Excerpt: Sewell Saga II: The Tides of Elphenlan

“Miah!” she screamed as a crumbled form staggered out of the woods and collapsed onto the trail. Keira poured on the speed and dropped down on her knees next to him.
He wasn’t in a good state at all. The man’s clothes – his NESO-approved clothes woven from a fabric that was supposed to be able to stop bullets – was torn to shreds. He was huddled in a fetal position, groaning in pain like Keira had never heard from him before. Miah was clutching his stomach, his hands coated in red. Blood. There was blood everywhere. His entire stomach was covered in it. Even though his clothes were black, Keira could tell that most of the fabric was soaked in his blood.
“Hold on!” she said panic-stricken, not quite sure what to do. “Hold on!”
With one hand supporting her brother’s back, she grabbed her communicator from her holster. Taking a deep breath, she pressed the button of the person she knew who would closest to them at that very moment.
Tristan gave her a withering look when he picked up. “What do you want?”
“Trist, I don’t have time. Get a jeep over here fast!”
He sighed and rolled his eyes. “Why should I do anything for you? You can’t tell me what to do.”
“Trist! Please!”
He still wasn’t moving. “Why? What’s going on?”
“Just get over to the woods! Fast!”
“I want to know what’s going on first!”
“We don’t have time!”
“You’re going to have all the time in the world if you don’t…” His words stopped suddenly. “Is that blood?”
Keira had just wiped her forehead with her hand. She realized she must be covered in blood too by this point and probably had left a streak of red over her face. She took a deep breath and forced herself to speak without crying.
“Miah’s hurt. Get over here.”
Tristan’s attitude changed instantly. “Where are you in the woods?”
“I don’t know exactly…”
“Never mind, I’ll find you.” The transmission was ended and Keira threw the communicator to the ground and turned back to her brother, who was groaning quietly on the ground in front of her.
“Miah, Miah, you’ve got to stay with me! Tristan’s on his way. He’s going to get us out of here.” Keira wiped away the tears that were starting to well up in her eyes. But the blood that was on her hands got into her eyes and caused them to burn and her to cry even more. In all their years, she had never seen Miah seriously hurt before. It was terrifying and something she never wanted to see again.
“Miah? Say something, please!”
Miah groaned and struggled to open his eyes. It took forever for his eyes to focus on the face that was right in front of him.
“Keira. It’s not safe out here. I’ve got to get you out of here.” His voice was hoarse and strained. It was taking all of his strength to come up with those words.
“You don’t need to worry about me. Tristan is coming to get us.”
Miah rolled his eyes and moaned. “Tristan? Oh man…”
“My thoughts exactly, but he’s the closest.” Keira gently pushed Miah’s hands that were holding on to his stomach out of the way. She did her best to control the gasp that begged to come out when she saw the wound.
“Miah, what did this?” she said, her voice carrying with fear. It looked as though a hunk of his flesh had been ripped off of his body. The only thing that she could imagine doing such an act was a rabid animal. She shuttered at thinking that whatever did this was still out there.
“I don’t know…” he whispered. “I was right behind you, then I blinked and… and…”
“Did you see someone?” Keira asked.
Miah swallowed hard and nodded. “Cady. She was… she was leaving. She told me to come with her, so I could say… so we could say goodbye.”
“Did you walk off the path?”
“Just a step,” Miah replied. He groaned and pushed Keira’s hands away and went back to clutching his torso. “And then… she changed. I can’t remember. And then… and then this…”
Keira hushed him and held him close. At this point she knew that both of them looked a mess, but she didn’t care. All she was thinking about was getting the two of them back into town as quickly as possible. She whipped off her vest, balled it up, and held it over the open wound. The fabric was immediately soaked with blood, and more streamed out underneath with nothing to absorb it. Keira took some deep breaths, doing her best not to get sick from the imagery. Miah had stopped talking, which made her sicker than anything else her eyes could see.
The roar of an engine cut through the silence of the woods, and Keira instantly shot up and strained her eyes to search for the vehicle. From a distance, a car door slammed and the sound of pounding footsteps getting closer came to her ears. Keira ran forward, not caring that branches were whipping and cutting through her face as she flew.
Up a hill she ran, and at the top she saw a clearing below. In it sat a rusty old jeep that was still spitting and sputtering. Tristan was halfway up the hill. He stopped though when he saw Keira waiting for him at the top.
“Are you hurt too?” he asked, actually sounding concerned.
She sniffed and shook her head. She couldn’t even start to imagine what she looked like right now. He probably saw all the blood on her and thought she had been in the accident as well. But it didn’t matter.
“I’m fine. It’s Miah… it’s Miah’s blood. Come on, you’ve got to help me! I can’t carry him myself.”
Tristan was by her side in an instant, and the two were running back through the woods. “What happened?”
“I’m not quite sure,” Keira replied. “We were just walking, and we somehow got split up.”
“I told you not to come in here,” Tristan growled. “But you never listen.”
“Look, you can attempt to give me a lecture later, but now I need your help!” Keira cried. She passed by him and ran ahead by herself.
“Oh my god.” She could hear Tristan start to mutter and swear as they rounded the corner and Miah’s bloody heap of a body was visible on the trail. Before she could say anything, Tristan had passed her and picked Miah up without a word. Keira felt the dull ache in the pit of her stomach worsen when Miah didn’t make a sound even while Tristan jostled him.
“Whatever you do, stay on the trail!” Keira shouted as she turned and started to run back to the jeep.
The two sped back through the woods and down the trail. Keira did her best not to look back at Tristan, who was only a step behind her even with her brother’s added weight. She ran down the hill as she saw the jeep in sight.
“Get in the passenger seat!” Keira cried as she ran to the driver’s side door.
“Oh no you don’t! You’re not driving!” Tristan shouted.
“Yes I am! Get in!”
Tristan reached over the side of the jeep and lowered Miah in the back seat before wheeling around and scowling at Keira. “You can’t drive yet, you’re not ready!”
“What? Keira’s driving?” Miah moaned from the back.
“No, she’s not,” Tristan said firmly.
But Keira was already sitting in the driver’s seat and shifting the car into forward. Tristan had to jump over the jeep door and settle in before she started going too fast.
“What are you doing?” Tristan hissed. “Let me drive!”
“Is Keira driving?” came Miah’s nervous voice from the back. His voice was shaking a little more than they’d like, and both Keira and Tristan had a feeling that it wasn’t just because of his flesh wound.
Neither of them answered Miah. Keira turned to Tristan and hissed, “Just sit down and shut up. You’ve taught me enough already. I can get us back through here.” And with that, the jeep squealed as she through the vehicle into reverse and jerked the car around to face the trail that would lead them back to Graylake.
“You’ve been teaching her?” Miah’s voice rang out loud and clear, making both of them wince.
“Miah, you’re hurt. Shut up,” Tristan deadpanned.
“Plus, I’m way faster than you,” Keira said.
“Oh, this isn’t good…”
“Miah, keep quiet,” Tristan repeated.
“This is not how I was planning on seeing my little sister drive for the first time,” Miah moaned, his hands over his face. “Especially if she drives faster than you, Trist.”
Keira ignored her brother’s plaintive cries. While clutching the wheel with white knuckles, she threw the jeep into forward, released the clutch bar, and pressed the second ignition button. The jeep rocketed forward a lot faster than its parts wished, and the vehicle dived forward through the forest, Keira jerking back and forth on the wheel as she wove through the trees.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” Miah moaned.
“You’re not alone,” muttered Tristan.
Miah attempted to sit himself up on his elbows, but immediately dropped back down when he saw the view. “Tristan, if I don’t die, I am going to kill you. Once I can, I am going to kill you so bad.”
“Unless Keira does us in first,” Tristan replied, his wide eyes unable to be torn away from the trail barreling by in front of them.
“Just for you to know, I’m ignoring both of you,” Keira said calmly.
The three drove in silence for the rest of the trip through the forest. The only sounds coming from Tristan, who occasionally uttered a small gasp if he thought Keira was cutting it a little too close to a tree. Keira’s eyes wildly took in the entire woods surrounding them, searching for even the smallest shadow or sign that whatever it was that hurt her brother had come back to finish the job.
Finally, the light broke through the last remaining trees, and the jeep barreled through the forest line and onto the rocky shore. Keira shifted the jeep again, and jerkily they started climbing the rocky terrain back up to the village.
“You know, you really shouldn’t have driven in second that entire way,” Tristan said quietly. Keira glared at him, and he quickly went quiet.