“Who are they?” Bash asked. “Do you know?”
Juno shook her head. “No idea. There are a lot of them, all dressed in black. I don’t think they’re with the government or any official agency. They seem really disorganized, and they’re not that good at fighting. They’re shooting bullets off everywhere but they can’t aim. They were clumsy and loud when they came in, and they set off a couple smoke grenades or something but they don’t seem to have planned for how they would walk around in the smoke. They’re still making progress, though, because there are so many of them. It’s hard to hold them back. Wyatt’s trying to guard the top of the stairs to the roof in case someone tries to come in that way, but they don’t seem to have realized there’s a roof entrance.”
Bash took a couple of long breaths, trying to think clearly.
“Alright,” he said. “We’ll just keep fighting them until we take them all out then. But someone should stay here with Lily.”
“You stay,” Juno said. “You’re strong and a damn good fighter. You’ll keep her safe.”
Bash nodded and breathed in deeply.
“The smoke smell is getting stronger,” he said. “Is the building on fire?”
“I think so,” Juno said. “It’s not bad, but it’s going to grow quickly if we don’t put it out. Of course, it’s hard to put out a fire while simultaneously fighting these guys.”
Bash grunted in frustration. “Yeah, we’re probably going to lose the hideout. But we’ll worry about that later. For now, just go get rid of the scoundrels trying to invade us. I’ll keep Lily safe.”
Juno nodded and ran out of the room. Bash breathed in deeply again, trying to determine how bad the fire was. The smoke was building, and the last thing he wanted was to be trapped in here with flames on the other side of the door.
“Come on, Lily,” he said, grabbing her hand. “We have to move.”
“Where are we going? It sounds dangerous out there,” she said. Her voice and her hands were both shaking, and Bash took a deep breath, reminding himself to be kind and patient. The less freaked out she was, the easier it would be to keep her safe.
“We’re going to the roof,” Bash said. “I don’t want to be trapped in this room with the fire getting worse. Now come on.”
Bash crouched down and stuck his head out of the room’s doorway. Downstairs, the noise was deafening. Juno was right—there were a lot of attackers. Who were these guys? They were trying to make up for their lack of experience with sheer numbers, but Juno, Calum, and Mia seemed to be doing a good job of keeping them downstairs. Right now there weren’t even any bullets flying upstairs, so the few attackers who had made it up had been taken care of already. The smoke in the hallway was even thicker, though, and the oxygen was rapidly being sucked away. They had to get out of here, and quick.
“Bash, I can’t go out there,” Lily said, trying to pull backwards. “There’s too much smoke, and it’s so loud. There are so many people out there! We’re going to get killed!”
“Lily,” Bash said, doing his best to sound calm and encouraging. “We’re going to get killed if we stay in this room. The fire is eventually going to get in here, and there’s no guarantee that whoever these attackers are that they won’t make it up here, either. We need to find an escape route to the roof where the air is clear and where the hovers are parked. I have to get both vehicles ready so the crew can fly off and escape if necessary.”
But the voice of reason wasn’t working with Lily right now. The panic in her eyes only increased, and she kept pulling backwards.
“Lily, come on,” Bash said. “I know this is scary, but I promise you it’s gonna be a lot scarier if you stay.”
Bash was coughing now. The smoke continued to thicken and it was getting harder to breathe. They had to move. Bash hated to force anyone to do anything—it just wasn’t his style. But he was going to have to force Lily to leave for her own good. With one quick movement, he scooped her up in his strong arms and started heading for the roof. She screamed at him and fought like a wild animal, thrashing around like he was trying to kill her. But he held on tightly and kept talking to her calmly.
“It’s all right, Lily. I’m gonna keep you safe. We’re going to get out of here, trust me.”
She was crying now, whimpering that she didn’t want to die. Bash had never seen anyone quite so panicked, and he was starting to think that maybe he’d been too quick to assume that Lily was turning over a courageous new leaf. He held her tightly, and made his way to the stairs that led to the roof.
“Wyatt!” Bash called out as he started climbing. “Wyatt are you up there? I’m coming up with Lily.”
Bash wanted to give Wyatt plenty of warning that he was coming. He wasn’t interested in accidentally startling a fire-breathing dragon.
“I’m up here,” Wyatt called out. “Come on up. There’s no one on the roof.”
Bash took the stairs two at a time, and moments later was hit by the fresher outside air. It still smelled smoky, but it was much better than the inside of the house.
“Stay low,” Wyatt said. “I haven’t seen anyone trying to get up here, but we don’t want to advertise that we’re on the roof. They might not have realized that you can get in this way. What’s going on down there?”
Bash shook his head. “I’m not exactly sure. Someone’s attacking, obviously, but it’s unclear who they are or what exactly they want. They don’t seem to be with the government, and they’re pretty unorganized even though there are a lot of them. They’ve got guns but they’re pretty bad fighters. Even with all their shooting, they haven’t managed to hit any of us. They did manage to set the house on fire though.”
Bash saw Wyatt nervously bite his lip. Wyatt was probably thinking about Juno, his lifemate who was down in the middle of the fray.
“Don’t worry about Juno,” Bash said. “You know she’s an amazing fighter. She knows how to take care of herself.”
“I know,” Wyatt said, his voice tight. “It’s still hard not to worry though.”
Wyatt turned to look at Lily. “You all right, Lily?” he asked. Lily simply nodded. She had stopped crying, but her face was still wet with tears and she still had a terrified expression in her eyes.
“I’m going to get the hovers ready to go.” Bash said. “It looks like we’re going to have to abandon the hideout. Lily, stay next to Wyatt. He’ll keep you safe.”
Lily nodded again, and Bash ran over to start firing up the hovers. He knew that there was a risk of drawing attention to the roof by turning the hovers on, but it was a chance he had to take. The clan had to be ready for escape, because it looked like escape was inevitable at this point. Both hovers roared to life and were in perfect working order. They were fully charged from being out in the sun all day, just as Bash had hoped. Bash smiled, but moments later that smile froze on his face as he heard loud screams coming from the bottom of the stairs to the roof. He spun around and looked at Wyatt.
“What’s going on?” Bash asked.
“I don’t know,” Wyatt shouted. “But it sounds like the rest of the clan is having trouble holding back our attackers. I don’t even know how anyone even found this many people to fight with the population as low as it is right now. It’s like a small army down there.”
Bash frowned. Things were not looking promising for the clan right now.
“Lily, come on,” Bash said. “Get in the hover with your harness strapped on so we’re ready to go.”
Lily looked at him with wide eyes, and for a moment Bash thought she might not move. But then she did, slowly standing and walking toward him in a stunned state. Bash directed her to the backseat of the hover he would be flying, then made sure her five point harness was securely fastened.
“Alright,” he said. “I’m going to go help Wyatt guard the stairs. As soon as the other three get up here we’re going to take off. Just sit tight and keep your head low. You’ll be fine, okay.”
Lily looked at him and nodded, and to his
surprise she was looking a little calmer. Maybe physically being in an escape vehicle was making her feel better. Bash ran back over to Wyatt, who was straining his neck trying to see or hear what was going on. There were screams, crashes, and gunshots coming from below them. Bash could hear Juno, Calum, and Mia screaming at the attackers. Their voices were getting closer and closer, which meant they were getting pushed back further and further toward the roof.
“This doesn’t sound good,” Wyatt said.
“No, it doesn’t,” Bash agreed. “But both hovers are ready to go. We’ll make it out of here. Juno will be fine.”
Just then, Juno appeared at the top of the stairs, coming out of the smoke so quickly that she almost looked like a ghost.
“Juno!” Wyatt said. “Are you okay? What’s going on down there?”
Juno’s face was black from the smoke, and she had blood splattered all over her. It must’ve been someone else’s blood, though, because it didn’t look like she herself was wounded. Her hair was a wild, matted mess, and she had a grim look on her face.
“There are too many of them,” she said. “We have to get out of here. Calum and Mia are holding them back as long as they can to give me time to get up here and make sure the hovers are working, but Bash it looks like you’ve already taken care of that?”
Bash nodded. “We’re ready to go. Lily’s already strapped in as you can see over there.”
More screams and another loud crash came from below, and Wyatt’s face darkened. “Juno, get in your hovers and strap in. You should be ready to fly out of here as soon as the others get up here.” Juno nodded and ran to the hover, and then Wyatt turned to look at Bash.
“Dude, you should get going. Get Lily to safety.”
“No way!” Bash said, shaking his head. “I’m not leaving you here alone.”
Wyatt let out a growl. “Bash, don’t be so stubborn. I’ll be fine, and you’re better off getting Lily out of here.”
Bash was about to protest again when Calum and Mia came running up the stairs.
“Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go,” Calum yelled.
“Come on, Bash,” Wyatt said. “Get in the hover.”
“I want to make sure everyone else is safe first,” Bash said, protesting again.
“Bash!” Mia said. “Stop being an idiot. Get in the hover and take care of Lily. She’s the one they want, and you have to get her out of here. The rest of us will take the other hover. Go! Get a head start and we’ll hold them back as long as we can. Get as far away as you can with Lily before they figure out what’s going on. Just go!”
Something about the urgency in Mia’s tone when she said Lily’s name snapped Bash to reality. Lily was in danger, and he needed to get her out of here. The others would be fine. They were used to fighting, and the four of them together were a force to be reckoned with. Bash’s number one priority now needed to be Lily.
“Alright, guys. I’m headed to Hideout B. I’ll meet you all there.”
Mia nodded. “See you soon,” she said. “Now go!”
Bash ran and jumped into his hover, revving the electric engine as he started to rise above the roof.
“What about the others?” Lily asked.
“They’ll come in the other hover,” Bash said. “But we’ve got to get you out of here right now. We can’t waste any more time.”
Bash glanced below to see Mia and Calum climbing into Juno’s hover while Wyatt held a gun ready to shoot any attackers who came up the stairs. Bash knew Wyatt was also ready to shift into a dragon at a moment’s notice if necessary. One swipe of his fire could take out several attackers at once.
Bash smiled as the hover easily rose higher into the sky, but just when he thought he was home free, he felt something hit the side of the hover. The hover lurched violently.
“What was that?” Lily asked, her voice once again full of panic.
“Shit!” Wyatt said, looking down below him. He had risen high enough now that several of the attackers on the ground could see him, and their guns were trained in his direction. One bullet had managed to hit the side of the hover already, and from the way the gauges on the dashboard were going crazy right now, it looked like that bullet had managed to do some damage. But the hover was still flying, so Bash would worry about the damage later. Right now, he just had to get far enough away to keep Lily safe. He would figure the rest out as he went along.
“Hold on, Lily,” he said. “This is gonna be a wild ride.”
Chapter Seven
Lily cursed under her breath at Bash’s words. If he thought it was going to be a wild ride, then she knew she was in for some serious turbulence. The last half-hour felt like a bad dream. At first she thought it was a dream. She’d been sleeping soundly, exhausted from the last couple of days, when suddenly the sound of screaming and crashing had awoken her with a start. She found her room filled with smoke and the house filled with deafening noise. Unsure of what to do, she jumped out of bed and cowered in the corner. Despite her recent resolve to be courageous, she wasn’t quite sure how to handle a situation like this. She’d grabbed her backpack of supplies, which had a small handgun and some ammunition in it, but she didn’t even know how to shoot the gun. Someone in the group was supposedly going to teach her, but they hadn’t yet. Besides, even if they had, she was pretty sure her hands had been shaking too badly to hold a gun. Then Bash had shown up and taken her to the roof, and now they were careening through the night toward god only knows where. It was obvious that the hover had been hit by a bullet—possibly more than one—and Bash was having trouble controlling the vehicle. The navigation system was damaged, and the hover wasn’t responding correctly when Bash tried to turn the wheel. Lily wanted to ask him if everything was going to be okay, but she bit her lip and forced herself to remain silent. Bash was obviously busy at the moment, and she knew better than to distract him. The hover spun and lurched through the air, and Lily did her best to hold on. A few minutes later, she saw the dim lights of D.C. in the distance.
“Are we heading toward D.C.?” she asked, incredulous.
“We’re going around it,” Bash yelled. “We’re heading towards Virginia. There’s another hideout there. I just hope this hover holds together long enough.”
The hover lurched in response. Bash cursed, but then to Lily’s shock he whooped with joy as the hover rose sharply again. Was he actually enjoying this? She squeezed her eyes shut tightly as the hover dove downward, which of course was followed by another whoop from Bash. Lily opened her eyes again and felt anger filling her when she looked at Bash. He was actually grinning. That bastard! He thought this was fun! She just wanted to live, and he thought they were having some grand adventure. He was probably purposefully driving crazily and making the damage to the hover worse. She wanted to yell at him to stop, but her voice caught in her throat. She squeezed her eyes shut and refused to open them again. She couldn’t bear to look up and see as the gauges on the hover went crazy and the horizon line bobbled unsteadily in front of her. For several minutes, she kept her eyes closed, breathing a prayer under her breath even though she wasn’t sure who she was praying to. Anyone who would listen, she reckoned—god, the universe, destiny, her ancestors…whoever might be out there right now. Lily had never been superstitious, but she wasn’t about to be picky when she felt like she was at death’s door. The hover started a particularly sharp downward dive, and Lily’s stomach lurched. Then Lily heard Bash’s voice speaking calmly above the din.
“Lily, assume crash position.”
Lily’s eyes flew open just in time to see the ground hurtling toward them. She opened her mouth to scream, and then everything went black…
When she came to, she opened her eyes and blinked in the darkness. She was lying on her back on a forest floor. Above her, illuminated by the moon, she could see the silhouettes of trees. She tilted her head to her left and saw the hover crumpled in a smoking heap. It looked like everything on it that could possibly implode had done so. Lily marve
led that she was still alive. She wriggled both of her legs, and then her arms. She was surprised to find that everything still moved, and that surprisingly nothing seemed to hurt very badly. Her head did feel a bit strange. She reached up and touched her forehead, wincing when she felt a big knot. She must have hit her head on the way down. Slowly, she started to sit up. She looked around for Bash but didn’t see him anywhere. Fear suddenly gripped her heart.
“Bash!” she called out. She peered at the hover, trying to see whether he was in it and dreading the possibility of seeing his lifeless body slumped over the dashboard. But she couldn’t see anything.
“Bash!” she called again. Suddenly his head popped up from behind the hover. His face was covered in scratches and blood, and he held what looked like a screwdriver and an old car radio in his hands. When he saw her sitting up he dropped everything and ran over.
“Thank god you’re awake,” he said. “How do you feel? Don’t move too quickly! You took a nasty hit to the head.” Lily blinked at him a few times, trying to process his rapid fire questions.
“I’m fine,” she said. “A little tender on my forehead but I think I’m okay other than that. I guess I got knocked out.”
Bash nodded. “Yeah, we landed pretty badly.”
“Where are we?” Lily asked.
“Somewhere in northern Virginia,” Bash said. “I was trying to make it to our next hideout, but there was too much damage to the navigation systems. Now I’m trying to fix the hover’s communication devices, but they’re pretty smashed up,. And Grant already messed with them so I’m not sure I’m going to be able to do it.”
“Did you have to drive like that?” Lily asked, her voice strained and angry. Bash gave her a funny look.
“Like what?” he asked. “The hover was damaged, Lily. I couldn’t exactly help the way it was lurching around.”
Lily crossed her arms. “Yeah but you were whooping with joy like it was fun or something. I don’t think it was fun. It was terrifying. I swear to God I’m never again getting in a vehicle with you behind the wheel.”
Courage in a Fur Coat (The Fur Coat Society Book 5) Page 4