Page 94 of Scorch

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Viktor

I can't get through this fucking fence. I try to break it with my fists, but it's going to take too long to do it this way. I need to get in there, and I need to find her.

I wish I had my phone with me. I run back to the house at top speed, my feet pounding on the pavement. “Nikko!” I scream. “Nikko!”

Vera leaps out onto the front step, her eyes wide.

“They’re in the campground. They’ve got her. I need to get in. Tell Nikko I need him. Now! How do you get in there? Where is the entrance?”

Shit. I can't take Nikko with me. What if he has someone here, just lying in wait, ready to attack Vera and her mother?

Nikko stands in the doorway. “What happened?”

“We got into our fight like we planned. She went into the campground. It’s an old haunt of hers. I swear to God I heard someone there. They’ve got her.”

Nikko nods. “We’ll come with you.”

“Shit,” I shake my head. “I have to go in alone. You stay here with Zofia and Vera, you have to. Toss me my phone!”

He looks behind him at Zofia, too weak to run with them. He can’t take Vera with him either and put her in a vulnerable position. With a growl, he goes in to grab my phone.

I’ll have to go in alone. Just me and Lydia against our enemies. Maybe it’s only ever been me and Lydia against the world.

“I’m calling in backup,” Nikko snaps, tossing me my phone.

Zofia stands in the doorway. “Go, go! Leave me. I’m an old woman. Leave me and go get her.”

“You’re safer here.”

“We’ll all go,” Vera says. “Nikko, we have to.”

Nikko’s jaw clenches and hope soars in me. We’ll get her so much more easily if it’s not just me alone in a vast, vacant campground.

“Zofia, get on my back. I’ll carry you in.”

“Give me a weapon, Nikko.” Vera’s eyes widen, and Zofia shakes her head. “Do you think I spent the better part of five decades in this life, and I don’t know how to use a weapon?”

Nikko hands Zofia a gun, and I turn and bend so she can leap onto my back.

“This way,” Vera says. “Follow me!”

We go all the way down to the driveway and take a right. About a mile down, I finally see the entrance.

“Listen,” Vera says. “They'll be looking for you at the main entrance and by the gate. But there was another entrance for deliveries or something that Lydia and I knew about. This way.” She leads us off the main path and shows me a break in the fence covered by a worn wooden sign.

Due to current dry conditions, open fires are strictly prohibited. Help us protect our forests and keep everyone safe!

Vera pushes the sign. It wobbles. “Lift it, and I can get in and open the gate for you.”

I yank it off its hinges, and it splinters in my hands. Behind the sign is a small space, just big enough for her to squeeze into.

“Well, that will do the job, too,” she mutters to herself.

“Careful,” Nikko growls. He reaches for Zofia and gently takes her off my back. “Once Vera opens it, you come in,” he says gently. Zofia stifles a cough and nods. Her hand on the gun trembles slightly.

The gate creaks open, and we enter. I pull up my phone and remind myself of what I tell Lydia.

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