Page 137 of The Wildcard

“Are you going down alone, or will you take your entiregroupdown with you?”

Akash’s voice was loud, wasmockingwhen Ray growled deep and turned to Vera.

“We need to move.” She said quickly and Angel nodded, ignoring the terrible feeling climbing up his spine as all of them went up on their tiptoes.Why wasn’t he dead yet?

Angel swore as a bullet whizzed from the top of his head and turned to Ray, grabbing her hand before they could more. Her body jerked back, her head turning over her shoulder to look back at him, “You need to stay with me.” He said in a low voice and saw her brows furrow, “They’re after you. You can’t separate–”

A snort stopped him short and Ray moved away from him.

“They can get in the fucking line.”

He sighed, “You move, I’ll cover you, alright?” he said, and gave her no room to argue by simply pushing her forward.

Her eyes widened in surprise as Vera caught Ray’s hand and hauled her up ahead. Angel rose carefully on his feet, and just when the bullets stopped, jerked up and began running behind Ray. He saw her blue highlights sway violently as she growled and ripped her hand from Vera’s, turning to angle her gun upwards to shoot the rest of them.

Angel rolled his eyes but ran forward, using her bullets as a distraction to step beside her and wrap a careful hand around her waist. He picked her up with a silent grunt but kept her tucked to his side as he ran. Her yelp drowned out when he saw the small barricade. Saw Vera and Kyle beckon them and sighed.

Ray settled in his arms almost immediately, and to his great pleasure, focused on shooting people as he ran with her in his hands.

Angel kept his eyes on the prize, on the small barricade they’d formed when Ray suddenly jumped out of his arms. He paused, a growl on his tongue just as Ray shouted something and shoved him to the ground,

“Shit,”she was saying as the bullet they’d dodged buried itself in the dais, “They’re onto us.”

Angel peeped a look over her shoulder, crouching on his tip toes as they best tried to avoid any shots aimed at them.

His eyes caught the red locks swaying before the man that had advanced on them fell to the ground.

They were all searching for him, he knew they were, but there was no way he could leave Ray here, especially after Akash had shot Noah down.

Not when their alliance was hanging on by a thread.

“We need to get out of here,” he responded through gritted teeth and saw Ray nod grimly as they neared the second barricade.

“We move in opposite directions,” Ray said as they reached Kyle and Vera.

The latter looked at Ray, her eyes clear and ready for instructions as Ray spoke, “You take Kyle and run in the direction of the house nearby. Find out why thefuckwe’re all alone onourisland. I’ll go with Angel and round up on Akash. Let’s see how much damage he can do with a knife pressed to his throat.”

As if on cue, Angel saw the glint of metal as Ray looked over the table to see where their huddle was located, “I’m out of bullets,” she said without looking at him, “What about you?”

He checked his gun and scoffed, “Last round.”

“So much for checking for weapons in the beginning,” he heard her murmur and chuckled lightly, appreciating her show of humor.

“We’re out as well,” Kyle said lowly, his brows drawn together as he looked back out there and back at Angel, “Those your people?”

Angel fought a smirk but nodded.

“They’re doing a shit job.”

Ray clicked her tongue just as Angel cocked his gun in place, “Better than becoming deserters.” He volleyed back and saw Kyle’s breath leave him. A pang of pity for the boy hit him, but it did nothing to ease the tension of the events.

They were still stranded. Still alone.Still fighting.

“Let’s go,” Ray started and looked at Vera, “Be safe, we don’t know what Akash could have planned. If he knew about our alliance beforehand, god knows what else he might’ve done.”

Vera nodded, her hair bobbing, “It seems we might have another rat,” she snarled softly and turned away from Ray, “We have a lot of those these days.”

Ray swore in response but motioned for them to go. Kyle looked at Ray just once before following Vera’s swift footsteps, “Be careful. You aren’t expendable anymore.” He said and disappeared behind Vera.

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