Page 77 of Darling Wildfire
“Preach—Dutch, up with me,” I snapped.
They pushed open the doors and checked the area before motioning us out. Atlas joined us and we took off across the courtyard at a run. Thewoman was screaming against the duct tape and pounding on my back. She wasn’t strong enough to do any damage, but it was difficult to run, hold a gun and carry her. We reached the other side of the square at a dead sprint and spread out along the sides of the road leading deeper into the buildings.
I threw the woman down at my feet and tore off her blindfold, then ripped off the duct tape. I crouched down in front of her and grabbed her by the neck, dragging her close.
“I will knock you out if you continue to resist me,” I said in a deadly tone.
Her wide blue eyes were filled with tears but she nodded quickly. She was covered in dirt and Vetticus had painted a giant crosshair in red paint on her chest. I bared my teeth at it in disgust before I looked both ways down the street.
Vyper had his gun trained towards the church. “Movement at the front door.”
“Let’s move!”
I tossed the woman back over my shoulder and motioned for Dutch and Atlas to push forward again. We made it a block before Atlas signaled for us to hold at the corner of a four-way city block.
“Four incoming from the north road—” Atlas reported.
“Three from south—”
“Fuck—” Preacher said. “The two from the church, plus a third coming up behind.”
I looked around at where we were. We couldn’t risk getting pinned down.
“Atlas, Dutch—grenades north and south on my go—” I watched them pull two grenades each and pull the pins. “Go!”
They threw the explosives, and we took off across the street. I heard the explosions nearly simultaneously, and then the gunfire tore into the ground and buildings as we sprinted across the street. I felt something bite into my leg and stumbled, the weight of the woman nearly taking us both to the ground. We reached the other side and Preacher and Vyper were busy pinning the enemy advancing behind us as we pushed forward.
Suddenly, we were taking fire from ahead of us.
“Here! Cover!” I shouted, directing us into a nearby building. There was no getting around it, we were surrounded. “Back exit?”
“Yeah, there’s one that leads into an alley,” Nyx said, coming out from sweeping the back room.
“Let’s move,” I said.
Nyx and Dutch led the way through the back door and we all spilled out into the alley. Vyper and Atlas covered our backs as we pushed deeper into the shadows between the buildings, climbing over rubble and stumbling overloose footing. My limp was becoming worse and then Nyx was there.
“Let me take the girl,” he said.
He didn’t wait for my answer as he grabbed her from me. I didn’t protest, simply took his AR he pressed into my hands and we were off again. We were almost to the other side of the alley when two men rounded the corner nearly on top of us and shot Dutch point blank in the face.
All hell broke loose.
A grenade rocked the ground around us, sending Nyx and the girl into a nearby wall.
At the other end of the alley, Preacher was exchanging blows with one man, Atlas with the other. Instinct had long since taken over and I laid cover fire behind us, pinning the advancing teams at the far entrance of the alley. I didn’t like how trapped and exposed we were in this bottleneck. I saw Vyper out of the corner of my eye grab the woman.
“Only one of us needs to get the target across the line,” he said before he disappeared.
I didn’t have time to curse his name six ways till fucking Sunday for ditching us. As soon as the other team ducked away to reload, I ran over and helped Nyx to his feet. He was dazed and had a nasty gash on his shoulder but otherwise seemed okay.
Atlas and Preacher had dispatched both of the men quickly but Preacher had a limp now and one of Atlas’ eyes appeared nearly swollen shut. To top it all off, we were dangerously short on ammo and not nearly as close to the DZ as I’d like.
“On me,” I commanded.
Atlas took the lead with Preacher behind me while I supported Nyx who after a few steps shrugged off my help. We jogged through a neighboring building, encountering no resistance. We were a block from the DZ when I heard gunfire.
Two teams were after Vyper as he tried to make a run for it—it was a straight shot to our DZ, but I watched him get a few yards from safety and a bullet hit him in the thigh, sending him to the ground. The woman was thrown to the side as he fell. She scrambled away, terror in her eyes as bullets flew by her.
