If only Mattie would stop being difficult we might’ve left hours ago. Well, maybe not. Probably not. I looked at my phone, checking the time. It was seriously only 5 minutes since Rose disappeared? It felt like an eternity.

I limped along with Mattie, who was complaining about anything and everything. Truthfully, I hope I die before Rose so I wouldn’t have to work with Mattie as my second in command for any time at all. I might just “accidentally” fall off a cliff and let the job go to Livvy or someone. I loathed the idea of dealing with Mattie, but it’d be ten times worse if Rose wasn’t here so, let’s hope they don’t die. I doubt they would though.

I realized the rumbling had stopped, and sped up. I’m sure they were, but I needed to make sure Rose was alright. I let go of Mattie, who fell with the support of my shoulder suddenly moving. He swore at me but I didn’t particularly care. I sped up even more, worried now that I hadn’t heard Rose’s voice. They usually came to find me after a fight, to ease my nerves.

“Shit, this is bad. What are we going to tell Amber?” I heard Alric say. Dammit, what happened? “Tell me what?” I asked from behind him. He jumped and turned around, with a look of dread. “Follow me.” Livvy said, so I did.

I looked up and saw a huge rock dome, it seemed to start crumbling, but not quickly. Well, at least we could get out of the way easily enough. That’s a plus. We entered through a hole that seemed to be caused by Alric’s ability, however, when I saw the body on the floor I feared the worst.

“I-I’m sorry, we didn’t know what to do. This is where we found them.” Livvy said, in a lower voice than usual. I ran over to the body and realized it was Rose.

Rose was drenched in blood, there were hole’s in their shirt. There was also a huge scar there that wasn’t there before. Their binder was somewhere, but it wasn’t on. Well that was good, they could breathe better. There was a hole in the side of their head, blood rushing out. It looked like a sniper bullet hit them. Their left leg was broken and their left collar bone was protruding from their neck. Their arm was broken as well. There was a knife that fell near their right hand. Since it wasn’t bloody, I think I realized what happened.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Rose had likely suffered from a rock impaling them from behind, therefore their body healed faster since it was a serious injury. So their body healed completely before the fight was over, so they likely had an opening where they could cut themselves, but before they could do so, a sniper had shot them.

“Livvy, leave us, don’t let anyone else in. But go get me some gauze, peroxide, a tourniquet, and a splint or two.” I ordered. Livvy nodded and ran off and I kneeled down and checked Rose’s pulse.

It was there, barely. Well, that’s a step in the right direction. At least they can’t die now. They were really warm to the touch as well. I’m pretty sure that had nothing to do with me though. “Alright, I’m back, here’s the stuff you wanted. Anything else?” Livvy said, walking towards me. “Thanks. Can you see if they feel warm to the touch, they feel warm to me, but, ya know, fire?” I asked, standing up and taking the supplies from her. She nodded and knelt down, and touched Rose’s forehead, and reeled back.

“Holy shit Amber. They’re burning up. Literally, they burnt me.” Alright, that was definitely interesting. They must’ve copied my ability. My ability, if overused, can cause the skin to heat up to temperatures that can burn others. “Alright,” I moved back to Rose’s side and kneeled. I took a knife from its sheath on their arm and placed it next to me. I took the gauze and wrapped it around their head to stop the bleeding, not before checking to see if the bullet was lodged in there. It was not, luckily.

I cut the gauze and went to put the splint on their leg when they coughed and reeled against the ground. Blood splattered all over them. They were breathing heavily.

Then I heard a gunshot, two, three.

They hit Rose, one in between the eyes, another hit their chest, and one to the stomach. Rose coughed again, and said, “I’m sorry.”

Their chest stopped rising and falling.