Episode Four, Part 6: 

W h e r e ' s   M y   L o v e ?

ᴊᴜꜱᴛ ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ʜᴏᴍᴇ.

*This chapter contains descriptions of violence and murder so please take precautions in reading if you are sensitive to these subjects.* 

Sol grabbed onto Wynnlow's bag, pulling out the knife that was strapped to the side. She held it tightly in her grip, reaching into the bag and pulling out a gun, tossing it over to Wynn. He hesitated to aim the weapon, afraid that he would hurt her. Even the thought or harming someone who tried to attack them, even using it as self defense - terrified Wynnlow.  

Sol chucked the bag to the end of the cave, turning around just in time to see the shadows of two men running past the light. 

"Who are they?" Wynnlow gulped, his body shaking as he tried to brace himself for what was coming. 

"The people my dad sent to kill me." She breathed, doing her best to summon her strength before they were both killed. She had never been so weak in all her life, but it would be the end of her life if she didn't fight through it. 

"Come on, we have to go." Wynnlow turned around, bending over to pick up the bottle of water that had been dropped. Surely it was better to make a run for it - try and get a head start before the hostage takers realized they were missing. 

"Wynn, look out!" 

Before Wynnlow could react, before the words even had time to settle in his mind, a force tackled him to the ground, knocking the gun out of reach. 

He struggled in his position, pinned against the ground, trying to rationalize what was happening. There was still moments where he thought of himself as the boy from the Bunker, the boy who had no need to fear being hurt, or being in danger: and there were moments where the memory of who he used to be haunted him, as though they held him back and surrendered him from the courage he needed to fight through what was happening. But he couldn't let now be one of those times: he couldn't let that happen, because of her. 

Wynn twisted around so his back was now towards the ground, finally able to catch a glimpse at who had stolen Sol away from their people, who it was that was now trying to kill them both. He didn't know them by name, but he recognized them as the guards who had been there to evacuate him from the Bunker. Eryx's watchmen. 

Adair had one knee resting on Wynnlow's chest, his hands fighting their way to his neck in a bid to suffocate him. 

He could barely breathe, pushing off Adair's hands when he could, but struggling to find the strength to continue. Choking, and desperate for air, Wynnlow turned his head to the right; Sol was fighting as well, but she was weaker than Wynn, her eyes already flickering shut as if she was almost gone. As if everything she had already been through meant she didn't have much of a chance to begin with. 

No. No. She dies, he dies. He knew that, and yet, it wasn't even why he was so determined to save her. It was something his mind couldn't even comprehend. Something that pulsed through him, growing, beating nonetheless. 

Wynnlow screwed his eyes shut, shifting his arms, giving everything he had into pushing Adair away from him. He scrambled backwards, trying not to think about it as his fingers slipped across the handle of the gun. 

Adair halted, towering over Wynnlow in realization that he was unarmed. 

He hesitated, the gun trembling in his hold, tears drowning Wynnlow's cheeks. His decision meant sacrificing everything he thought he was, every unfulfilled promise of the Ground that he still had hope for, and he didn't even know if they would survive anyway. 

Wynn looked over one more time. Sol's eyes were closed now, her hands slowly falling away from Ellery, her chest barely rising. 

He knew what he was seeing - what he had to do now. Wynnlow pulled the trigger. 

Ellery fell away from Sol. Blood started to seep through his shirt, pooling at his mouth as he collapsed to the ground. At the same time, Sol's eyes shot open and she began choking as her first breaths of air came through; Wynnlow shivering in relief for a moment when he realized that she was alive. 

But the weight of what he done ran through as quickly as Ellery's blood escaped his body, puddling on the floor, soaking his feet. 

Wynnlow turned the gun to Adair, pulling the trigger while he was still lost in disbelief, but nothing happened. He had used all the bullets on Ellery, and now the only way to defend himself was hoping that Sol could get up and fight. 

Adair jumped down onto Wynnlow, striking whilst he was vulnerable. His flew his fists hard against his cheeks, red spitting out from between Wynn's teeth. 

Beside them, Sol pushed herself to her knees. Her vision was blurry, and she could still feel Ellery's hands around her neck, as if she couldn't breathe from the aftermath. Her hand reached into her waistband, pulling the knife that had been beneath her. 

She stood up, almost falling into Adair as she slashed at his arm, cutting deep into his skin. She stepped backwards, allowing Wynnlow to stand up, believing that their time for escape had come. Sol took a breath, ready to push her way outside, but Adair kicked his entire weight into Sol's thigh, the knife flying out of her hands as she tumbled down. 

When she looked up, Wynnlow's back was pressed to Adair's chest, a knife pushed against his neck. 

"One wrong move and your friend is killed." 

Sol exhaled. Her eyes stung with tears and her head burned from keeping them back for so long, an unshakable fog seeming to cloud every decision she could make. 'If anyone should die today, it should be me,' Sol told herself. She refused to put Wynnlow in danger when she had already accepted her fate. 

"Let him go. He's not the one you want." 

Adair tugged tighter on Wynnlow, the cold blade of the knife threatening to break his skin. "No, but I could have some fun in this. Watching you suffer, as you watch him suffer."  

"Let him go!" Sol screamed. Her throat was too damaged to elevate her words, but they wavered with emotion nonetheless. If not getting through to Adair, then certainly reaching her friend. 

But he seemed to realize the reality of the situation much faster than her. "Sol... Go." Wynn murmured, afraid that if he spoke too loudly then the knife would pierce him. 

"Like hell I will." 

"Leave!" Wynnlow insisted, then, softly, "Please." 

Tears spilled out of her eyes, almost pleading with him not to ask that of her. Her head began shaking, denial taking over: she couldn't be the girl that left him here to die just to save her own skin.

"The others are out there. We got separated in the storm-" Adair raised his knee, slamming it into Wynnlow's back as he tried to explain, his way of warning him to shut up. 

"Find them! Come back for me when you're safe. Only if you're safe." 

"No, Wynn-" 

"Leave, Sol! I'm not asking." 

"I-" She opened her mouth to speak, but she couldn't. Her tears drowning out every word that reached her lips. The truth of what she had to do sunk in, how the only way to spare Wynnlow's life was to leave. 

She stepped backwards, never taking her eyes off him as she reached down to grab the bag. She hovered at the exit of the cave, the night breeze hitting her sun-dried skin, almost pulling her away. 

"I'm sorry."  

The weight of what Wynnlow had done finally sunk in as Sol disappeared from sight. With the exception of Adair, Wynn was alone, and he had never been alone before. Never been too far away from a familiar face. 

As Adair let go, crossing over to stand in front of him, he jammed the blade into Wynnlow's thigh, watching as he collapsed to the ground in agony. 

Wynnlow immediately began to panic, a mix of the adrenaline and agony making his head dizzy, but it wasn't long before rationality broke through. This had happened before: rubble from the explosion piercing through his leg after Sol's evacuation was invaded by Riders. He tried to remember what Sol had done to save him, and what she would say if she was here. 

Wynnlow pulled for his jacket tied around his waist, struggling to rip the fabric of the sleeve as his hands were shaking. When he had torn it apart, he began to wrap it around his leg, both limiting the blood flow to the wound, whilst also trying to stop any more from leaving him. 

"Give up now, kid." Adair snarled. "She's gone. She ain't comin' back for you." 

Wynnlow ignored him, closing his eyes as he tried to focus on his breathing, making sure he inhaled enough air to make up for all he lost when he gasped out in pain. 

"She'll never make it out of here alive, and neither will you. No one's going to come and save you. You're not even a Basilisk. You're no one to those people. You do get that, right?" 

"Argh, shut up!" Wynnlow screamed. Even the sound of his voice was enraging. He felt as though his ears would soon be bleeding too, if he had to listen to enough minute of his cruel words. 

A smile took over Adair, and whilst he did stay quiet, the victory on his face screamed loud and clear; he knew he was getting to Wynnlow. He knew that Wynnlow's fate was to die out here at the hands of him, and that when he returned back to Basilisk, Eryx would reward him for his killings. 

Wynnlow leaned his head leaning against the wall of the cave in complete exhaustion, the fight of staying alive seeming such a tremendous task sometimes. He couldn't even put his mind to rest, knowing that he would be worrying over Sol's return home until the moment he died, wondering if he had done enough to get her to survive the journey back home. 

Adair was hovering by the exit of the cave now, the bloody knife still held tightly in his hand. He pulled something from his pocket, chucking it to land at Wynnlow's feet. 

"Put 'em on." He ordered, gesturing with the blade as if to remind him that he was the one in charge. 

Wynnlow looked down at the handcuffs, then back at Adair, not really in the mood to co-operate seeing as he tried to kill his friend out here, and now him as well. He didn't respond. 

"What are you playing at? I said put. Them. On." 

Slowly, as if to string out the annoyance he could cause, Wynn reached forward, wincing at the movement of his leg. He began twisting the handcuffs in between his fingers. 

"Put the damn cuffs on or I'll slit your throat this time." Suddenly, Adair lunged forward, kneeling at his feet, grabbing onto the neck of Wynnlow's shirt as he raised the knife towards him. 

Wynnlow met his gaze, not even flinching, trying to understand how far the man would actually go with his threats - if had any more desires to hurt him again, or if the stabbing of his leg was just his attempts to stop him from escaping. Wynn hooked the cuff around his wrist, handing the other half to Adair to see what his move would be. 

He grabbed hold of it, chaining Wynn to the lone pillar - the same one that Sol had been restrained to when he arrived. Bad choice. As he leaned over him, in the split second that it took, Wynnlow reached for the knife, pushing it into Adair's stomach as he had done to his leg. 

The man wailed out in pain, falling backwards as Wynnlow retreated the weapon, nothing to stop the blood from gushing out of his body. Wynn tried not to watch, the horror hitting him. It knocked the breath out of his chest as Adair heaved alongside his accomplice who Wynnlow had already killed. 

This is who he was now, and there was no coming back. 

-

four // part six

"I'm sorry."