407 THE TREE
“Do you want to touch my hair too?” she offered her politely, as she raised the small strands of her own hair for Zuri to touch.
The girl was so adorable, as she let Zuri touch her curly hair and this brought a smile to her face somehow, because she had never encountered a situation like this before. It was indeed a little bit awkward for her at first, yet for some reason, it lightened up her mood.
“Of course,” Zuri laughed, but that small happiness didn’t last for long, as she heard a commotion from a distance, which was followed by a loud sound of explosion.
Out of instinct, Zuri immediately scooped the little girl into her arms, as she stood up, her eyes focused on the source of the commotion, as she tried to look for Chaos.
But, it didn’t take long, because in the next second, Chaos appeared right behind her.
“Leave the child,” Chaos ordered, as he looked at the child, who was crying, asking for her mommy.
Yet, Zuri rejected that firmly. “No.” She didn’t take that kind of order. “We need to find her parents first,” she said firmly. Chaos did the same thing to her wolf, White, the first time she found it.
Zuri thought Chaos would shoot down the idea immediately, but then he took the child from Zuri’s arms, even though the little girl was crying even harder.
“What are you doing?!” Zuri panicked, because she thought Chaos would do something to the little girl, since she didn’t know what was in his mind right now.
.....
But then, Chaos carried the little girl with one arm and grabbed Zuri’s hand with the other, as he rushed them away from the source of the loud sound of explosion, following the stream of people, who were trying to find an exit out of this airport.
Zuri looked at the girl, who wouldn’t stop crying. However, she nestled safely against Chaos’ shoulder, thus she thought the little girl would be all right for the time being, until they could find her parents.
To get out of the building, they needed to take the elevator, since they were on the third floor. But in a situation like this, of course, an elevator was not an option actually. Thus, they needed to take stairs, where people were now running amok, pushing the other people around as panic spread in the air like plague, once they heard the second explosion.
“What is that?!” Zuri shouted at Chaos, because her voice could hardly be heard in this chaotic situation, as people bumped into her from every side occasionally. If it was not for Chaos’ tight grip, they would have lost each other by now.
“I am not sure,” Chaos replied. It was not that he didn’t know what that was. He had his own assumption and most of the time would be right, but now, he needed to take Zuri and this unknown little girl to safety first.
They followed the people down the stairs and heard the announcement that said there were two planes that had exploded, blowing up a part of the airport in their wake.
The announcement didn’t exactly say that, of course, they announced it in the most formal way, which was hard to understand in this kind of situation.
The first thought that came to Zuri’s mind was; Aaron.
He threatened the ancient tree and made it die, therefore, he must be here right now, right? He was on this island. He knew where Chaos and Zuri were.
Hell, if Hades could find them, of course, he could do the same thing without even breaking any sweat...
And once they hit the first floor, where they could leave through an exit door, the power around this airport got shut down and all the doors were closed.
The people, who managed to get out of the building, watched in horror as the people who were trapped in the building became aggressive while trying to get out of the building, without even thinking straight about the safety of others, as they trampled the people before them and stepped on them.
“There is something wrong with the people here,” Zuri said. She didn’t realize it earlier because it was normal for them to be panicking in this kind of situation, but their reaction was a little bit over the top. “They are becoming more aggressive by the minute...”
Chaos tightened his grip on Zuri’s hand, without him knowing it, as this was his instinct to make sure the girl was still right beside him, which made her wince.
“Chaos, your grip is too tight,” Zuri reminded him, because any tighter than this, he would break her bones.
Chaos snapped out of his deep thoughts, as he loosened his grip on her hand. “I am sorry,” he said.
Both of them and the little girl stayed in the middle of the building, standing there, while the other people piled up near the door, as they tried to break the glass, yet no matter what they did, it wouldn’t break.
“Do you smell that?” Zuri asked Chaos, as she closed her eyes and concentrated on this familiar smell that she sensed. It was unsettling. It was not a pleasant smell, but she remembered that she had smelled it before.
Chaos didn’t reply for a few moments before he spoke. “The tree.”
When Chaos said that, Zuri finally remembered it. Right, this was the smell that came from the tree when Chaos burned the cocoons inside the hole in its trunk.
“What does that mean?” Zuri narrowed her eyes, as she looked around her to find a way to figure out what all of this was about.
“The air is polluted.”
Chaos didn’t explain about it further, but Zuri managed to draw the picture from the information that she had.
Chaos had said it before, the tree was not only connected to the ground, but the air as well, the smell of it would be able to travel far and wide.
And Aaron made use of that somehow, to make these people become more aggressive.
=======================
*Read my new book: KISSED BY THE DARK ALPHA*
Alpha Micah Donovan’s second chance mate.