Page 96 of Afflicted

“I’ll worry anyway.” She fidgets with her fingers. “I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”

“It won’t.”It fucking might.I don’t say that part out loud.

We pull up just shy of the tree line, and I kill the engine. The wind is rushing through the trees as we climb down out of the truck, and Juliet hugs her arms around herself. The temperature has dropped, clouds rushing across the sun, and the air is so sticky with humidity it feels like it’s clinging to my face.

Thunder growls loudly as I flip the laptop open again, checking for the position of the first sensor.

“Silas!” Juliet is standing a few feet away from me, looking down at the ground. “Come and look at this.”

I walk to her side, and there’s a hole in the ground. Something has dug up the sensor. But the dig is clean, not the clawed scrabbling of an animal. The dirt taken from the hole lies nearby in a neat pile.

The wind roars above us, and my head snaps up.

“Juliet, get back in the truck,” I growl.

“What’s wrong?”

“Get back in the truck. We’re not alone.” There’s a scent on the breeze, sharp like gunpowder. I can sense someone breathing nearby.

Juliet hurries back to the truck, but before she makes it a bullet whirs past me and hits the side door. She yelps and throws herself down on the ground. I back towards her, keeping my eyes on the forest.

“What’s happening?” She cries as another bullet smacks into the black metal.

I don’t answer, pushing her under the truck. “Stay down!” Another bullet crashes into the truck as I commando crawl around the other side, opening the door and pulling out the gun from under the dash. Juliet is shivering under the truck, hands clasped over her head.

I lift my head, looking over the hood back toward the forest, and a bullet pings off the bull bar of the truck. Who the fuck is this? I drop back down, leaning against the truck.

“Silas?” Juliet cries out as another bullet smashes one of the windows.

“Stay down, it’s OK. It’s OK.” I scoot forward and lean around the front of the truck. I aim into the forest and fire. I don’t like wasting bullets, but the way they’re firing, they’re either scared or well-armed. No one fires back.

The seconds tick by agonizingly, and I peer back around the truck. No movement.

“Stay here,” I whisper to Juliet.

“Don’t go out there,” she replies urgently.

“I’ll be right back. Stay down.” I get to my feet slowly, peering over the hood of the truck. Still no movement, no more bullets.

I cross the open expanse between the truck and the forest, waiting for the bite of a bullet into my flesh. They can’t kill me, but I wouldn’t welcome the pain either way. But none come, and as I get closer to the trees, I can smell someone out here.

Sweat and fear, mixed with gunpowder and leather.

“Who’s there?” I call, raising the gun. “Come out!”

There’s a snap of twigs, shuffling footsteps.

“I said come out! I can hear you! I can fucking smell you!” My eyes scan for movement, and then it comes, just inside the tree line.

A man rises to his feet, his hands raised. His skin is pale, his hands shaking. He’s wearing a navy blue uniform and a bullet proof vest with the words,National Guardemblazoned across it.

“Don’t shoot!” He calls. “Don’t shoot!”

“Funny request from someone who just shot up my truck,” I reply, keeping the gun trained on him. “What the fuck are you doing out here?”

“I was out here taking out your sensors.” His honesty catches me a little off guard.

“How did you know where to look?”

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