Brace Yourself | Teen Ink

Brace Yourself

January 21, 2016
By Caity_Kat, Charlotte, North Carolina
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Caity_Kat, Charlotte, North Carolina
0 articles 0 photos 1 comment

Favorite Quote:
"A good friend would bail you of jail. Your best friend would be sitting next to you saying "That was awesome""


I stood, waiting for the right time to strike. Hayes stood on the other side of the building. We saw a guard walk by. I immediately went behind a bush. The guard turned around towards Hayes’ bush. He has never gotten caught in a mission. He quickly got out of the bush and bolted. But he wasn’t fast enough. He got shot 3 times and fell on the hard ground. I ran towards the base my team had.
“Akari! Why are you back so early?” My boss, Harley, asked in an angry tone.
“Hayes…” I trailed off because I was so out of breath. “He… he…”
“He what?” Harley waited for a response. He told one of the spies to get me some water. He nodded and went to the kitchen. “Just catch your breath.” Just then, he came back and gave me the cup of water. I drank a couple of sips and then sat on a chair.
“He… He… He died…” I got out breathlessly. Harley’s face softened and he sat down next to me. He quickly called one of the other spies to get the newest agent.
“Yes sir.” He replied. He quickly got up and went to get the new agent. The spy came back with a dirty-blonde haired boy. He looked around my age. Sixteen. “Is this the new one you requested?” The spy asked.
“Yes, yes. Now go. Me, Akari, and the new guy need to talk.” The spy left the room. “Now tell me, what is your name again?” Harley asked the new agent.
“Sawyer. Sawyer Brian.” He replied quietly. He looked almost scared to death. As if someone was going to kill him.
“Well Sawyer, why did you sign up for this?” Harley asked suspiciously. He always asked these questions and it sometimes got annoying.
“Uhm, well… I-I wanted to maybe actually be recognized in this town. You know, there are always crimes happening.” He sounded really scared. It almost  made me feel like someone made him do it or he was paralyzed. Maybe something happened to him.
“You sound like you are afraid.” Harley said. He gave him a badge, it was like mine. Was he going to be my partner?
“You will be Akari’s new partner.” Harley said looking at me. Was he serious? No, this new person who could’ve only been here for days, when I’ve been here for years, was my partner.
“Y-you’re serious?” I asked. He was not going to be my partner. I can run away if I have to. I started backing away slowly.
“Yes, and you have to go to on a mission with him.” Harley said, giving me a knife. I put it in my pocket, just so no one could see it.
“Sawyer, you need to have this knife. Akari knows how to hunt so if you guys get stranded or something then you can find food and water.” Harley said giving him his knife. I walked away. I was hoping Sawyer wasn’t behind me, but with my luck, he was.

My name is Akari Hamilton. And I am a spy of the National Spy Institution. Or NSI. I had my best friend as my partner for 2 years. But he died right in front me. He got shot three times, and I ran. Now I have a new partner. Who has apparently been here for 2 or 3 days. And I have been here for 3 years.
“So um, where are we going?” Sawyer asked. No wonder, he looked clueless.
“Far from here. That is where we need to go,” I said, pointing to a mountain range. “If you want you can quite now and leave.” I didn’t like this Sawyer person at all. Since I have to teach him all of the basics of being a spy.
“Akari, why don’t you like me?” Sawyer asked unsuspectedly. I didn’t want to tell him the truth. If I did, he would tell Harley. So I tried to come up with a excuse.
“I can’t have a new partner after 2 years of having someone else as my partner. He was my best friend. And he died right in front of me. Have you ever seen something like that happen to you?” I asked, on the verge of tears.
“Well, no… but-” Sawyer got cut off by a pack of wolves jumping out from the rocks and bushes.
     “Run!” I yelled. I started running with Sawyer close behind me. But the wolves caught up. I stopped running and quickly grabbed my knife in a swift movement. That was when I noticed that Sawyer stopped running and some of the wolves kept running towards him. “Sawyer run!” I yelled.
Sawyer started running as soon as I finished talking. I quickly threw my knife at one of the wolves that were chasing him. But the others turned around and started heading towards me. I had no more weapons. But I heard Sawyer saying he was going to throw something at me. I looked and saw that it was his knife.
I caught it and quickly got on my feet. I stabbed one of the wolves and tried to make a run for it. But one of the wolves bit my leg. I fell to the ground and I watched as the other wolves came to finish me off. But I saw Sawyer running towards me with his knife in hand. He stabbed the wolf bit my leg, but that wasn’t the end of it. One of the wolves jumped onto him. He wasn’t any of the normal wolves. He was bigger and stronger… he was the alpha.
“Sawyer!” I yelled. I didn’t like him, but I am not completely heartless. I couldn’t walk with this leg, but I tried to get over there. I stabbed the wolf, and it fell to the ground. The other wolves ran away.
But my leg was bleeding bad. Sawyer got a bandage and started wrapping it up. He put about three layers of the bandage onto my leg so the bleeding would stop.
I got up and started walking, but I was limping. I leaned up against a tree and looked down at my leg. The bandage was soaked in blood already.
“Wow, that wolf bit me pretty hard.” I said. I took off the bandage and my leg started to bleed really bad.
“Yeah… do you need help?” He asked. I can’t accept this, it would make me look weak.
“No. I don’t need your help.” I said. I stood up and tried walking, but I only limped.
“Akari, you need help. And we don’t have a wheelchair or crutches.” He said. He offered to help me up, but I rejected. Like the other 3 times he asked.
“Sawyer, I said I don’t need your help!” I yelled.  “We could set camp here and I can get the rest I need.”
“I guess we can. I will make a bed kind of thing out of grass and leaves. Then you can rest on it.” Sawyer said. He went off to get leaves and grass and I just sat against a tree. It was about 10 minutes when I heard rustling in the bushes. I got out my knife and prepared to stab whatever was in the bushes.
“W-who are you! Or… what are you…” I said, muttering the last few words. I wish it was anything but another wolf. Those wolves were strong, and I am not getting hurt again. But Sawyer just came out with his hands filled with grass and leaves.
“What I am is a human being, and I am Sawyer Brian,” Sawyer said smiling. He apparently had a small bag filled with grass and leaves. “Just let me build this. It should take me about five minutes.” He said pulling the plants out from his bag.
“Did you make that?” I asked him. He gave me look that more than likely meant, ‘No, I got it at a store’.
“No, Harley gave it to me.” Sawyer said. “I don’t know why I was so afraid of him.” Sawyer was almost done with the leaves and grass. But when I thought that we could finally get some peace and quiet, I heard a low growl come from the bushes.

Sawyer jerked his head towards the bush. “What was that?” He asked.
“I don’t know, but what am I going to do about this leg? Because if that is another wolf I am going to climb a tree. I don’t care if I break my leg, I am getting away from whatever is in that bush.” I said. I don’t know why I said that. It would probably be another spy from another league. And he, or she, probably came to get me.
“I will find out what it is, don’t worry.” Sawyer said. He got out his knife and walked towards the bush slowly. A little rabbit started walking towards the bush. It started to eat the grass and berries in front of the bush. I thought nothing was going to happen, a fox jumped out of the bush. Sawyer jumped back and fell. The fox chased the rabbit for a good 2 minutes before it got tired. It went to a hole in the ground, it’s den I’m guessing, and I saw that it came out with 3 cubs.
“Sawyer look! It just wanted to feed the babies,” I said, pointing to the family. They were cute and looked starved. So I got some of the food in my bag and held it out for them to eat. They walked towards me slowly. “Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you…” I said quietly. They came and sniffed my hand and the food, which was meat, and the mom bit it and split it for the cubs. She walked away with her cubs close behind her. She went back in her den.
“Well that was adorable…” I whispered. Sawyer put another bandage on my leg since the other was soaked in blood. “It looks pretty bad…” I said.
“Almost too bad. It looks as if it’s getting infected already.” He said. All the bandages he was putting on were getting soaked in blood in a minute.
“What are we going to do…? I am going to die from blood poisoning or blood loss if we don’t get this fixed.” I said, obviously worried.
“I don’t know, but you really need to get that checked out. It bleeds through the bandages too easily. Did the alpha bite you?” He asked. He didn’t have anymore clean bandages left.
“I-I think so… I don’t know, they all looked the same to me. There 2 that were the same size… It was a madhouse back there, and I hope it doesn’t happen again…” I whispered. It was almost inaudible.
“Akari, it’s going to be okay. I will fix this, I have been in many situations like this and I am fine. And the people I helped, they are fine too,” He said. He noticed the tears starting to swell into my eyes. “It’s going to be okay. Nothing is going to happen…” He whispered. I nodded, knowing I could trust him.
“Ok… I trust you…” I said. I was on the verge of crying. I didn’t want to lose my leg. At least not to this. It was, what it looks like, ten p.m. “I am tired…” I whispered after yawning.
“You can’t sleep yet, you have get your leg fixed. Do you think that I can run to the base and get some medicine?” Sawyer asked. I shook my head.
“No, don’t go! You’ll get hurt and I might die here. I just got bit today and it’s already getting infected! Sawyer, please no…” I said, grabbing his hand.
“I have to. Bye…” Sawyer said, walking away. I started to get worried. When he went out of sight, I started to shake. I was never so scared of anything. But with my leg in this condition, I was scared.
I felt something wet on my head. My hand went on my head to see what it was. It was warm and when I looked at my hand, it was red. I shuddered and looked up. I saw a dead body dangling by his foot on a rope, with slit throat.
“I-is that… Hayes…?” I asked myself. It looked as if it was, but then I remembered that he got shot, not cut. Was it Sawyer? It had his same dirty-blonde hair. But he just left. But the real question was, who was doing this?
“Hey Akari,” I heard someone call. Another drop of blood fell onto my cheek.  I looked up and saw Sawyer coming up the hill, with a bottle of liquid, medicine I am guessing. He looked up at the dangling body and then looked at me with the blood-stained face. “What happened?” He asked.
“I-I felt a liquid on my head, so I went to see what is was. I saw that it was blood. I looked up and saw the dead body. I thought it was Hayes at first, but then I remembered that he got shot, not stabbed. Then I thought it was you and…” I started to trail off. The tears were starting to come back.
“Akari, it’s going to be okay. I will never leave you,” Sawyer said, hugging me. He got out the medicine and started, slowly, putting some on my leg. I winced, it burned a little bit. “I know it burns, he told to put it on slowly…” Sawyer said softly.
“I am still wondering who put the body up there in the first place… did Harley tell you anything about it?” I asked.
“Sadly, no. But who do you think it is?” Sawyer asked, looking up at me. I shrugged a little bit. I started getting a bad migraine. “You okay? You look sick…” Sawyer said, putting his arms around me, making sure I don’t fall.
“I-I… feel-” All of the sudden, everything went black.


~Dream~

I heard muffled voices. There were tall shadows. I heard a gun-shot. Three actually.
...Thud...
That was all I heard after that. I heard voices and I heard a woman scream. I looked closely and saw that it was me. This was the day that Hayes died. I heard someone calling my name. I looked around and saw no one was talking to me.

~End of dream~

“Akari! Wake up!” Sawyer was shaking me to wake up. Once he noticed that I was awake, well half awake, he stopped shaking. “Are you okay?” He asked frantically.
I groaned and held my head, sitting up. I took a look at my surroundings, and I was still in the forest. “I am fine, just don’t shake me like that…” I muttered. He nodded in agreement.
  “Alright, don’t shake you, got it.” Sawyer said. He put a blanket over me and started to make a fire. I put the blanket around my arms and snuggled into it. Sawyer sat next to me once he got the fire going. I put my head on the ‘pillow’ that was made.
“Are you tired? You could go to sleep now that the medicine is on your leg.” Sawyer said quietly. I yawned and nodded in agreement.
“I’m tired…” I yawned. I went to sleep.

**************************************

I woke up to sun in my eyes. “What…?” I said, looking down at my leg. It wasn’t completely healed, but the scab was gone. “Sawyer, look!” I yelled. He came over and gasped in surprise.
“I-it worked!” He shouted. It was like those medicine commercials, they say it would start working within 30 minutes. Apparently this one started working within last night.
“Let's see if I can walk normally now.” I said, getting up. I tried to walk and I walked just fine.
“See if you can run,” Sawyer said, pointing to a tree in the distance. I got into starting position and waited for him to say go. “Go!” He yelled I ran to the tree and went around it and started running back.
“Alright, I think we’re good to go!” I said, putting my knife in my boot. Sawyer got his bag and put it on his back.
“Let's go!” He said, walking to wherever our destination was. After a while I was wondering if I could asked this one question.
“Have you ever dreamed of something that you know is never going to happen?” I asked. This wasn’t really the right time to ask, but I can ask questions right? He stopped walking and looked at me.
“Um, yeah, I have actually. And I know that it’s never going to happen. It’s a fact and you can’t change it.” He whispered, walking again. It seemed like he was almost mad. And if he was mad, then I am not going to talk to him.
“Okay…” I whispered. He started walking again but he looked a bit depressed. Was it about the question? If the question was that bad he could’ve just told me. I looked up at the tree’s and noticed that leaves were rustling.
“What was that…?” He whispered, stopping in his tracks. He put his hand in front of
me and looked around, watching for anything.
“Go to the tree’s and look through them. I will look for them in the bushes.” He said, walking towards the bushes. I nodded and went to the tree, climbing it slowly. I got to the top and started going from branch to branch, trying not to fall. I looked around, seeing that there was nothing. There was a point when I thought I was hearing things, but then I remembered that Sawyer heard it too. I came to the conclusion that there was nothing up there and climbed down the tree. I looked around, noticing that Sawyer wasn’t there.
“Um… Sawyer?” I questioned the empty space. I looked around and noticed that he wasn’t anywhere. Did he leave me? Did he get taken away? I got my knife out of my boot, and got ready to attack. I walked slowly along the the path marked by tires. I walked slowly and looked around me to see if there would be any sudden movements. I looked over a mountain i’ve been climbing and I saw that there was a small camp.
“A camp? Maybe Sawyer is there,” I whispered to myself. I slid down the hill and hid behind a rock. I looked over and saw that there was someone with blonde-ish hair. I moved closer and saw that it was Sawyer. I pulled out my bow and saw that there was a girl with red and brown hair. She was wearing a hood and she was circling him, a sword in her grasp. I gasped and turned my back on the rock, facing the forest I was just in. I looked again and saw that there was a girl, brown hair. She was tied behind him.
I watched as the hooded girl circled Sawyer and the brunette. I pulled out my bow, charging it with an arrow, and aiming at the hooded girl. She looked over at me and I saw Sawyer and the brunette looked over. Sawyer smiled and motioned for me to run. I shook my head, but that was before I noticed a fleet of people with spears were running after me. I got an arrow out and shot one of them, watching him fall to the ground in a pool of dark, red blood. I ran to a tree, climbing it. I leaned against the trunk of the tree, panting. I looked down to see that they were swinging their swords at the tree, seeing if they could make it fall.
The hooded girl came to the tree. She took off the hood, revealing a pale, red head. She had orange eyes and a sickle in her hands.. She was wearing a shiny set of armor, gold and black to be exact. And felt the tree shake, and it started tipping over. I jumped off, hoping I wouldn’t break anything. I looked over at Sawyer, who was still motioning me to run. So I ran towards the brunette and Sawyer, pulling my knife out of my boot. I cut the rope and pulled the two up. I pulled out my bow and charged it with an arrow, but not shooting.
“I will shoot!” I shout. The soldiers stopped in their tracks and the hooded girl came out from behind them. Sawyer and the brunette stopped behind me.
“Stop! Don’t run,” The hooded girl yelled. She pulled down her hood. “I am Nika, and I will not hurt you…” She said, putting her sickle on the ground. I slowly started putting my bow down, and I put the arrow back in my quiver. Sawyer took out his knife and the brunette just shivered in fear.
“What do you want from us?” I asked, taking my knife out of my boot. She put her hood back in and turned around. I heard a loud noise.
...BANG…
 



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This book has 2 comments.


Caity_Kat said...
on Feb. 3 2016 at 12:47 pm
Caity_Kat, Charlotte, North Carolina
0 articles 0 photos 1 comment

Favorite Quote:
"A good friend would bail you of jail. Your best friend would be sitting next to you saying "That was awesome""

@Daniel.W.Evensen I am working on the 3rd chapter right now!

on Feb. 3 2016 at 11:43 am
Daniel.W.Evensen PLATINUM, Eagle River, Wisconsin
44 articles 0 photos 20 comments

Favorite Quote:
Isaiah 40:31
Those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength, they will run and not be faint, walk and not be weary.

This is a great book! I love it. Does it have a sequel? What happens?