They neared the rear of the building where the two men were playing cards. Auska was thankful the area was well grown in, giving them plenty of places to remain hidden from sight. The glow of their torch only pushed the gloom of night so far from their area that they were able to get within twenty paces of their targets.
Auska leaned in close to Matt’s ear and whispered, “We need to do this perfectly.”
He nodded, not sure if he could talk and not wanting to anger her further than he already had.
“I want you to aim for the one on the right.” She pointed to the largest of the two; it would give him the biggest target for she wasn’t sure how good he would be with the bow. “Do you think you can pull off a head shot?”
Fear gripped him now and he swallowed back the lump in his throat. “Never having shot this bow before, I wouldn’t count on it, but I could give it a try.” He was uneasy and didn’t like the idea, but she was already shaking her head.
“No, we won’t risk it. From this vantage point, you have a near-perfect clear shot on his chest. At twenty feet you should be able to hit him cleanly, and hopefully in the heart.”
Again, Matt’s unease prodded him, but he needed to remain calm and in control, so he nodded instead of informing her he was skeptical of his ability. He placed an arrow into the bow and steadied his breathing as best he could. He could do this… he would do this. The bow was off about two inches every fifteen feet to the left… he could make it work. He had to make it work.
“I will move around to the side of the building. When I signal you, you fire, and I will attack a second later. With any luck, they will both go down without a sound.”
Before he could say anything, she had slipped away. Licking his lips, he returned his attention to his target. A barrel-chested man with a week-old beard and what looked like a black eye. The way he was sitting made it an easy target. Only an idiot could miss. “I won’t fail,” Matt whispered to himself, setting the crossbow up against his shoulder.
Auska moved swiftly, thankful for the light breeze rustling the treetops, masking any noise she made on the dark ground. Within moments she was at the side of the pump house. Pressing her ear to the rotting wood, she listened for voices or movement from within but could hear nothing. Satisfied that it was likely only the one man inside, she crept to the corner.
Matt was ready, his bow was up, the string locked into place. Auska adjusted her grip on the throwing axe, ensuring it was in the right placement for an ideal throw that she had practiced a thousand times before.
It was now or never. She took a deep breath and waved to Matt.
The arrow cut through the air as she stepped around the corner launching the axe at her target’s back. The arrow found its mark perfectly, the man stared down in confusion before he slipped from his stool and hit the cold earth, dead. Her axe hit the other man with such force that it threw him forward onto the makeshift card table with a garbled cry, spilling the table over loudly.
Auska cursed as she sprinted forward, a knife already in hand as she quickly ran it across the man’s throat silencing him before he could make any more noise. But the sound of the crashing table would surely have alerted whoever was inside.
Matt was already beside her, a new arrow notched as she snatched up her axe.
“That went well,” he whispered to her with a boyish grin.
“No, it didn’t. I didn’t account for the force hitting him into the table!” she chided herself. It was a rookie mistake, one that would never happen again.
Just then, they heard quick movements from inside and knew the element of surprise was forgone.
“God, she’s a bitter, mean little thing,” Ross muttered, blowing warmth into his hands. “It’s no wonder she hasn’t any goddamn friends.”
Jennifer tried to keep her attention on the door and the back of the building where the other two from their party had ventured to make the first strike, but Ross’s words annoyed her. “Do you even know anything about her? What she went through before she came to Sanctuary?”
“Just the odd story and rumors.” He shrugged as if it didn’t matter. “Something about thinking she had the cure when she and the cooks showed up. But of course, they didn’t, but could stay due to proving themselves useful.”
She shook her head, trying to hide her disgust at the simplistic reply. “We’ve been lucky. We’ve spent our whole lives at Sanctuary, protected, safe and sheltered. She was a child and spent her entire life out here, surviving, watching those around her be killed or ripped apart by infected as they tried to keep her alive. That’s a heavy fucking burden to shoulder,” she shot back. “Harder still finding out it was all for nothing, wouldn’t you say?”
Ross felt uncomfortable at the retort and lifted the spear again. “Yeah, well, she could still try and be more friendly. Not our fault any of that happened to her.”
Just then they heard something crash to the ground from the back of the pump house.
“Shit! Time to move!” Jen moved forward out of the trees towards the door, gun poised and ready to fire, knowing full well the noise would have alerted the man inside. She whispered a silent prayer that it really was only one other guard inside.
They just about made it to the door when it suddenly flew open and a large, potbellied man exited, a shotgun held in nervous hands.
Jen and Ross skidded to a stammering halt, staring in disbelief. “Andy, what the hell are you doing here?” Ross exclaimed at seeing one of the wall guards from Sanctuary standing before them.
“Ross? Jen?” He gripped the gun tighter, not lowering it from their direction. “What the fuck are you two doing out here? No one told me you two were taking part in the trade tonight. I’m always the last to know anything! Shit’s going to start falling off the rails if everyone isn’t kept in the bloody loop!”
“Trade?” Jen asked confused. “What are you talking about?”
“The people the doc makes sick so we can say they died and...” he stopped midsentence, seeing the horror on their faces and knowing they were not part of the operation. “Oh, sweet fuck, you’re not here to help with the trade! Why the fuck are you here?”
Jen stared at him aghast. “What are you talking about Andy? My brother is one of the ones who are sick. What the hell are you saying?”
He ignored her, licking his lips clearly conflicted with some inner turmoil as he stared at the ground. “Goddamn it! Goddamn it! Why tonight out of all nights?” He brought his gaze back to them. “Damn it, why? Why’d you have to come around here tonight? Do you know what this means I got to do? Fucking all to hell!”
“What’s this about the sick people, Andy?” Jen asked, the gun shaking in her hand. “What the fuck is going on out here? What trade? Why are you with these people?”
Andy stamped his foot hard in frustration. “You idiots! Stupid, stupid damn kids! This is going to complicate everything! The council is going to be pissed right the hell off, and since I’m the one that found you, I’m the one that’s gonna catch the most shit for it!”
“Andy, you are scaring me,” Jen said, getting a very bad feeling as she tried to process everything she had heard. But none of it made sense.
“Scaring you? Ha!” he bellowed back. “You should be, but not for long! I’m the one that’s got to live with this.” He leveled the shotgun at them again. “It’s hard enough living with the shit that’s happening out here, and now I got to live with this, too! There better be a bottle of something strong at the end of this night.”
“Jesus Christ, Andy!” Ross bellowed out, dropping his spear and throwing his hands up to protect his face like it would somehow help. “What are you doing, we are your friends!”
The gun lowered a little. “I don’t want this anymore then you kid! But you are the ones that had to stumble onto this!” he cried out, clearly conflicted. “And no one that doesn’t already know can know! If this got out to the others...” he trailed off, “well, it won’t, I’ll have to see to that no
w, thanks to you.”
Voices and movement from the woods pulled all their attention briefly. It sounded like a large group of people were making their way towards them in a hurry.
A crestfallen look fell across his features. “I’m sorry, I really am, but this is better than what would happen to you if I let you live, you’ll have to believe me in that.” The gun came up and took aim at Ross.
Auska sprang from her hiding spot. She was too close to throw the axe and hoped she could strike him with it before he got a shot off, but her shadow betrayed her. Andy spun around. Seeing the danger, he fired hastily, buckshot exploded through the air, several pellets grazed her shoulder but the blunt of it went passed her, punching Matt from his feet square in the chest in a spray of blood.
Growling through the sudden pain, Auska swung the axe wide, embedding it into the side of Andy’s head. As his body crumpled to the ground, the axe was pulled from her weakened grasp as her shoulder screamed in fiery agony.
“Matt!” Jennifer cried, rushing over to her friend to help him. But as she neared the body and looked upon the ten-inch hole in his torso she knew he was already dead. No one could have survived that.
“What the fuck did he mean trade?” Ross cried out, statue still, afraid to move as he stared down at the two dead bodies, bodies of people he had known well over the course of his whole life. Now they were simply corpses in the matter of three heartbeats.
The voices from the forest were getting closer, the sound of a gunshot tipping them off that something wasn’t right, and by the angry shouts now it certainly wasn’t a rescue party.
Auska put her boot to Andy’s head and wrenched her axe free, returning it to her belt and picking up the shotgun, throwing it to Jennifer. She thought about giving it to Ross but in his present state, she guessed he would be useless with it. “We need to get out of here right now!”
“What about Matt?” Ross stuttered. “We can’t just leave him here. Not like this.”
Jen grabbed his arm and shook him. “He’s dead, there’s nothing we can do for him now. We have to go or we will be joining him.”
“But… but what the hell is happening here?” Ross mumbled his feet still planted firmly. “This has got to be a misunderstanding or… or… I don’t know. This can’t be happening. Something is fucked up and this is all wrong.”
Auska had had enough of this and sprinted into the tree line. If they didn’t follow, they were on their own. Dying here was not in her plans for tonight. Before she had made it more than a few feet within the tree line something arced out from behind a thick tree and slammed into her midsection. She stumbled back and doubled over, hitting the hard earth, trying desperately to draw a breath, but all she could manage was ragged gasps.
“Well, well, what do we have here?” A deep, resounding voice cut through the night. “Isn’t it passed your bedtime, little girl?”
Auska’s vision swam dangerously to blacking out. She fought bitterly to push herself to her knees and look up at her attacker. He was large, easily a foot taller than her, and powerfully built. Shoulder length brown hair framed his high cheek boned face and the bright white teeth that grinned down at her condescendingly.
Knowing every second wasted drew the rest of the group closer she had to act quickly, or escape would be impossible. “Got to hide behind a tree to fight a girl,” she sputtered out between coughing fits, wondering if he had broken any ribs. “You must be so proud of yourself.” She needed him angry, and his guard down.
Screams and yelling from behind her alerted to her that Jen and Ross were no longer potentially helpful and would likely be dead soon; so would she if she didn’t act quickly.
“I didn’t want to fight you, just stop you, and I did,” he replied coolly, placing the bat across his shoulder boastfully. “There’s no profit in dead girls.”
“You wish!” she growled shrugging the rifle from across her back. As she had expected her attacker moved quickly to intercept. As he grabbed for the gun her left fist shot up, connecting with his groin as hard as she could muster. A bellow of pain erupted from him as he staggered backward, her rifle the only thing keeping him on his knees as he fought back the pain.
Movement behind her informed her time was up. If she was going to escape it was now or never. Twisting around with a snap of her wrist a knife cut through the air nailing a woman high in the shoulder; not fatal but it was enough to slow her down and draw caution from the others in pursuit.
Scrambling to her feet, she made a run for it. As she passed by the man that had hit her, she connected her knee to his chin flipping him over on his back. She wished she’d had time to retrieve her rifle, but it just wasn’t possible. She ran, forcing her wobbly legs to work, ignoring the bitter burning of her lungs and the grating feeling of her ribs. She needed to put distance between them, and then she could either avoid them or try picking them off one at a time.
“Don’t let her get away!” someone yelled far behind her. Several gunshots echoed through the night after her, the sounds of hungry bullets chewing into trees around her added fuel to her steps. She felt no new pain and knew they had missed.
Weaving in and out of trees to shake her hunters, she lost them in the dark woods that she knew well within several minutes. But she had to slow her pace; her lungs burned and she did her best to muffle the coughing fits that rattled her whole body. She could still hear them behind her, looking for any sign of where she might have gone. They knew her destination, and they needed to stop her before she got there, meaning they would likely have sent others on a more direct path to Sanctuary to intercept her before she could reach the safety beyond the walls and get help.
The thought almost made her laugh; what was safe there now? People were being traded as slaves for supplies by the very people who were supposed to be keeping them safe. It was a grave realization. Who was she to trust within the walls? Who was she to tell? There was only two that she knew she could trust. Vincent and Kelli. If she got to them and told them they would know what to do. They were respected enough that others might listen. At least that’s what she hoped, and hope was all she had to work with right now.
Auska picked up her pace again, her lungs having coughed themselves out for the time being. As she ran, she lifted her axe clear. It was the only weapon she had now, and she knew before this night was done, she would need it again.
Nearing Sanctuary, she slowed to a careful walk, she was still half a mile from the walls and needed to catch her breath. There had been no sign of anyone else, and this bothered her. Surely, they would have sent out others ahead to intercept her. Or, maybe they just gathered their things and fled as quickly as possible, fearing the repercussions of what was to come when she reached the walls. Both were possible.
Through her labored breaths, she nearly missed the quickened pace of pounding boots on the forest floor getting closer. She swung around just in time to duck beneath a wild swing from a machete, barely managing to get her axe up in time to block the next savage cut. She stumbled under the impact and her assailant’s shoulder checked her hard into a tree, causing her wounded shoulder to send out waves of fresh agony that numbed her fingers.
Slashing her axe upwards forced her opponent back a step, but they followed up with a righthanded punch that connected with her jaw, the back of her head hit the tree again. Auska’s vision doubled and her attacker moved in for the kill, slashing his blade for her neck.
Without thought, Auska pushed herself off the tree as hard as she could right into her attacker. He hadn’t expected the move and was ploughed to the ground, his machete slipping from his grip as he tried to break his fall.
Auska forced the handle of her axe under his chin and pushed down, choking him. But he quickly got his hands on either side of the weapon and slowly pushed it back up. She threw her full weight down, but no matter how hard she tried he was slowly overcoming her. Her wounded shoulder screamed at her and slowly was losing strength, second after second.
Her knee slammed up into his groin and his eyes bulged from his head. But still, he struggled to keep his throat from being crushed, knowing if he faltered, he was dead. Relentlessly Auska repeated the move again and again and again, screaming in his face ferociously. Soon the man’s strength and resolve failed him; the axe handle crunched back down onto his neck, slowly stealing the last of his existence.
Once she knew he was dead, she rolled off and wished she could just lay down and rest awhile; but more voices could be heard in the distance, getting closer with every wasted second. In her condition, she likely wouldn’t be so lucky as to fight off another attacker and hope to win.
With a grunt of discomfort, she forced herself back to her feet and ran as fast as her legs could go to the edge of the wall.
Quickly, she located the rope and breathed a sigh of relief that it was still there. She grabbed hold and tried to climb, but her wounded shoulder refused to support her full weight.
“No, no, NO!” she screamed in frustration. So close and yet without help, she was stuck on the outside where her enemies would find and kill her before long. She tried one last time, forcing her shoulder to obey her and she fought through the pain, but still, she got nowhere, and time was running short.
“Nick!” she called up in desperation. “Nick, hurry I need you, damn it!”
A few moments passed and she was about to call up again when finally, Nick peered over the wall. “Shut up!” he hissed down. “You’re going to get us all caught! What the hell’s going on? Why are you yelling?”
“No time for that.” She tied the rope around her. “Pull me up, quickly!”
Nick grabbed the rope and began hauling her up.
What Remains (Book 2): What's Left Page 6