by Lexie Ray
“I should’ve shot her that day in the motel,” said Hunter.
“Don’t be crazy,” he said. “She’s still a cop. What I hate about this situation is that even if we do get inside, we’ll have no way of surprising them or overtaking them. What are we going to do? Roll the door up and start shooting?”
“We need to get them to separate,” said Hunter. “We need to draw them out of there, even if it’s only one of them. What would get them to stalk through the aisles, separating?”
“I don’t know, but that gave me an even better idea,” said Ash. “Come on.”
Ash began walking quickly back around the property edge, following the fence until he reached the massive rolling gate also topped with coiling barbed wire. He continued on, looking up as he went, searching for the right spot in the fence.
“Ash, I don’t know if I’ll be able to climb,” said Hunter. “My shoulder’s an absolute mess still.”
“You won’t have to climb,” he said finally stopping beneath one of the security cameras.
Hunter realized that’s what he had been looking up for. He hadn’t been looking for a hole in the barbed wire, which surely there wasn’t one. He had been looking for cameras—and not for the sake of avoiding them.
As a reflex, Hunter tucked herself behind a tree trunk, hiding from the camera’s view.
Ash didn’t. He backed up until he was sure he was standing in the camera’s line of sight.
“Are you crazy?” she whispered.
He drew his gun, aiming carefully at the camera and shot out its lens. A bright spark popped shorting the electrical, and the camera slumped forward.
Not a second later, he resumed his course, following the fence further until he spotted the next camera. Again, he stood in its line of sight and shot out the lens. They stalked the perimeter, spotting and shooting the cameras until they had circled back to the rolling gate entrance where they waited off to the side, hidden behind the trees and shrubbery.
After a few moments, a car crawled through the facility towards the entrance gate to exit the storage facility. Its headlights were off—whoever was behind the wheel was scared.
“Oh my God,” Hunter said under her breath, as the gate rolled open and the car passed through, a portly, balding security man behind the wheel.
It left them with very little time. The security guard surely called the police but wasn’t planning on sticking around while a sniper shot out all the cameras, intending to do God knows what.
The car rolled passed them, and they maneuvered, circling the tree trunk, hiding behind it until the car was at a distance.
The gate began rolling closed.
Suddenly, Ash was sprinting towards the closing gate with Hunter at his heels.
Just as the gate was nearly closed, rolling with a two foot clearance, then one foot, then half a foot, Ash slipped through, using his body to wedge the gate open long enough for Hunter to also slip inside.
The gate clanged shut with them inside the facility.
Hunter was heaving for air, struggling to catch her breath.
“The police are going to be here. They’re probably on their way right now,” said Hunter, angrily.
“Then, we better work fast,” said Ash with a smile.
He drew his gun and began jogging straight down the center of the facility, confident not to encounter any security guards. Places like this tended to have only one lone attendant, and they had just watched him leave.
Hunter held her gun tightly, pointing it towards the ground, as she followed behind Ash. She couldn’t help but be slightly distracted by the grace and fluidity of his movements. He was fit and muscular, his jog solid and predatory. The precision of his movements, the expert calculation behind each step, each turn of the head, oozed with sex appeal. How did he make breaking and entering so damn sexy?
Ash rounded a corner, coming to a small hut that was conjoined to a long row of units. It took only a second for Hunter to realize that the small hut was an office, no doubt where the security guard had seen them shoot out the cameras, displayed on a series of monitors. Sure enough, when they got close enough Hunter confirmed her assumption.
Ash paused then backed around the far side of the office, looking for something in particular.
“You could let me know the plan, you know,” whispered Hunter. “I’m not just going to blindly follow you.”
“Yes, you are,” he said with a wink.
Hunter cocked her head, glaring at him.
“Every time I’ve kept you in the loop you’ve gone off on your own improvising and messing the plan up. Sorry, babe, but it’s true.”
“When we find them, Grizzly’s mine. That’s all I ask,” she said. She wasn’t going to argue with him otherwise. There was too much truth to his point to counter it.
Towards the far side of the hut was a miniature dumpster which sat flush against the building side. Ash tucked his gun down the back of his pants and hopped up.
“My shoulder’s too fucked up,” said Hunter. “I don’t think I can get up there.”
“Try,” he said, outstretching his hand.
Hunter slapped his hand away playfully. “Please,” she said. “I only look light.”
“Hey, I’m stronger than I look.”
“I doubt it,” she said, bracing her the hand of her good shoulder atop the dumpster and lifting her opposite leg as well. Between her firmly planted hand and foot, Hunter managed to hop up, landing on her stomach. The dumpster smelled absolutely horrendous; but, in a matter of seconds, she had risen to her feet beside Ash.
“Would a slow clap be too much?” he asked, causing Hunter to roll her eyes.
Thanks to the added height of the dumpster, they could now reach up and hoist themselves onto the roof of the office, which aligned with the long and winding row of units.
They stood on the roof looking out at the expanse of units. It was a labyrinth, but at least they were all joined.
“How loud are your shoes?” he asked.
Hunter’s boots had a slight click to their heels, which resonated loudly against the metal of the storage units.
“Take them off,” said Ash.
Hunter shot him a look; but, eventually, she removed her boots.
“Are you going to take your shoes off?”
“Soft rubber soles,” he pointed out.
She guessed that meant, no.
Soundlessly, Ash and Hunter walked along the roofs of the units until they rounded towards the unit they knew contained Grizzly, Sarah, and Blair.
The light was no longer on. Upon that realization, Hunter grabbed Ash’s arm, her eyes asking the question, Were they gone?
Ash had no way of knowing. Since the light had gone out, it was too dark to see if their unit was open a crack or completely closed. He proceeded anyway, walking slowly and silently with Hunter in tow—until they were standing on top of Grizzly’s storage unit.
They paused there, listening intently, but heard nothing. Ash looked around the facility, searching for any sign of them—but saw nothing.
Hunter kneeled down as quietly as possible and placed her ear to the metal. They had to be in there. This was just another trick, she thought, which meant one thing—they knew Hunter and Ash were here.
Ash tapped her, and she rose to her feet. He took one of her boots and drew his gun. Though she had no idea what he was up to, Hunter also drew her gun.
Then, Ash threw the boot against the storage unit across the aisle from the one they were standing on. The boot struck the metal door hard, creating a loud hollow sound that echoed for a good long while.
Beneath their feet, Hunter and Ash finally heard voices whispering. They sounded female.
Ash took the other boot. They needed Sarah, Blair, and Grizzly to come out on this one. Ash was running out of things to throw.
He chucked the boot against the unit, striking it even harder. It sounded like a “BOOM” and echoed. They waited.
The rattle of
the unit door rolling up could be heard.
Ash and Hunter pointed their guns downward, ready to aim for the back of heads.
Blair stepped out, rising up from having ducked under the door to exit.
They stared at the back of her head. Ash lowered his weapon. This one wouldn’t be his call.
Hunter held her gun, aiming it, but her grip was turning numb. Her hands began shaking. Tears sprung to her eyes. She couldn’t do it. She knew she had to, but she couldn’t. That was her baby sister after all.
Blair headed straight for the boots, looking over her shoulder at whoever else was in the storage unit, then glanced left and right down the aisle.
Hunter lowered her gun. As far as she knew, Blair only had the knife Hunter had given her. It wasn’t fair to take her out. Why hadn’t Grizzly come out?
Ash raised his gun once again, aiming at Blair. If Hunter wasn’t going to do this, then he would. The police would be here any minute. They needed to take these three out and be gone by then. Hunter’s indecision was jeopardizing everything. There was no time.
Suddenly, Hunter realized Ash’s gun was pointing at Blair, and she quickly swept her hand downward against his. It didn’t knock the weapon from his hands, but their scuffling feet tapped against the metal, drawing Blair’s attention.
She looked up at them, meeting Hunter’s gaze. Their eyes locked. Blair didn’t look surprised. She looked satisfied. She lowered her gaze back towards the storage unit and gave a slight nod.
In an instant, a deafening spray of bullets shot up through the metal roof they stood on, narrowly missing Hunter and Ash, who each dove in opposite directions, Hunter towards the office and Ash deeper down the row of units.
That wasn’t the spray of handgun fire, thought Hunter. Sarah and Grizzly had semi-automatic weapons. This was not going to be a fair fight.
Hunter continued running along the storage units, which arched perpendicular to Grizzly’s unit. She looked back, slowing up. From her angle she could see Sarah aiming a semi-automatic rifle towards the ceiling, pausing to shoot more. Hunter wanted to see Grizzly in there but couldn’t from her current angle.
Hunter lowered down to her stomach and aimed her gun at Sarah. It was a really far shot to make, and Hunter wasn’t certain her aim was that good—but she had to try. Just as she was lining up her sights, preparing to fire, Ash keeled over from where he stood atop one of the units. Hunter relaxed her grip, struggling to see through the darkness. Was he shot?
Without warning, Ash slumped to his knees, holding his abdomen, then fell onto his shoulder. Thud. Damn it, thought Hunter. Now they knew exactly where he was.
Hunter jumped to her feet, about to sprint back to him, but Ash suddenly rolled off the top of the unit. There was nothing Hunter could do but watch. Ash fell from the unit roof to the concrete ground. In an instant, Blair was upon him. Hunter watched as Blair drew back her knife, raising it high in the air over Ash’s throat.
“No!” screamed Hunter.
Blair glanced over her shoulder.
“No! Please!” Hunter yelled again.
Grizzly stepped out from the storage unit. “She wouldn’t have to if you had done it when you had the chance,” he said, calling up to her across the distance.
“Let him go!” she yelled.
Grizzly laughed at that. “Come down from there,” he commanded, as the smile faded from his face. “Let’s talk.”
Hunter didn’t move.
“Or don’t come down,” said Grizzly, as he turned back to Blair, nodding.
Blair plunged the knife downward.
“Stop!” cried Hunter.
Blair did, just shy of Ash’s throat.
“I’m coming down! Don’t do anything!” she yelled, looking over the edge of the unit. She was a good nine feet off the ground from all sides. Her shoulder had begun to sear with pain. She must have pumped her arms too hard running. Still, she managed to lower herself carefully from the roof, dangling feet first towards the ground until she released her grip and fell a distance of four feet to the ground.
“Drop your weapon,” shouted Grizzly, as Hunter walked over. She did, tossing it to the ground despite her better judgment. Hunter continued to approach until she was close enough to talk without shouting. “This is quite the family reunion,” he said, as Sarah stepped out from the storage unit.
The police would be here any minute, Hunter reminded herself. If she could keep them talking until then, everything would be fine—unless at the first sight of cops Grizzly decided to kill them both. Hunter tried not to think about that.
She looked at Sarah—into those big brown eyes that were the same as her own. The woman seemed cold. Her gaze was like stone.
“Please don’t hurt him,” said Hunter, out of breath.
“This is what’s going to happen now,” began Grizzly. “We are going to be together again. All of us. One big happy family.”
Hunter stared at Ash. His chest was rising and falling, indicating he was breathing, but his eyes were closed, a pool of blood inched out around him. He was shot. He was unconscious, and he needed to get to a hospital.
“Ok,” said Hunter. “But we get him to a hospital first. We have to get him to a hospital, and then I’ll do anything you want.”
“I don’t think you appreciate what’s going on here, Hunter. The game is over. I won. You’re not in a position to make demands. You’re no longer functioning on a volunteer basis. We are going to load up the van and leave, as a family.”
“This isn’t a family,” said Hunter, as she looked at Grizzly then Sarah, her mother and father—the two people who had done more damage to her than she could possibly comprehend.
“Why do you need me?” asked Hunter. “I’ve never understood why you need me.”
Grizzly and Sarah exchanged a look. Finally, Sarah said, “No one had ever gotten out. They could have, anyone could have, but they didn’t. They didn’t dare. But you did. We can’t allow that. You have two choices—join us or die.”
“I’m not going to turn you in or do or say anything. Just let me and Ash go, and I promise you, you’ll never have a problem from me,” said Hunter, pleading.
“We can’t do that, honey. You know too much,” said Grizzly. “You know the one thing I didn’t anticipate throughout this whole thing, the one thing I should’ve considered more carefully, was the possibility you’d fall in love with Ash. That was the one thing that occurred that wasn’t by my design. But I’m glad it did.”
Hunter remained glaring at him. It was another mind game, wherever he was going with this sick monologue Hunter knew would amount to little more than to weaken her psychologically. She held strong to guarding against whatever he was about to say. The only thing that scared her was that Grizzly didn’t lie. When Grizzly dropped a grenade, it was explosive because it was the truth. Hunter reminded herself to stay strong.
“Aren’t you going to ask me why?” he asked. Sarah already had a sick smile forming across her face. “It’s because your affection for Ash makes you more like all of us than I’d ever thought possible.”
“Let me kill him, Dad,” said Blair, growing impatient.
“Hold off,” he said to her, before turning back to Hunter. “Sweetheart, Ash is your brother.”
It took Hunter’s breath away. Her head started reeling in a wild panic. Nausea churned her stomach, bile crept up her throat.
“You’re just like us, Hunter,” said Sarah, so quietly the words seemed to slither.
Hunter began shaking her head, “no.” She kept thinking, no, but already her thoughts were racing, swirling terribly in her mind, clouding her judgment, and overwhelming her with possibility and horror.
“I bet you’ve never had better,” laughed Grizzly. “Except for me, of course.”
Hunter wanted to throw up. It couldn’t be true, could it? She remembered her memory of Ash crawling into her bed, as kids. Being related would explain why they were together so young, but why was he given away th
ereafter? The time line was odd. Hunter’s thoughts were racing too fast to make sense of anything. Her mind was too confused to sort through the reasons Grizzly was lying. He was lying, right? There was no way they were related. Was there?
Without thinking, Hunter began sprinting straight for Grizzly. She’d kill him with her bare hands if she had to. She’d kill all of them.
“Do it!” Grizzly called over his shoulder to Blair, as though Hunter was bringing it all upon herself, a choice she had made the second she lunged towards Grizzly.
Blair plunged the knife down into Ash.
“No!!!” screamed Hunter.
BANG.
Hunter stopped dead in her tracks at the sound of gunfire. No one had pulled the trigger of their weapon, not Sarah, not Grizzly.
Suddenly, Sarah fell to the ground grabbing her thigh and screaming.
Another shot rang out, BANG, and Grizzly dropped to his knees, also grabbing his leg.
Confusion swept through Hunter until she saw a cop jog out from behind one of the units, wearing full raid regalia—a helmet with a bulletproof visor, a bulletproof vest, and knee pads. Then, another cop stalked towards them, and another. Hunter noticed their vests said FBI.
In an instant, Sarah lifted her assault-rifle, aiming at the Feds, but it was too late. They swept in, apprehending her, Grizzly, and Blair.
Hunter immediately ran over to Ash, but one of the Feds caught her, apprehending her, as well.
“He’s going to die! He needs to get to a hospital!” cried Hunter, but the cop wouldn’t let her go. He brought her to her knees, lowering her face down on the ground.
Hunter strained to look up, struggled to arch her head high enough to see Ash, to be sure he was still breathing, to see if he was still breathing. She prayed he was. He lay still on the ground.
Boot stomped towards Hunter until they filled her peripheral vision.
“Let her up,” said a man’s voice.
Not a second later Hunter was yanked from the ground to her feet, coming face-to-face with the man who had permitted her to rise. He was an older man, overweight, with cheerful eyes and plump cheeks.
“You must be Hunter,” he said. “Do you know who I am?”