Page 48 of Waves of Fury

The booming sound of the shotgun going off makes several people scream in surprise. Gunter smirks at us as leaves from the tree above us flutter around our heads.

“Answer the damn question, man,” Gunter growls.

“Or what?” Jesse demands, voice hot with anger.

Fuck.

He storms over to Judy’s side, standing slightly in front of her. I can hear Hailey whimpering from behind her and Silas is quietly crying. Pretzel quivers from inside Jesse’s pocket, ducking his head inside to hide from the tense situation.

Gunter laughs and then his two brothers join in. After a beat, he shakes his head and says, “We’ll take the girl as trade.”

Silence befalls us aside from the wind sending leaves scattering past us.

“No,” Dan clips out, quickly losing his cool. “She’s achild, you animal. Not a piece of property.”

“Small price to pay,” Mike says as he peers past us to look at Hailey. “One less mouth for you all to feed. I don’t see the problem.”

Jesse steps forward until he’s a few feet away from the trio. His shoulders are tense as he hisses, “You heard the man. Not happening. Get back in your redneck trucks and leave us the fuck alone.”

“Jesse,” I warn under my breath.

Leave it to my brother to add fuel to a flame rather than trying to put it out.

“Jesse,” Gunter mimics, poking the business end of his shotgun at my little brother. “Listen to your buddy there. Your mouth’s writing checks your ass can’t cash.”

Jesse sneers at him. “I don’t know what the fuck that means, but I’m not scared of you.”

Gunter lifts the end of his gun and points the barrel in Jesse’s face. My heart stops pumping blood as I try to suck in air.

I did not just get my brothers back to lose one of them to stupidity.

“In case you folks hadn’t noticed,” Gunter says, tobacco-tinged spittle flying over Jesse, “the old world’s over. In this new world, we’re all doing what we can to survive. Thieving fuckers like you aren’t going to last long.” He nods to Mike. “Go get our payment.”

These monsters aren’t seriously going to kidnap a teenage girl, are they? With no weapons against their three, we’re outgunned and in a losing position here.

“Please,” Dan begs, “don’t do this. She’s only fifteen.”

Gunter chuckles. “Always did like ’em young. Why the wife left me, too.”

Mike stalks over to where Hailey is holding on to her little brother. Wayne, Gerry, and Kyle are all gaping, wide-eyed, and appalled, but making no moves to intervene. However, they’ve strategically put themselves in front of Elise and Hope, hiding them. Aaron and Kellen are gone.

What the hell?

“Man, you can’t just take her,” I grit out, finding my voice. “We’ll give you your shit back. Happy?”

Jesse is tense, ready to fight, but he’s not as stupid as he seems. Knowing he has a shotgun in his face, he keeps quiet, even as Hailey screams at Mike to stay away.

Dan starts for them, but then Nicky is on him, swinging his rifle and nailing him in the back of the head. He crumples to the ground with a pained groan. Judy begins sobbing and begging, torn between helping her husband and rescuing her daughter.

We have to do something.

But what?

How?

Mike wrestles with Hailey, dragging her past her parents and Jesse and me to where his brothers stand. He playfully kisses her neck like this is all some big fucking game.

Jesse curses up a storm but remains in place.

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