Chapter 37: Chapter 37

"Hannah's on her way," Meagan said, gulping in air. "But I don't think..." she burst in to tears, unable to complete the sentence.

"Elliott," Cadence implored, "please, don't do this." She shifted her position to his other side, took his hand in hers and leaned down next to his ear. "Please... you can't go. I need you too much."

There was a sudden flicker on the IAC, and Cadence and Aaron looked at each other, hoping he was trying to make contact. A second later, a very weak message came across. "It's okay, kid. Let me go."

Cadence couldn't hold back anymore. She burst in to tears. "No!" she yelled back at him. "You can't. You have so much left to do. We'll fix you! We'll find a way."

He seemed to be laughing now. "Ain't no fixing this, kid. Just remember how much I love you." A moment later, he reached out again. "Boss," he whispered, his voice starting to give out.

"I'm right here," Aaron assured him.

"Take care of her." A few seconds later, very weakly, he managed to get out, "Love you, man. Adios."

"Elliott?" Aaron called. There was no answer. He glanced at Cadence, who was inconsolable, then he returned his attention to his lifeless friend. "I'm so sorry." He collapsed on top of Elliott's still chest, no longer able to control his emotions.

Cadence placed her hand on Aaron’s back, tears still streaming down her face. Taking in the surreal scene in front of her, anguish began to morph into anger, and she suddenly realized there were others out there who needed to be collected in order to pay for this atrocity. Pulling herself together, she turned to Meagan and asked, "Where's Sam?" Meagan was of little help, her tears blocking any means of communication.

Hannah and Christian arrived just then, the later squeezing his left arm tightly. "Is it too late?" Hannah asked. She wasn't a physical Healer like Jamie, but she had been their only chance at saving Elliott, and she had been willing to push herself to try.

Cadence wasn't able to verbally confirm the answer to her question. Instead she said, "Where's Jamie?"

"He's over there," Christian gestured. "He's hit in the stomach and the shoulder. He's bleeding pretty badly."

“Damn it. No vest,” Cadence mumbled. She glanced at Aaron, who was beginning to pull himself together, but he wasn't quite there yet. "Okay," she said. "Hannah, get over to Jamie and see what you can do. Christian, are you okay?"

"I'll be all right," he assured her.

"Good. I think Meagan needs a tourniquet. Can you handle that?" He nodded. "Okay--do it," she directed. Glancing at his arm again, she said, "You might need one, too."

The sound of choppers in the distance reminded her that help was on the way. She also thought she heard the roar of a motorcycle coming from the brush. "Shit..." she whispered, trying to decide if there was anything she could do to bring any more of the renegades in.

"Cadence, it looks like you've got two motorcycles making their way out of the woods, but one of the assassins is still on foot--and not too far from your current location," Cale advised her over the IAC.

Cadence's eyes lit up for a second. "Can you direct me?" she asked.

"Affirmative. Follow that chopper, and he'll show you which way to go. I'll have to send him back around, though. We've got more wounded than one helicopter can support."

"Just point me in the right direction, and I'll track the bastard down."

The helicopter dropped altitude enough to be of use and utilized the bright search light to illuminate a path in front of her. Cadence began to run, her instincts kicking in. The chopper turned back around a good two hundred yards in front of her, letting her know how much of a head start this jackass had on her, and she increased her speed. The branches and other rough terrain were not an issue for her, as she weaved her way through and around obstacles. She began to pick up tracks in the dirt and within a few minutes, she had a visual; it was Camilla.

She knew the woman could hear her coming, and part of Cadence appreciated the fact that the stockier woman was literally running for her life. Jamie hadn't gotten that chance to attempt an escape before she ruthlessly shot him. When she was within fifty feet, Cadence pounced, propelling her body the rest of the distance like a tiger entrapping a gazelle.

Camilla turned at the last second, extending her arms. Cadence knocked her into the ground hard, taking pleasure in the shrill scream Camilla let out and the sharp snap of her humorous breaking. "Please, please Cadence, don't kill me," Camilla begged, clearly in a significant amount of pain.

Cadence punched her hard in the face. "Why shouldn't I kill you? You deserve to die!"

"Jamie's not dead, I swear," she said, attempting to shield her face from another blow and stop the bleeding from the first. "I didn't want to go along with it, but Sam and Laura made me. You've got to believe me."

"You could have said something. You could have made sure your bullets missed. Elliott is dead, Camilla. DEAD!" She punched her again.

"I'm sorry!" Camilla pleaded, blood gushing from her nose. "I'm so sorry."

Cadence drew the gun she had taken from Laura, quite certain any bullets inside would be titanium. "You will be," she replied, pointing the gun at her head.

"Cadence! Don't do it!" Aaron had caught up to her. He grabbed her from behind, wrapped one arm around her waist, and lifted her cleanly off of the hysterical woman.

"Why not?" she argued, flailing. "She deserves it!"

"You're not a murderer," he reminded her, sitting her on her feet. "You only kill Rogue Vampires. She’ll get what she deserves, but we’ll do it the right way."

Cadence was shaking her head. She turned to face him, both of them turned to the side in front of Camilla, who was still lying on the ground crying. Aaron reached for the gun, and Cadence handed it to him.

"Come here," he said, pulling her into his shoulder.

Cadence was still fighting the tears. She looked up to respond to Aaron, and saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She realized Camilla was reaching for her own weapon. Aaron only fired once, hitting her in the forehead, almost exactly where Elliott had been hit. Cadence's eyes widened, and she glanced from Camilla's body to Aaron. "Is she....? Can you....?" They had no way of knowing if a Guardian could kill a Hunter with a titanium bullet or not.

"I guess we'll find out," he replied. He shoved the weapon into the back of waistband and then bent down and pulled the other gun out of her hand, handing it to Cadence, who was fully aware it was the same weapon she had used to shoot Jamie. The Healer had said nothing on the IAC since he initially notified the team that he had been hit almost ten minutes ago. "She seems pretty dead," Aaron assured her emotionlessly.

In the distance, one of the helicopters took off, spraying them with light as it circled overhead and turned back toward Reno. Cadence was sure the chopper was transporting Jamie, possibly Meagan as well. But surely not Elliott. There would be no reason to rush him to Cale's attention. He was already gone.

The thought of him made her burst into tears again, and Aaron wrapped his arms around her tightly, only just managing to keep his own composure. They were alone in a clearing in the woods, no light save a few cloud covered stars and the flickering lightning in the distance, and Cadence couldn't help but feel as if the surrounding darkness was sucking her in. After a few moments, she realized he was speaking to her. "I'm so sorry, Cadence. It'll be okay. I don't know how, but we'll figure it out." She began to hyperventilate, her body vibrating with each gulp of air, and he embraced her even more firmly, slowly stroking her hair.

"How.. are.. you... not a ... mess...too?" she managed to choke out. "He... was... your... best friend... for so...long."

"I know," he said calmly into her ear. "I am... devastated," he admitted. "But right now, I need to be here for you." She glanced up and caught his eyes for a moment, before putting her head back down. "I fell apart earlier, and I'll do it again. But I've got to make sure you're okay first."

"I'll... never... be... okay," she insisted.

"Oh, yes you will," he replied, pulling back a little, attempting to get her to make eye contact. "Come on, what would he say if he were standing here right now?"

She took a deep breath and swiped at her nose with the back of her hand. At the thought of his ridiculous sayings, she began to giggle through her tears. "Suck it up, buttercup," she managed to get out.

"Probably," he agreed. "Or, get your shit in one sock."

Her laughter mingled with her tears enough to allow her to catch her breath. Within a few moments, she had begun to regain her composure. Staring into those piercing blue eyes, she asked, "How are we going to do this without him?"

Aaron shook his head. "I don't know," he admitted. "I don't know if I can do this without him. But...we'll go on. We have to."

She nodded and slid her hand down his arm to take his hand in hers, trying not to think about the drying blood she found there. "Sam and Finn are going to pay for this."

"Yes, they are," he agreed.

She could hear an approaching vehicle in the background and realized Cale had sent his team out to retrieve them on four wheelers. Before they arrived she said, "Thank you."

"For what? I didn't do anything right tonight," he proclaimed.

She gave him a skeptical look. "This wasn't your fault," she reminded him. "But you took care of me, like you always do."

"Cadence, you took care of yourself. Like you always do," he replied.

Cale's people might not have been too impressive in attack mode, but they clearly knew how to extract. Within a few minutes, they had collected the injured team members by helicopter and taken them to the hospital where Cale and other medical professionals were waiting for them. They had located Laura and taken her into custody and transported Hannah, Aaron, and Cadence back to the SUVs via four wheeler so they could transport the vehicles to Reno. Camilla was also collected and removed from the field. Cale had insisted that Elliott be airlifted to Reno as well, though by the time he reached the hospital, he had been without a pulse for almost forty minutes. Dr. Cale Ryan pronounced Dr. Elliott Sanderson dead upon arrival at 11:47 PM.

When Cadence arrived at the hospital, she grabbed her bag out of the back of the SUV before running over to the main entrance. On the otherwise lonely drive over (three SUVs and three uninjured teammates meant they all drove alone) she had gotten an update from Phoebe regarding her wounded friends. Luckily for Meagan, the bullet that had ripped through her thigh had exited; otherwise, she may have found herself in a similar, excruciatingly painful situation as Cadence's predicament when Laura had shot her--titanium bullets hurt. Christian needed to have a bullet fragment removed from his arm but he would recover. Jamie was rushed to surgery; the bullets lodged in his body were titanium and they would have to be removed before he could even begin to heal himself. In the meantime, he had lost a significant amount of blood. Fortunately, several of Cale's staff members were matches and were willing to donate. She had spent the rest of the trip stifling her tears just barely enough to keep her vehicle on the road.