Page 2 of Stranger Gifts

“We’ve got people that will need medications, we can’t keep running. Besides, that’s no way for the kids to live. They deserve to be able to play outside when they want to without fear.”

“I know,” nodded his friend. “I’m just terrified for all of us. We’ve known that there were more like us somewhere out there but to believe that we could find them was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Plus, who’s going to believe us?”

“These people will. I promise you. They will.”

They spent the morning discussing their options and talking about the possibility of heading back to their homes. Except it was no longer an option. They’d lost a few during the exit and skirmish. Had it not been for the quick thinking of their team, they would have lost more.

The problem was he wasn’t really sure how to get in touch with his old friend. Hell, he wasn’t even really a friend. Just someone who’d saved his ass once. But he knew of what he was doing and what he was accomplishing. It was something they all wanted to be a part of.

For three days and three nights, they camped out in Arkansas. The weather was sunny, cool, and blissfully perfect. But when one of the team suspected their stalkers were coming their way again, they knew they had to move on.

“This needs to be a decision for everyone,” he said. “Do we stay and fight? Do we move somewhere new? Or do we try and find my friend in Louisiana?”

“Louisiana,” said the crowd.

“We’ve always trusted you,” said a woman. “You’ve never steered us wrong, and if you think this person can help us, then I believe you. I don’t think we have a choice at this point. Someone desperately wants us and whatever we have.”

He knew that hiking through the woods and making their way on foot was going to be a long process, but it was better than being tracked in vehicles, and it would require at least a dozen vehicles for all of them. They didn’t have a choice. They’d left everything behind.

“Then, Louisiana it is. We leave at dawn.”

CHAPTER TWO

“Kade? I can feel someone connected to us. Maybe more than one person.”

“More like us?” he asked his friend, Spook.

“I’m not sure. I can’t quite get a handle on it yet. I don’t think it’s trouble but it feels strange the closer we get. It’s familiar but not familiar.”

“Just keep a handle on it.”

It wasn’t hard for Spook to keep a handle on it. With Hawke connected to his friend above them watching from the sky and the others all alert as always, they had a feeling that one of their own was in trouble. They didn’t know who or how, they just knew whoever it was, they were like them.

It wasn’t normal. Something was happening and it wasn’t normal.

The rush of wind, dirt, and water swirled around the man with the rocket launcher, lifting his body and tossing it into the swamp. Clearly unable to swim, he sank below the dark waters, lost to all.

Flashes of light caused them all to stare at the men, wondering what the hell was happening. Gaspar turned to Gabe, his brother shrugging his shoulders. When the man tightened his grip on Marilisa and the knife at her neck, he tapped comms.

“Kill that motherfucker!”

Before the bullet could be fired, the rush of wind and flash of color flew by them, Marilisa disappearing in a whirl of strange sounds and wind.

“What the hell was that?” asked Ghost.

“I don’t know,” whispered Nine, staring at the last Samaan cousin standing. The man was in shock, wondering if the men were witches.

“Put your weapon down,” said Gaspar.

“N-no. You are evil,” he said. He held up the knife in one hand and his handgun in the other.

“I don’t want to shoot you,” said Gaspar.

The man shook his head, raising the weapon higher. Just as Gaspar was about to say something, the metal in the man’s hand began turning red hot. He stared at it a moment, then slowly screamed as the metal melted in his hand, burning his limbs. It was a painful way to die but he’d chosen his path.

With the Samaans all dead, their men dead or knocked out in the van, the Gray Wolf men stared at one another as they slowly walked out of their hiding spots.

“I didn’t get to hurt anyone,” said Tailor with a frown. He turned to see Marilisa being carried by a strange man and smiled. “Boy, you better put that little girl down, or I will hurt you.”

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