[Story] Delta – S01 E05

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 5

♣ Josh ♣

I was racing towards the car, my footsteps pounding on the uneven ground. Pierre was yelling something behind me, and I twisted, nearly falling over as I looked to where he was staring with a white face – the bridge. Astrid had crumpled to the ground, the man behind her doing the same despite the gun in his hands that he had obviously just shot her with. My body froze, my eyes widening as my brain went into overdrive to begin to act on what I was seeing. But my limbs weren’t reacting to the signals it was sending them, because how could Astrid be shot?

Pierre was swearing loudly, moving forward as if in a daze. He wanted to get to Astrid, but enough gears clicked in my brain to make my eye register the gunmen that were drawing nearer, their weapons aimed at us. Giving myself a shake, I snapped back into action mode, darting forward to grab Pierre’s arm. He wrenched it out of my grasp, his green eyes burning furiously as he looked at me.

“Get in control!” I yelled, right in his face. “She might not be dead!” My eyes flickered down to his hand. “The grenade – give it to me!”

Shock flared in his eyes. “What – no!”

Ignoring him, I yanked the grenade out of his hand, arching my arm and catapulting it into the air with all the aim of a Little Leaguer. It smashed into the ground at the edge of the forest, exploding with a large boom and causing several guards to fall over. Pierre grabbed my arm to support himself, his eyes widening. “That isn’t a normal grenade!” he shouted in my ear. “Do they usual explode that largely?”

Despite the situation, I couldn’t help laughing. “That’s Charlie’s doing, mate.”

“Who?”

I didn’t answer. Saying Charlie’s name reminded forcibly of what I had just done: thrown a grenade into a place where both he and Astrid could have been. Pierre seemed to be thinking the same thing; he shot me death glares as he started walking forward again. I was considering following him when a figure emerged from the dust the grenade had kicked up. It was Charlie, with Astrid carried shakily in his arms and a bag slung over his shoulder.

Pierre inhaled sharply as Charlie approached us, stepping forward to brace Astrid as well. Charlie gave him a very cold look for doing so, but even I could see that he was about to drop her. His face was smudged with dust and his eyes looked a little bloodshot from the flying particles, but other than that he seemed fine. Astrid, however…

“Is she…” Pierre couldn’t bring himself to say it.