by Chelsea Fine
Raven started marching forward again, yelling at the Ashmen nearest her, “And why is everything on fire?! Put out the fires!”
Gabriel blinked. There were no fires anywhere.
Given that the witch was off her rocker and Heather was probably scared out of her mind, Gabriel decided not to talk anymore as they made their way deeper into the trees.
Heather winced as she stumbled over more sharp rocks. The Ashmen yanked on the ropes around her body, causing her to lose her balance and fall to the ground.
“What is the problem?!” Raven crazy-yelled, whipping around to glare at Heather. “Get up!”
With her wrists bound, it took Heather a moment to stand up and, when she did, she gingerly took a step forward on the rocks and looked like she was going to cry in pain.
Gabriel moved to help her but the leashes around his body tightened. “Faster!” Raven yelled.
“Here.” Gabriel shifted to kick his shoes off. “Heather can wear my shoes.”
Raven looked furious. “We do not have time for shoe switching!”
Good God. Could the woman yell any louder? And what was with her face? It was growing more wrinkled by the second.
“Heather can’t walk fast with bloody feet, Raven.”
She marched toward Heather with a knife in her hand. “Then I’ll just have to motivate her!”
Oh hell no.
“I’ll carry her!” Gabriel said, desperate. Again. He’d been desperate a lot lately. “I’ll carry her the rest of the way. That way you won’t have to injure your leverage and we’ll get there faster.”
Please dear God, let this work.
Raven huffed. “Fine.” She pointed to an Ashman who picked up Heather and her bloody feet and brought her over to Gabriel.
Gabriel lifted his tied hands, making a hoop for the Ashman to move Heather’s body through so she was draped over his shoulder, then lowered them back down over Heather’s legs.
“Thanks,” Heather whispered by his ear.
Her breath warmed his neck and a funny sensation skittered inside him.
The skirt of her poufy, pink dress rode up a little and Gabriel smoothed his bound wrists down the back of her body in an attempt to pull it back down.
No dice.
“Let’s go!” Raven screamed, charging forward into the trees.
Gabriel maneuvered through the forest, feeling Heather’s upper body dangle off his back with every step.
“So…this is weird,” she muttered. “I bet you never thought you’d be carrying a girl over your shoulder through a forest filled with zombies.”
He smiled. “Uh, no.”
He looked down at her feet where blood still trickled from her many wounds and his smile faded.
She sighed. “I’m totally flashing everyone.”
“I’m pretty sure the Ashmen don’t give a damn.”
She dangled in silence for a moment. “Raven looks crazy old, doesn’t she? Like…scary old.”
“Yeah,” Gabriel said quietly. “The water is wearing off really fast.”
He could hear Heather smile. “Hey, maybe she’ll die of old age and we can get the heck out of this weird Ashman dog-walking situation we’re in.”
He smiled. “That would be ideal.”
Raven led them down a steep hill and Gabriel shifted Heather’s body so he could hold her more securely as they descended, moving his tied hands up her legs.
“Hey now. Don’t try to cop a feel, Gabriel Michael.”
“Cop a feel?”
“Yes, mister. Keep your hands to yourself.”
He silently laughed. “I love how our lives are at risk and you’re worried about me feeling you up. Like this is somehow sexy for me.”
“What’s not sexy about old witches and dead guys and bloody feet? You don’t find this whole thing hot?”
“Not even a little,” he smiled. “And my middle name isn’t Michael.”
“What is it then?”
“I don’t have a middle name.”
“Well, you do now. Michael.”
He shook his head with a smile.
“Shut up!” Raven screamed.
They did.
Raven eventually led them to a valley of boulders and ordered the Ashmen to remove Heather from Gabriel’s shoulder and tie the two of them up against a set of large rocks.
Not comfortable.
Gabriel looked at Heather. “How are you doing?”
She shook her head. “Not good. I don’t feel right. I have a really bad headache and I keep seeing sparkles everywhere.”
Gabriel looked around. No sparkles.
He nodded. “It’s probably just the withdrawal setting in. I’m sure Tristan will get us out of here in no time. And then we’ll get you to the fountain so you don’t…see sparkles.”
Or die.
A twinge of protectiveness and fear struck his chest and he marveled at the feeling. He’d never felt protective of anyone other than Tristan and Scarlet before—and even then, the protectiveness that shot through him when he looked at Heather was…different.
Raven appeared before them with her hair more gray than it had been twenty minutes ago. “Get the girl and bring her with us,” she commanded a nearby Ashman.
Heather was quickly untied from the rock and shoved through the boulders on her bloody bare feet as Raven walked behind her. They disappeared around a large rock and the unfamiliar pang of protectiveness coursed through him again..
***************
Just as the sun began to set, Scarlet led Tristan and Nate up a hill behind the group of boulders she’d once died beside. Morbid memory, but hey. This trip was all about death anyway.
At the top of the hill, Scarlet crouched down and squinted at the rocks below, searching for any sign of Heather or Gabriel.
Tristan came up beside her and did the same, his bicep brushing her arm as he did so, sending a swirl of pleasure through her. She closed her eyes for a moment, getting a grip on her body, then stared back down at the scene as Nate crouched on her other side.
Scarlet scanned the boulders until movement caught her eye. In a small clearing far below them, twelve Ashmen were circled around a tied up Heather and an impatient-looking Raven.
But no Gabriel.
Scarlet’s stomach dropped.
Of course this was the first thing Tristan noticed. “Where the hell is Gabriel?”
Nate twitched his lips. “Maybe he had to pee?”
Scarlet let out a long breath as she tried to keep from shaking.
No. This couldn’t happen. Gabriel would not die just so Raven could live forever. That would just be wrong on so many levels.
Tristan was tense beside her as he stood and paced the top of the hill, gazing down on the other side, his green eyes sharp and filled with determination.
“What are you looking for?” Nate said.
Tristan shoved his backpack off and rummaged through its contents until he came up with a pair of binoculars and searched the side of the hill again. “If Raven knows the fountain is nearby, she must have set up a camp in anticipation of gaining the map and going after the fountain.”
Scarlet looked back at Heather. She was alive and breathing.
How was Scarlet going to get Heather away from Raven without sacrificing the map? Because there was no way in hell she was going to hand the map over to Raven and her greedy I-have-no-problem-sacrificing-any-heart hands.
Tristan cursed and Scarlet turned her attention back to his tense jaw. He was worried. Very worried. And scared.
Gabriel was everything to him. Scarlet couldn’t imagine what Tristan would do if Raven had her way with Gabriel—
Nope. No more sacrificing thoughts.
“Nothing?” Nate asked tentatively.
Tristan shook his head.
“What’s that?” Nate pointed to a ripple in the sky. Tristan jammed the binoculars back up to his eyes.
Scarlet squinted and realized the ripple was actually a stream of sm
oke rising into the air from the forest below.
Tristan’s tensed shoulders relaxed. “Found her camp,” he said. “And found Gabriel too. He’s just on the other side of these rocks.”
Scarlet let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding as Tristan moved away from the hillside and put the binoculars back in his bag.
“Okay.” He stood up with a renewed look on his face. “Let’s do this.”
They talked through their plan to rescue Heather and Gabriel and headed down the hill where they parted ways. Sort of.
Since Scarlet was somewhat tethered to Tristan—and the selfless hottie refused to move outside the painless boundary their little curse provided for Scarlet—the two of them had to stay somewhat close to one another. But whatever.
Ten minutes later, Scarlet was perched in a tree and hidden the shadows of the giant boulders that surrounded them. Tristan positioned himself several yards away in a second cluster of trees, close enough for Scarlet to maneuver without grimacing, but far enough away where she felt the uncomfortable tightness of his absence wrapping around her muscles.
But pain was nothing when compared to what was at stake: Her friends.
Scarlet scanned the small clearing where Raven stood with her hostage.
Heather’s blond hair had lost its perky curl and hung around her dirty cheeks in deflated waves. Dried blood marked her nose and lip and the pink dress she wore was tattered and bloodstained. Her wrists were bound and her body was tied to several Ashmen at the waist. Her feet weren’t tied together, but from the bright red marks circling her ankles it looked like they had been recently.
Scarlet swallowed back a lump in her throat. She couldn’t remember ever having such affection and fierce love for a girlfriend before. In all her lives, no other girl had made Scarlet feel so real and normal and happy.
Heather was a truly bright thing in Scarlet’s otherwise murky life. And there she was, terrified and bruised, at the mercy of this mess.
Scarlet shifted her attention somewhere else—anywhere else—to keep her thoughts from distracting her from the mission at hand.
Her eyes coasted to Raven and she noticed Raven’s black hair was silver at the roots and her face was more shadowed and aged than it had been in the graveyard. Which meant Raven was out of fountain water.
Suddenly, Raven dropped to the ground and started digging up the earth at her feet. Like a savage animal, she clawed at the dark dirt until she had a hole dug. Then she scooped up a fistful of dirt and shoved it in her mouth.
What the…?
Raven chewed for a moment, then spit it out. “I need that fountain!” she screamed to nobody.
O-kay. Clearly, the withdrawals were kicking in. Their Raven takedown might be easier than Scarlet originally thought.
The twelve Ashmen guarding Heather and Raven would be no match for Scarlet and Tristan—especially not when they had the advantage of a surprise attack.
She glanced over to where Tristan was perched, his figure strong and poised to kill as he waited for Scarlet’s signal.
And Nate…
Scarlet glanced to the bottom of the hill she had just descended and saw a Nate waiting behind a group of tall rocks.
God love Nate.
The man was a saint. Always leaving his comfort zone to help his friends. Always with a positive attitude. She watched him nervously rub his palms on his pants.
Scarlet was nervous too, but she was not fearful which perplexed her.
What made her brave?
She looked down at Heather and her trembling lip and red ankles. She looked at Tristan and his determined face and selfless eyes. And she knew.
Love.
Love made her brave.
It made her fearless to fight and determined to win, and hopefully, when this was over and she was laying her life down, it would leave her regretful of nothing.
She glanced at Tristan again and the lump returned to her throat.
Taking a deep breath, Scarlet caught Nate’s attention and nodded in his direction. He nodded back and marched into the clearing. Timidly.
Please let this go according to plan.
When Nate came into view, Raven immediately started screaming, her face still covered in dirt from her mud snack.
“Why are you here? Where is Scarlet? I need the map!” Her silver eyes glinted in the dying sunlight.
“I have the map,” Nate said. His voice cracked.
Scarlet pulled an arrow from her back and lined it against her bow. Slowly drawing it back, she took careful aim and waited.
If Nate could just lure Raven away from her circle of Ashmen, Scarlet could pierce her heart with an arrow and Tristan could take out the Ashmen guards while Nate rescued Heather.
Raven took a step forward, but not outside her circle of safety. “Let me see it.”
“Untie Heather first, then I’ll show you the map.”
“No!” Raven flung her arms out. “Give me the map!”
Nate took a step backwards and Raven, in turn, stepped forward.
Good job, Nate. Just keep pulling her out.
He held up an aged piece of scrap paper that most definitely not the map, but Raven was too far away to notice. The real map was tucked into Scarlet’s front pocket.
They’d left all their backpacks and gear at the base of the hill, but didn’t dare leave the map unguarded with their other items.
“Here you go.” Nate waved the paper, and took another step back. “Now, let Heather go.”
Raven stepped forward. “Hand it over.”
One more step forward and Raven would be a clear shot for Scarlet.
Nate shook his head and stepped back. “First release Heather.”
Raven stepped forward…
Scarlet let her arrow sail through the air, flying to the center of Raven’s heart.
An Ashman lunged at Nate to grab the map and the creature’s large body moved in front of Scarlet’s arrow, effectively blocking the dart to Raven’s chest.
The Ashman fell to the ground in death and Raven’s eyes shot to the trees where Scarlet was hidden. The remaining Ashmen broke into two halves. One side rushing Nate, the other side charging into the trees by Scarlet.
So far, not according to plan.
Arrows started flying from Tristan’s tree, sinking into the Ashmen bodies charging at Nate with deadly precision as Raven fled into the trees at the south end of the clearing.
Dammit. She was getting away.
Scarlet pulled arrow after arrow from her back and shot down the Ashmen headed her way as Nate moved through falling bodies of ash toward Heather. Using a knife from his pocket, he cut her ties, and they started running to the base of the hill.
Tristan shot down the last Ashman, jumped from his tree, and gave Scarlet a nod. She nodded back, silently telling him she had the situation under control so he could go rescue Gabriel.
He hesitated, probably worried his distance from her was going to be too painful, so Scarlet urgently waved him off until he finally conceded and disappeared behind the rocks.
The tightness intensified around her muscles and Scarlet climbed from tree to tree, keeping her body as close to Tristan’s, with her bow still ready as she watched Nate and Heather exiting the clearing. They were almost to the hill when, from behind the great boulders to their right, came more Ashmen.
Lots more.
Scarlet immediately found a spot to crouch in the tree she was in and pulled another arrow from her back. With Tristan gone and Nate armed with only one knife, she was on her own.
The Ashmen charged at Nate and Heather as Scarlet deftly retrieved and shot arrow after arrow into their ashy chests, taking out the Ashmen closest to them as fast as possible.
A second army of Ashmen rose up from the opposite side of the clearing, effectively trapping Heather and Nate, and Scarlet’s heart started to pound.
Heather’s eyes were wide in fear and Nate’s hand, though steadily holding his knife, shook ever so sli
ghtly as he and Heather braved the walls of Ashmen closing in on them.
Scarlet desperately drew arrow after arrow piercing her targets, but it wasn’t enough. Everyone she had ever loved was in this God-forsaken forest on the verge of death and Scarlet was running out of ammunition.
No.
No one she loved was going to die.
Pulling the last arrow from her quiver, Scarlet aimed, shot, and jumped from the tree. Pulling out the two daggers she’d stashed in her belt, she armed both hands as she started running for her friends.
Her bodily pain intensified and she had to grit her teeth to make her legs carry her into the boulder-surrounded clearing. She was immediately attacked by Ashmen on all sides. The pain coursing through her body became like the sharp talons of a vicious bird, clawing through her insides, raking against her organs.
She fought against both pain and opponent, not sure how long her body could withstand both at the same time.
She slashed through the dusk, cutting into her opponents as rapidly as possible, trying to get to Heather. Trying to get to Nate. Trying to survive.
Nate held his own against the Ashmen bearing down on him and Heather, swinging his knife with an impressive force.
Scarlet cut her way through Ashman after Ashman until she finally reached Heather. Nate moved to the side, fighting back the Ashmen as Scarlet handed Heather one of her daggers before grabbing her friend’s arm and yanking her toward the hill. If she could just get Heather to the trees or a boulder or someplace she could hide.
But they were surrounded and all thoughts of pain left Scarlet’s mind.
Ashmen swarmed, encroaching on the small space she stood guarding her friend. Nate had been swallowed in the mass of Ashmen coming down at him, and all Scarlet could see of him were his thrashing limbs as he fought against his attackers. Two Ashmen lunged for Heather and Scarlet hacked through them both with one swing of her knife, but a third Ashman took Scarlet by surprise and knocked the dagger from her hand, leaving her unarmed.
A fourth Ashman threw Heather to the ground and stomped on her wrist until she lost her grip on the dagger she held, and he kicked it away.
Scarlet and Heather were both unarmed.
The fourth Ashman raised his Bluestone blade above Heather. Scarlet whipped around but she wasn’t fast enough. The Bluestone knife thrust toward Heather’s throat—