The alleyway we crept into contained twelve people. Each huddled against the wall. Many desperately grasped their makeshift weapons.

  My eyes darted to each person, and my finger shook on the flasher's trigger. The man closest to us had a bat wrapped tightly around a chain. He looked angry. The woman next to him had a butcher knife, and her eyes wildly scanned the alleyway for any threat.

  Some people cried, but the shrieks of the people in the makeshift crescent of houses drowned out their sobs.

  Grace held our weak Mother close to her. Her eyes were fixed ahead, and her gaze was determined. Mother was slumping against Grace, with her tangled brown hair covering her face.

  Only two other people in the alleyway held guns; one had a shotgun, and the other held a rifle. They eyed me with equal unease. I knew I could shoot the others before they got to us, but we couldn't dodge bullets. I stared down at the gun in my hand. WouldMy hands trembled. CouldI kill someone again?

  "We can't stay here." If we made our way past the alleyway into another part of town, we could lay low for a while, and everyone would be too worried about themselves to care about us. I turned back to Grace.

  My heart dropped, she was gone. Mother was leaning against the wall and had tears in her eyes as she sobbed into her hands. The image of my father being dragged away tore through me. "Where is Grace?" My legs felt weak as I whipped around and looked down the alley for her desperately. "Where is she!"

  Mother's eyes were tear-filled and panicked, and her sobs racked her whole body as she tried to choke out the words. "She couldn't watch other people die. She went back to save them. I tried to stop her-." I reached into my pocket and shoved the knife into her grasp. "You need to take care of yourself. If anyone tries to hurt you, stab whatever they leave open."

  I spun. Mother grabbed my wrist, her voice breaking. "Please don't leave! I can't lose you too."

  Grace wasn't lost.

  "I'll bring Grace back," I promised, and tore back down the alleyway towards the square, pain shooting up my leg with every step. My hands trembled violently as sweat dripped down my clammy forehead. I couldn't breathe; panic and smoke choked me. Grace was out there alone.

  "No! No! No!" I screamed and frantically searched for her. I couldn't lose her, too. "Grace!" I screamed. People clawed past me in a desperate attempt to get away from the fire and death. I could smell the fear. I could smell the dying as they pitifully tried to save themselves from the consuming flames.

  Relief flooded my soul as I caught sight of a small brown-haired form. Grace knelt by a body. Her head in her hands, and her shoulders shook as she cried. I ran towards her, "Grace!"

  "I couldn't save him." Tears streamed freely down her cheeks, and her soft voice broke. "I tried to, he just-I couldn't-." She stared down at the body and gasped for breath through her sobs and hiccups.

  "We need to leave. We're not safe here." I grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet. I held the flasher in my other hand. "We need to leave," I repeated and dragged her away from the boy's body. He looked only a few years older than her.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  "Lexy!" Grace's shrieks echoed in my ears as she stared past my shoulder. Her eyes were wide with terror.

  I swung my gun around and prepared to shoot. I froze. I tried to fire, but my finger wouldn't move. It was as if fear was pulling my finger away from the trigger.

  A man walked towards us, with his whole body engulfed in flames. He didn't scream. Instead, he laughed as he walked towards us. The glee in his eyes sent a shiver up my spine. His smile widened as he saw my gun and my horrified expression. "Now you. You're a pretty one." The flames leaped off of his dark skin as if they were searching for their next victim. "Do you really think you can hurt me?"

  The closer he got, the shakier my hands became. Oddly enough, I felt no heat, only the determination to keep my sister safe. I stepped in front of Grace protectively. I was not going to lose her like I had lost my father. Intense hatred tore through my heart.

  The gun trembled in my hand. I screamed at myself, But my gun continued to shake uncontrollably, and the trigger felt impossible to move. I tried to steady my breath as he came closer, and his smile grew wider.

  I stared at my shaking gun. My false shield and my false hope. Despite what Trigger said, it wouldn't help me. The Legacy would melt the bullet before it hit him. There was nothing I could do, and there was no way I could survive this.

  "Kneel now and accept your fate." He smiled down at me and stepped closer.

  He was a Legacy. A man who enjoyed watching death and destruction. A man who smiled at the screams of the dying. A man just like my father's murderer. All the nightmares and long nights crying sped through my mind like the wind, surrounding me with fear, sadness, but most of all anger.

  He wanted me to kneel. My face burned with anger. I felt anger so powerful I was almost knocked off my feet.

  "I will never kneel before a monster like you," I whispered. My hands trembled as my whole body shook, and warm tears of fear slowly dripped down my face.

  My dad's face appeared before me, and his warm voice flooded over me. "You're stronger than you know."

  "You will kneel, or I'll make your death long and painful." His smile widened as he stood a foot from me and raised a flame-covered hand. "You will die afraid."

  I steadied my heart and forced my words out with as much anger as possible. I hoped he could feel my overwhelming hate. "I will never kneel to you. You're the coward!" I spat in his face. "I hope you burn in hell." Although I doubted he could burn.

  His smile fell, and a snarl appeared on his face. "Then you will burn." He reached for me, and the flames on his hands reached for me greedily.

  "Grace, run!" I would hold onto him, no matter how much pain I was in. I would keep him from Grace. I would die like my father by protecting the people I love. "Now!" A cry escaped my lips as I called out to her. I couldn't take my eyes away from the dancing flames.

  "I can't leave you," Grace screamed in my ear—a horrible replay of how my father had died.

  I answered the same way my father had, "Go! Protect mother." Out of our family, two would be murdered by Legacies. Two left to survive alone, both sick and dying.

  I heard Grace scramble to her feet and run as fast as she could. The Legacy stared at her like a lion sizing up a gazelle and raised his hand to throw fire at her. He would kill her if I didn't do this. I had to give her as much time as I could to escape. I reached for him.

  I would burn in seconds, but maybe a second would somehow save her life.

  Seconds from death, I felt numb, like this was all a dream. This had all happened so fast; not ten minutes ago, I was curled up next to my mother and Grace in our home. Now, I was going to die alone. It didn't seem real.

  I was going to die after all this time clinging to life and fighting to survive. . It was the last promise I made to my father before he died. I would fulfill that promise.

  I grabbed his arm, and it sent sparks up my body. I prepared for the heat, the burning, the screams that would be torn from my lungs. But nothing happened.

  I didn't burn.