Page 154 of Hell and High Water

The scene at the gate is…

Incomprehensible.

For a moment, I’m overwhelmed. Until I spot Ora, shouting as she drags a biker back from the wall. As soon as she gets him back to the main building, she’s sprinting back to the gate.

Mid-run, she skids to a halt, noticing us out in the open.

“Hell?”

The tiny terror hits me like a sack of potatoes, nearly bowling me over in a huge hug.

“Thank goodness, Ora. I was worried sick.”

“Why? We’re kicking their asses!’

“Uh…”

Gavin looks skeptically at the force holding out at the gate. I can see that it doesn’t look good.

“Alright, we aren’t really doing too great. But we bought most of the fam time to get to our backup compound. Grandaddy is about to sound the retreat and blow the fuckers sky-high when they breach!”

Evan and Tell both look around nervously, like a bomb might go off at any second. I can’t blame them.

The only word that comes to mind in the thick of the deafening gunfire, the flashbang grenades, and the screams of men hammering into the gate outside, the ones inside roaring in defiance, is chaos.

Utter, absolute chaos.

I've never seen anything like it. Several nearby buildings are blazing, huge black pyres gushing smoke into the sky. The effect is diminishing, making it look darker than it should be at this time of day.

This is a war zone in the clearest sense of the word, right here on the edge of our town.

And I seem to be the only one who's truly shocked by it. Gavin, Evan, Tell, and especially Alaya, they’re not calm. But they’re cool, focused.

I wish I could emulate their control.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t freaking out.

“Come on, let's get moving. We can catch up once we’re in one of the vans.” Ora leads the way, heading back toward the clubhouse. All I can do is follow.

“I’m sorry we were late,” Gavin grumbles as we reach the double doors.

“Eh, you weren’t really. Made it just in time to help guard our retreat. And we haven’t lost too many kin. Thanks, by the way.” Ora smiles, but it lacks the humor I’ve always associated with her beaming grin. She’s hurting, aching for her losses.

She’s just reaching for the handle when an explosion rocks the ground, sending most of us down in a heap. My ears are ringing, but unlike that movie-tinted portrayal of time slowing, of sound muting, everything seems to happen too fast.

Evan’s pulling me up as we start to run, and though it’s faint through the ringing, gunfire rattles off in every direction around us, mostly from behind, accompanied by a crash as something barges into the gate. Once. Twice.

“Go, go, go!” Someone shouts as the whole thing comes crashing down.

Through the smoke and haze, soldiers pour through the opening, spreading out to secure their entry. It’s the last I see before a firm hand tugs me inside, down the hall, and out the back door.

Out on the trails, the whole world narrows to the most basic observations.

Gavin takes a knee. Four shots. Four kills.

Alaya rolls, hamstrings a soldier. Kill. Bang. Kill.

Evan’s covering my right, Tell my back, my left flank.

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