“Get over myself? Ana, you murdered two people just to save your own skin!”
“My own skin?” Ana asked, her anger boiling over. “I did it to save your skin!”
Alexis was taken aback, not only by the raw anger but by the words. Ana had done it for her? Before she could respond, Ana stomped off to Beverly and began to unlock her shackles. This was really happening. She’d come back to rescue them, but how did her father come into this? Alexis followed Ana.
“Give me the keys,” Alexis said. When Ana glared at her, she explained. “I’ll free everyone while you guard the door. Or give me a gun and I will.”
Ana finished with Beverly’s shackles and then shoved the keys into Alexis’s hand.
“You better hurry,” Ana said as she walked away. “They’ll discover the bodies soon.”
Alexis ignored the questions that rose in her mind and moved to unchain Greg.
“Thanks,” he said. “I may have been wrong to argue with you.”
Alexis nodded to him. She wasn’t in the mood to talk right now. Within a few minutes, she had them all free and moved over to the door where Ana was standing just inside the shadows.
“Do you have a gun I can use?” Alexis asked.
Without turning to her, Ana pulled a handgun from behind her back and gave it to her, along with an extra magazine. Alexis looked down, using the light from the open doorway to study the gun. It was a Glock. Her dad had had her shoot one when he’d trained her all those years ago.
“I’m sorry,” Alexis said. “I thought—”
“Save it,” Ana said, cutting her off. “Let’s survive the night. Then the debt will be paid.”
There was an edge to Ana’s voice, not that Alexis could blame her. If Ana had really done all this for her, then Alexis had acted like a world-class jerk. But the fact that Ana had killed Mila and Evan still rubbed her wrong. Even if her motives had been right, would it change the fact that she’d taken two lives to save one? Alexis didn’t know the answer to that, but she was glad it hadn’t been her decision to make because there was no way she would have been able to do what Ana had done.
The rest of the survivors had all moved to the doorway now. Greg was at the front of the group and had chains from the shackles wrapped around his hand. He caught Alexis looking at them.
“If we have to fight, I want to have some kind of weapon,” Greg said.
“Here they come,” Ana said, leaving the doorway and stepping outside.
Alexis followed. She looked up to see her dad coming down the road with all the children behind him. She had to use all her self-control not to go running into his arms like a little girl, but that didn’t stop the huge smile spreading on her face. Her dad was alive, and by the looks of it, mostly uninjured. He had a few cuts on his face and arms. When he saw her, his pace picked up and the kids had to jog to stay with him. He didn’t slow until he was right in front of her. Then he dropped his rifle and wrapped his arms around her.
She was shocked by the abandon with which he hugged her. It was almost crushing. Holding back tears, she returned the hug. He must’ve been worried sick about her to act like this. Her heart felt like bursting and in her dad’s embrace, the whole world slipped away. She was safe and secure, even with everything falling apart around them. As long as her dad was around, she would be able to get through whatever the world threw at her.
“I thought I’d lost you,” Emmett said, his voice husky.
“Me too,” Alexis said with tears in her eyes.
Emmett gently pushed her back to an arm’s length, looking her in the eyes. “I love you, honey. Whatever happens, know that I’ll always love you.”
“And I love you, daddy.”
Emmett chuckled. “Enough of this emotional stuff. We should probably leave now.”
“Probably,” Alexis said, smiling. Even though he acted tough, she knew better.
“Were there any vehicles up there?” Ana asked.
“Only a small car,” Emmett said, picking up his discarded rifle. “We can go out the way I came in, over the hills.”
“Do you have a vehicle to fit us all?” Beverly asked. “You can’t expect all these kids to follow on foot.”
Emmett glanced at the children. “The only other option is going down into the compound for transportation, but there’s no way we can get out without a fight.”
“The kids won’t make it on foot,” Greg said.
“Then we go down into the compound,” Emmett said. “Pair up into groups of eight—two adults and six kids. An adult from each pair will go for a rig, the bigger the better.”
“I can go ahead and check for keys,” Ana said.
“Good plan,” Emmett said. “Now, everyone else pair up and follow me.”
“Where’s Mila?” Olive asked from among the children.
Alexis had forgotten that the girl had been close to Mila. She walked over to her and bent down.
“Hi, Olive,” Alexis said.
“Hey, Alexis,” Olive said, smiling, but her smile began to fade as the little girl looked into Alexis’s eyes.
“Mila… didn’t make it. Did she?” Olive said.
“I’m so sorry, sweetie,” Alexis said with tears in her eyes.
Tears began to pool in Olive’s eyes.
“We need to go, honey,” Emmett said, resting a hand on Alexis’s shoulder.
With a sniffle and a swipe of her sleeve, Olive looked at Alexis. “I’ll be okay.”
Felix walked up and rested a protective hand on Olive’s shoulder. “I’ll stick with her and make sure nothing happens,” he said, looking up at Emmett. Alexis noticed he had a black eye and some bruising on his arms.
“You’re a good kid,” Emmett said. “Now go get with Greg’s group and do as he says.”
“Yes, sir,” Felix said, steering Olive away.
The last glance Olive gave Alexis almost broke her heart. The little girl was so strong. Even in the midst of this, she was holding it together. She was stronger than most of the adults were.
“Alexis,” Emmett said, “bring up the rear and make sure no one falls behind.”
“Yes, sir,” Alexis said, falling back into her role.
She was safe and her dad was alive. They were going to get out of this. In retrospect, they hadn’t lost as many as they could have. They just had to survive the night and they’d be back on the road.
~~~
Emmett looked at them one last time. They’d all paired up. There were three groups of two adults with six kids and one group of five adults, plus Alexis bringing up the rear. The kids were holding up surprisingly well. Maybe they could tell the stakes were high, or maybe they were just getting used to this, but for some reason they were all silent as they slipped through the night. He didn’t know why and didn’t spend much time thinking about it. They were ready.
“You five,” Emmett said to the group of adults, “stay in front and be ready to help. If I hold up a closed fist, that means stop. If I motion forward, that means come up. Got it?” He waited until he received various forms of confirmation. “Good. We’re movin’ out.”
Flipping his NVGs down, Emmett started at a quick pace down the road toward the main compound. Ana would have had a few minutes to find the best vehicles to commandeer. Judging by the lack of gunshots, she hadn’t been discovered. Yet. There was always the possibility that at any second they could be in a fight for their lives. Every moment they stayed there lowered their chances of surviving.
As they neared the main compound, Emmett held up a closed fist and the others obediently stopped behind him. He continued forward in a crouch, stopping just off the road out of the light from the various porch lights and other outdoor lights, where he waited for Ana. The wait wasn’t long. Less than a minute later, Ana came running toward him in a half crouch.
“They only have four that are unlocked with the keys in them,” Ana said. “One is your truck, but James’s is l
ocked.”
“Perfect, we’ll take them all,” Emmett said as they went back to the rest of the group. “Listen up. We don’t want to put the kids in the line of fire. I need one adult from each group and whoever else wants to help. The rest of you take the kids down the driveway as far as you can. It’ll meet up at the road, and if you get that far, stop there. We’ll come with the vehicles.”
“I’ll come with you,” Greg said, “although I could use a gun.”
Emmett slung the black bag off of his back and unzipped it, handing Greg the other rifle. Beverly and Troy, the redhead, stepped up and he gave them each one of his extra handguns. Ana gave Lucas the Glock holstered on her hip.
“Lucas and Alexis,” Emmett said, “go with the kids and make sure they’re protected. The rest of you come with me.”
Emmett moved off with Ana right next to him. The three armed survivors and four drivers—Todd, Seth, Abby, and Mark—followed while the rest of the group headed down the driveway. Ana pointed out the four vehicles to the drivers.
One of the RVs lit up from inside and someone opened the door. The man stepped out, stretching, followed by another man.
“Hey, Dave,” the lead man called toward the small house, “time to switch.”
He started walking over to the door while a woman also climbed out of the RV.
“They can’t go inside,” Ana hissed. “They’ll find the bodies.”
“Roger,” Emmett said, looking at the four drivers. “When we take down those three, make a run to the rigs, get them started, and get out of here. We’ll follow.”
They nodded.
“Hey, Dave!” the lead man said, knocking on the door to the house.
The sound of a gunshot broke the silence and the man crumpled to the ground, staining the door crimson. Emmett fired immediately after Ana, taking down the woman who’d honed in on their location. Greg took down the third. The four drivers burst from cover, running toward the line of vehicles. Lights came on in all the RVs and people started shouting.
“Get ready,” Emmett said.
One of the RV doors began to open and Emmett put a couple rounds into it. He heard glass shattering from the RV where the three had come from originally. Someone had the barrel of a rifle sticking out one of the windows and they fired, hitting Todd as he ran for the vehicles. Ana returned fire, taking down the Reclaimer who’d shot. The three other drivers made it to the vehicles and scrambled inside. Todd was still on the ground with blood covering his back. He was dead.
“Someone grab that black Ford!” Emmett said, firing on one of the RVs where someone had tried to shoot from a window.
“On it!” Troy said, running for Emmett’s truck.
Emmett was laying down covering fire on the RV with the most activity when gunfire sounded from behind them. He turned around. Six Reclaimers were running toward them from the house north of the driveway, firing as they ran. Emmett returned fire, taking down two before they dodged for cover. All of the drivers had their vehicles started and were pulling out. They sped past Emmett and his small group, turning down the driveway and heading toward the road. Troy shortly followed the rest, driving Emmett’s truck.
“We need to go!” Emmett yelled.
The others took off running across the dirt road and into the darkness on the other side. The Reclaimers from up by the house fired on them, but they couldn’t get a bead. Emmett turned around and laid down some covering fire, then ran after them. After a minute, they’d arrived at the vehicles and the last of the kids were loaded in. One of the trucks was a single cab and had been hit with a round. Smoke was leaking from under the hood.
“We’ll need to leave that one,” Alexis said, coming up to them. “We loaded the extra people into the bed of our truck. We got all the kids inside.”
“Good,” Emmett said. “Greg, Beverly, get in the bed of this last truck. Ana—”
“I’ll take the smoking truck and head toward the interstate,” Ana said. “I’ll draw them off, then join up with you.”
“Ana,” Alexis began.
“There’s no time to argue,” Ana said. “I’ll meet up with you at the Canadian border.”
The girls shared a look. Ana was determined to do this, Emmett could tell. Something like understanding crossed Alexis’s face and she was about to say something, but the sound of approaching engines stopped her, forcing them into action.
“Okay,” Emmett said. “Alexis, tell the drivers to head east, and after a bit, have them turn their lights off. Now let’s move!”
Beverly and Greg loaded up and Alexis took off to inform the drivers.
“Good luck,” Emmett said, giving Ana a quick hug before going to the last truck and climbing into the bed with the other two.
Ana waved at him and then climbed into the smoking truck. The caravan took off with Ana in the rear. When they reached the road, they took a right while Ana turned left and then slowed the truck. She would wait to see the Reclaimers before taking off toward the interstate. Hopefully, their ruse would work and they wouldn’t be chased. Or at the very least they could get some distance between them.
The caravan started to climb a hill and the drivers turned off their lights, slowing down. They continued to drive over the hill. At the crest, Emmett looked down to the driveway and saw that Ana had her truck moving. A set of headlights shone from the driveway. The Reclaimers had taken the bait. Emmett lost sight of them when the truck started its descent. Hopefully, the decoy would work. Either way, Ana would be on her own now. She was a resourceful woman though; she’d make it to the border. She might even meet up with James and Connor somewhere, if they were still alive. Their caravan continued on into the night, farther from the Reclaimers and closer to safety with each passing minute.
16
Missing
Post-outbreak day eight, early morning
James stood in the dark pole barn. This had to be where the Reclaimers were keeping their group. The poles with chains and shackles were enough to prove that, but where were they now? Had they killed them all or moved them to a different location?
“The gunfire,” Connor stated.
“They broke out,” James said, turning.
“Time to get down there and help out, then!” Tank said.
Connor took the lead and James followed, with Tank behind him. As James left the barn, he couldn’t help but wonder who’d been killed. He’d noticed a dark stain in front of one of the posts but tried not to dwell on it. He knew he couldn’t change anything at this point, but that didn’t stop his mind from running in a hundred different directions. Selfishly, he hoped Alexis was alive still, and Mila and Olive—especially little Olive.
They left the barn behind and started down the road to the main collection of buildings. The gunfire had died down and some vehicles had moved off. Multiple engines roared to life, and there was yelling between the buildings and the RVs.
Movement to their right caught his eye. James’s IR laser settled on the Reclaimer just as his brother’s laser shone on the man. His brother fired. The man was hit in the chest and James fired a round just to make sure he was down for good. The man collapsed, the suppressed shots going unheard amid all the other noises. James searched behind where the man had been, the landscape cast in a green hue from his night vision.
“Clear,” James said.
“Clear behind,” Tank said.
“Movin’ on,” Connor said.
They continued on their way, more wary than before. It seemed that not all the Reclaimers were down by the commotion. Four sets of taillights headed down the driveway as a woman with black hair continued shouting and people piled into the last two vehicles. When they were full, she climbed into a silver SUV and they took off down the driveway, red taillights swallowed by the darkness.
Slowly, they neared the main collection of buildings, moving off the road and into the shadows. James flipped up his NVGs as they neared the buildings since all the li
ghts were making them ineffective.
Coming around the back side of another barn, they looked to where all the RVs were parked in a semi-circle. Only two vehicles remained—a small car with bullet holes and a broken windshield, and an old truck that probably wouldn’t even start. All of the other vehicles they’d seen from the hill were gone. Only two Reclaimers remained that they could see. The two men were walking over to the small house.
“I can’t believe they just left us here,” one of the men said.
“Someone has to hold down the fort,” the other replied.
“Take them alive,” Connor said, aiming through his scope now that his NVGs were up.
“Roger,” James said.
From a kneeling position at maybe thirty yards, it wouldn’t be a hard shot. He waited for his brother to shoot first. Connor fired and the man on the right screamed out, clutching his leg. James breathed out and squeezed the trigger as the second man began to turn. The sixty-two-grain 5.56mm bullet tore through the man’s thigh. He didn’t go down, however, and James had to shoot him through his other leg before he collapsed.
“Tank, stay on ‘em. If they move, tear ‘em in half,” Connor said.
“With pleasure,” Tank said, resting the SAW on a fencepost.
Connor, followed shortly by James, moved from the shadows into the light. The first man on the ground made a move for his rifle.
“Don’t even think about it!” Tank yelled at him.
The man stilled, looking toward them. The other man was in too much pain to worry about his shotgun. He’d been shot in the right thigh and left kneecap. James went up to the second man while his brother went to the other. Kicking away his shotgun, he quickly looked him over for another weapon but didn’t see one.
“You armed?” James said.
“You shot me!” the man said, teeth clenched.
“Yes,” James said, “and I’ll shoot you again if you don’t start answering my questions.”
“Okay, what do you want?”
“Are you armed?”
“No.”
“Good. Now, what happened here?”
The Brother's Creed_Book 3_Wolf Pack Page 11