Battle Strong by Elizabeth McCready (the ebook reader txt) 📖

three boys followed direction. She dove to her left and had just touched the ground when the object exploded. The sound was so overpowering. The ringing in her ears was intense, she remained on the ground until she regained as much of her hearing as she thought necessary. She waited until she could hear the miniature army shuffle off, when they did she fired her arrows. Once all of them were dead, she checked her surroundings.

"It's clear." The three of the boys rose from the ground looking at each other.

"Okay, you just saved our lives." Chaess muttered in awe.

"Are you surprised? Come on." The four of struggled to get on their feet, once standing they ran to where the army came from.

"Beth, where is everyone else?" Peitre shouted over the sounds of explosions in the distance.

"I didn't see them, after the explosion. We can only hope they survived." Beth especially hoped they were alive. She wouldn't know what to do otherwise.

An explosion erupted and feet shuffled from behind a large array of boulders and trees. Beth drew her bow, sending arrows flying into the flesh of the ambush members. The clanking of swords and knives filled the air, the rush of battle filling her blood. Beth slipped her bow back over her shoulder and drew her swords slashing through the bodies of soldiers trying to kill her and her team.

"Noeh!" She shouted as a sword started its journey towards the head of her friend, Noeh pivoted his body and blocked the blow with his beautiful silver sword. Gathering to each other the four faced outward, back to back slicing, and slashing the oncoming soldiers. There was no way to count how many people there were until they were all dead. With deep breathing the four started off, once again, muttering praises to each other. The boys trailing not far behind Beth. She felt free, it was a completely different feeling than that sense of guilt she had the day prior. She felt proud of what she was doing, she felt powerful. That was a feeling she wanted more of.

Suddenly, the four stopped running. An overwhelming silence filled every last inch of the woods. The battle was over for the day. The trainers at camp used to tell them that if they heard nothing but their own breath, it was likely that the fight was over.

"Is it time?" Chaess asked peering at Beth as if she would know the answer.

"I think it is." Beth said looking at the boys who were all staring back.

"Do you think they're alive?" Chaess asked looking to the ground, fear and sadness filling his eyes.

 "Only one way to find out. We should go." They started to make their way to the pick up location. While Beth was busy watching ahead for any sign of dangerous terrain or beings, the boys found the members of the other cabin. There were three, and Beth immediately identified him, he still had all gear intact including his helmet, but she still knew. One unlatched his helmet, breathing heavily as he removed it from his head. Beth recognized him, from the camp top charts when she was fourteen. His name was Quinn, his muscles were larger than her head. His cropped black hair made him look fierce, it was no surprise to Beth that he was here. Standing beside Quinn was another handsome guy, except she didn’t recognize him. His dark complexion and kind eyes made him seem approachable, not a battle face. 

"All of you are still alive? Where did you come from?" Quinn asked.

"Just over that hill, she saved us from basically an entire troop and a number of bombs that none of us even noticed until they were exploding." Noeh replied, Beth made a mental note of the word bomb, she assumed that was what they called the explosion devices.  

"She?" Ander asked as he and the dark-skinned boy, named Stievan,  quickly removed their helmets in surprise.

"Yeah, she saved our butts." Chaess badgered lightly nudging Beth's arm.

"How?" Ander asked, Beth drew a nervous sigh.

"Well," Beth uttered softly, slowly sliding her helmet from her head, Ander turning to her so fast it could have snapped his neck. "All I had to do was remember. I had to remember what I was taught about fighting back home, and figure how to apply what I learned to protect myself out here." The two stared at each other. Both seemingly expressionless, yet she could tell something was burning in his mind, and she was sure he could see the same. He waited, and after a few seconds stated, eyes still fixed on her, "We need to get back to camp. We won't have this much time tomorrow. We need rest." His stare remained on Beth for a few seconds more before turning to the bus, Ander walked away.

"We need a leader. I mean, all the best teams had a leader, right? Obviously we are all going to stick together now. Even if that means a bigger group." Peitre called out to Ander.

Ander stopped, not turning back to look. Noeh glanced to Beth, question pooling in his eyes, and back to Pietre. "We do."

The boys bickered suggestions of Ander and Beth to be leaders, all the while the two just stood there. Ander had turned back, their eyes locking once again. It had been so long since the two had been so close. Their eyes ripped into each other, with pain so unbearable it could probably take down armies.

And without breaking that glass shattering eye contact Beth yelled, "Shut up!" All conversation ceased. "Ander is going to be the leader. He's better at this, so he will be the one to get us out of here." He, as well as the others, looked stunned and confused, breaking the eye contact.

Beth could vaguely hear the mumbling between the others, “How did she know his name?” and “ What’s the deal there?” She brushed it off, no use in engaging something that even she was clueless about.

"We should go."  Ander called out, Beth didn't recognize the emotion in his rough voice.

Beth looked to her feet and tucked a stray hair behind her ear.

"What was that? Is that him, Beth? Is that the Ander?" Noeh prodded as the others trailed out of earshot.

"Yes, it's him."

"Beth, you never even told me what actually happened."

"It was nothing, okay? We are simply members in each others' past. The only thing you should be worrying about now is staying alive. So focus on that."

"That didn't look like nothing to me. Besides, he's not the one that saved us, Beth, you are. He can be labeled whatever but we are still going to look to you."

"Don't make this into more than it is, Noeh. I did what I could to get you this far, but he can do more. You'll see."

"I'm only listening because I trust you."

 "If you trust me, you trust him."

 

 

Chapter Three

Soon they reached the bus, Beth was the last one on. For some reason she will never understand, the only open spot on this new bus that had benches instead of seats, was next to Ander. She looked at him, to see him staring already. The tension between the two was unbearable, and Beth could feel her face burning with not even embarrassment, but rather misery. Instead of sitting next to him and risking the pain she could inflict upon herself, Beth stood, holding on to one of the ceiling handles. While everyone else talked of their crazy run-ins and intense combat stories, the two remained in silence. Failing to break eye contact a single time. The lack of words translated to more than she could comprehend. The bus came to a stop and the warriors made their way to the cabins, as she was walking up the stairs, she looked to the other cabin for just a last glimpse of him. That's when she noticed him doing the same. She tried to hide the redness that was spreading like a forest fire on her face as she turned and shuffled into the cabin. It was still so hard for her to accept that this was real. That Ander was there, actually there. she had always wondered what would happen if she'd ever crossed paths with him again. Of course, she never knew what to would expect, but she also wasn't counting on it being anything like this.  

*~*

Two weeks later, Beth woke peacefully and in her own timing. Which was not a far stretch from the sirens considering the sun hadn't risen yet. She noticed that the boys in her cabin were still sleeping which was not a surprise. The prior week had been extraordinarily painful. Her and Ander could hardly be in the same room before the uncomfortable silence would make an appearance. After the first few days, she stopped looking at him altogether. She found it harder everyday to be in his presence. On the bright side, no one had died, their tactics had become more solid, and their strategies more thorough. There were very few things that could shake them. However, as they got better, so did the enemies. Ander spoke of this at one of the night meetings that they had started a week prior, he was starting to worry. They were down to five weeks until the end of  camp. Until they would be expected to become the leaders of the Delahonte Army, which is a terrifying thought. The temporary elder leaders that replaced the base leaders before them had since stepped down due to medical and mental strains, and the new base members would be expected to take over. Beth was unsure of what the Quill was thinking, being the leaders of the country, you'd think they'd have a better strategies than letting a group of teenage fighters lead the entire army of the country. If we survive, I don't know what will happen to our families, our friends, nothing will be the same.

Beth quietly put her clothing on, and slipped her bow and quiver over her shoulder just incase. As she walked by the other cabin, she tried her best to look inside for Ander, yet refused herself the indignity of getting embarrassingly close to the window. That was when she decided that her conscious was on overload and continued walking. Beth hiked through the woods until she found the log on which she had reminisced her memories just weeks before, about the boy that she had no idea was even there. Beth sat quietly, looking out over water. Enjoying the peace whose existence that she had seemed to overlook those first few days. As she was looking about the serene waters, she heard twigs snapping.

"I had no idea anyone else knew about this, much less would be up this early to see it." A familiar voice commented softly. She shifted her gaze to Ander, his face so much stronger than before. Beth never knew it was possible, but he somehow managed to get even more attractive than the days prior. Her heart raced at the sight of him, and how close he was tossed her stomach around.

"Neither did I, I couldn't imagine anyone else wanting to venture this far out into the woods. I've realized they have