Page 99 of Darling Wildfire
He wasn’t paying attention to me but looking through the foliage at the trail Red had left.
Before anyone else could comment, he walked off. “This way.”
Preacher looked at me but I motioned for us to follow Kane and we headed after him. We formed up around him and headed deeper into the map. A few minutes later we heard the first sounds of gunfire but it didn’t sound close. We crossed the stream, and it took Kane a moment to find where the trail picked up again. The woman had followed the water for a bit. We saw a building through the trees and Kane paused and motioned for us to hold.
“You three check out the building. We’ll do a perimeter sweep,” I said. “Meet back here.”
Once they ran off, Preacher looked at me.
“Do you think she’s in there?”
“No—she got free herself, knew to follow the stream to hide her trail—she’s too smart to use the buildings as cover. She knows that’s where the teams will think she is being caged.”
I led the men through the trees to sweep wide around the building. We spread out a few yards apart, looking for any signs of her. I saw a flash of red hair then bullets tore into the trees near us, making us dive for cover. I strained to see the shooters and instead saw Red make a run for it away from the building and back towards the stream. I jumped up and sprinted to cut her off.
We both heard the voices and dropped for cover. I saw a small team of three walking through the trees straight towards Red’s hiding place. I pulled a grenade and threw it in the opposite direction. When it went off, Red shot off, but I reached out an arm and snagged her as she ran by, wrapping a hand around her mouth to cut off her yelp of surprise.
“Quiet—” I demanded in her ear, pulling her hard against me as I shoved my back into a tree.
She went limp in my arms when she heard the voices of the enemy walking nearby. As soon as they were out of earshot, I let go of her mouth. She whirled around, fire in her eyes but it dimmed slightly when she saw it was me. I pulled Red into a crouch with me and looked around at the trees before looking her over.
“Target acquired,” I said, keeping a firm grip on her upper arm. “About a hundred yards from the structure—near the stream—”
“Following the stream was a good call,” I said to her. “But next time, makesure your wrists aren’t dripping blood everywhere.”
She held up her wrists and cursed quietly.
“Why’d you escape the cage?”
“I’m not going back to Kai’s group,” she said bitterly. “I can’t risk them finding me first.”
“T—coming up on your location,” Nyx said.
“Hey, Red,” Nyx said, as soon as they appeared through the trees. Kane and the two kids had rejoined us and were eyeing the naked woman with varying degrees of interest and surprise.
“You know her?” Kane asked.
“She’s been the target in the last couple games,” Nyx said. “Gave me this to remember her by.”
He pointed to the healed wound on his neck. Her mouth thinned, but she didn’t say anything.
“Alright, it looks like we’re going to be heading into the action…”
I sent Kane and the kid up front. I gave Red to Preacher, and Nyx, Atlas and I took up the rear.
We were spread out when all of a sudden one of the kids went down with a cry that was abruptly cut off as he disappeared from view. Nyx and Atlas approached the edge of the pit.
“Looks like an old hunting pit—or Vetticus decided to add in some surprises,” Preacher said.
Nyx peered over the edge. “He’s gone.”
Kane was careful of where he led us after that. We’d only gone a few more yards when I glimpsed movement through the trees.
“Contact—” Kane shouted.
A grenade exploded nearby, cutting him off and sending us all diving for cover. I dove against a tree and braced for the attack I knew was next. The first two men reached us. Nyx and I took them out quickly. I dodged away to avoid getting shot in the head from his partner behind him. I slammed the man into a nearby tree where I hit his hand repeatedly until he dropped his pistol.
He pushed me off, only to come at me with a knife in his hand. I knocked away his quick attack, sacrificing a hit to my ribs to avoid the blade. We clashed again and fire blazed across my chest as he slashed at me before I could block.
