Something to Die For by Kaye Blue

Thirty-Four

Lucas

I shookAngel awake roughly and slammed my hand over her mouth.

It was dark out, but under the light of the moon, I could see as her eyes shifted from fear to confusion.

I had no time to explain.

Instead, when she was calm, I removed my hand, pushed a handgun into hers, and then gestured toward the clearing of trees to our left.

She understood what I wanted her to do, but she didn’t move immediately.

But there was no time to waste. I pushed her shoulder, nodded toward the trees again, and then finally, after a long moment, she started to move.

She moved quietly, but more importantly, she moved quickly.

Because we didn’t have a lot of time.

A minute, maybe less.

It wasn’t long until the thing that I had been afraid of came to pass.

I’d kept vigil, keeping my eyes out for any sign of trouble.

And when it had come, I spotted it.

The problem was that it was coming from three different directions.

I couldn’t see them, but I heard sounds, three distinct sets of them approaching us from north, south, and west. Basically setting up a kill box, and I knew it wasn’t those things.

The movement was too controlled, the attempts at masking sounds too good.

Whatever was coming was a force, one too overwhelming for me to take on alone. Or rather, one I wouldn’t risk taking on, not with Angel here.

So as I listened, the footsteps getting closer, and I prepared.

I could have stayed at the truck, used it to make my last stand, but instead I went west, hoping to draw them away from Angel, who had gone east, and deciding that a head-on confrontation was the best call. We’d worked hard to gather the things that we had, and I hated to leave it unprotected.

But that wouldn’t be a concern if we didn’t make it through this.

When I was sure Angel was gone, I headed toward the opposite line of trees, my gun at the ready.

The moon provided some illumination, but I could barely see in front of me, so I relied on my ears, each twig breaking, each rustle of underbrush going off like a gunshot.

And then, finally, I came upon them.

There were two of them dressed in fatigues with night-vision goggles, headed directly to our camp.

I could have asked questions, tried to figure out what was going on, but I didn’t.

Instead I struck.

I lowered my gun, instead opting for the knife in my waistband, and quickly slashed the first, then jabbed the knife into the side of the other and twisted.

Kidney damage would eventually be fatal, as would be the slice to the throat of the other.

I didn’t care.

My gut told me that they were up to no good, and I certainly wouldn’t question it. Especially not now.

I snagged the night-vision goggles off one then listened as the rustling footsteps coming from the north and south got louder.

The two in the west hadn’t even had the chance to cry out, and I used that to my advantage. I approached from the north, found three this time, and made the same quick work of them.

Which only left the group to the south.

If I could neutralize them, find Angel, we’d be gone before dawn, which was fast approaching.

I stayed in the woods, not risking going out into the open of the clearing, and was soon upon the group to the south.

They’d heard me.

I hadn’t made much attempt to hide myself, and as they turned, looking around, searching, I planned to make my move.

Froze when I heard a scream.

The same one that had woken me what felt like a lifetime ago.

But this time, I wasn’t torn.

My prey was in my sight, but I retreated, headed toward the east.

Toward her.

Maybe a mistake, but there was no going back now.

She screamed again, this time the sound muffled, cut off, and followed by a furious rustle, one that told me that she was trying to fight someone off.

I moved faster, not caring about the sound.

When I reached her, deep in the woods, I immediately took in the scene, saw the man who had a forearm wrapped around her neck, holding her in a tight grip.

Saw that she had the gun at her side but didn’t have the range of motion to use it.

And saw her eyes widen first with relief and then with concern when she spotted me.

I couldn’t get close enough to use the knife, and I wouldn’t risk shooting her, so I froze, not certain what to do.

Angel did the same, and her stillness surprised the man who held her, just as it surprised me.

Angel, on the other hand, acted immediately.

She jammed the butt of the gun into the thigh of the man who held her, his yelp of pain causing him to loosen his grip ever so slightly.

She took the advantage, twisting out of his hold and then whirling around.

The man lunged at her, and she didn’t hesitate.

She pulled the trigger, the sound loud, ringing out through the woods like an explosion.

She didn’t freeze, though. Instead, she backed away, looked at me, and nodded toward the direction we had come from.

I shook my head.

We couldn’t risk going back for the truck.

So, we went forward, with only the guns we were holding and the clothes we were wearing.

We made it a mile, maybe more, before the low hum of an engine began to follow.

“ATVs,” she said.

I nodded but kept moving, the faint rays of sun giving me hope and also making me sad.

It would be good to be able to see, but if we could see, the people pursuing us could see, so that benefit came with drawbacks.

I threw the night-vision goggles aside and kept moving.

Angel fought to keep step with me, but we couldn’t outrun ATVs.

They came up fast, two, maybe three, from the sound of it.

As they got closer, I stopped and looked at Angel.

“Keep going.”

“I’m not going to leave you, Lucas” she said, conviction in her voice.

“That wasn’t a question,” I said as I pushed her. “Keep going.”

“No. You need to stay right there.”

“Fuck,” I muttered.

I whirled around, saw the three idling ATVs.

“I’m gonna guess you did all the damage back there,” the one in the middle said.

“I don’t want any trouble. I just want to get out of here,” I said.

“Well, none of us want trouble, but it seems you found it. And as for getting out of here… No. You took five of ours. There has to be an accounting for that.”

I looked at the man who spoke, saw that he was serious, and knew that our situation had just gotten much, much worse.

“And let’s bring your friend, too.”

One of the men got off the ATV and stepped toward Angel but then froze when I leveled him with a glare.

“I think I’ll cuff you first,” he said.

He slammed the cuffs on, but his movements weren’t practiced, which told me he wasn’t familiar with doing this.

In fact, after looking at the three, I could tell that they weren’t law enforcement or prison guards.

But they did have the upper hand.

So I didn’t fight, not even when he handcuffed Angel and then led us out of the woods.

Didn’t fight when he pushed us into the back of a flatbed truck.

When we were finally alone, Angel looked at me, her expression conveying so much.

But I couldn’t look at her.

I’d failed her.

Failed myself.

And now, we were going to pay for it.