dizziness fell over me and made my vision blurry, but I carried on.

I had just began polishing my work when the sound of footsteps in the sand made me jump. Turning around, I found that George was standing behind me. He had a haversack in his arms, and when he tossed it at me, automatically, I caught it with my right hand. For a moment, we both stared at each other. I could see the anxiety in his stern eyes, and he folded his arms and glanced down.

"You said they're on the eastern coast?" he finally asked, like he was trying to spit the words out.

I slowly nodded, startled that he was taking to me for the first time in weeks. "Cliff side. In the woods."

George reached behind his back and withdrew two machetes. The blades glistened in the dim light. He rolled his tongue on the side of his mouth. "How many of them?"

"I would say about five to ten thousand. I couldn't get a really good glance at them when I was up amongstside the rocks." I spoke softly, staring at my muddy bare feet. "I've been trying to clear the area of them for a while, but I shouldn't have approached it the way I did, especially in this area. It brought too much attention. Far too much."

"There are about thirty five hundred of us here."

"Indeed." A shiver ran down my spine.

"And what is your plan, Adlai?"

I looked up at him, startled at his question. He was studying my face, looking deep into my soul.

"You shouldn't be out here," I finally managed to say. "Go back to the cave. I'll let everyone know when it is safe to leave this place."

"You do not tell me what I should and shouldn’t do. You assume you will come back here alive? I don’t care how much you plan to use that voodoo of yours. It simply isn’t possible. And you know it.”

I said nothing.

George spat in the ground. "I'm coming with you."

"What good will that do?"

"What, you think you can do this by yourself? You are very stupid. For the sake of my people, you need to uphold a promise you made. And you will execute it fully under my watch. This has nothing to do with you." He pointed one blade at the cave. "I do it for them. Not for you. I will come with you."

I suddenly remembered Janice's words. Too exhausted to argue, I made a beckoning motion with my arm. He grunted and began to walk over, but a voice behind us caused us to both turn around. Covey was running after us, breathless, carrying a bow in one hand. He did not look at me, although his chest was rising and falling.

"Wait for me," he said. "I'm coming."

"And me," someone shouted, and I could make out Ki'luwani's voice. I did not turn to glance at their faces, and neither did they. We began to crouch and crawl in silence on the side of the towering rocks in an attempt to shield ourselves from the bullets that bounced off their surfaces and left golden shells glittering in the darkened sand.