Page 50 of A Sky of Storms
“Enough,” Ace said, his shoulder grazing mine as he came to crouch beside me. “You’re going to play the hero and free them.”
“Yeah, I am,” I said without elaborating. I kept the part about stealing the compass and map to myself, and definitely didn’t elaborate on my other reasons for following them. I barely knew the guy, so I wasn’t about to trust him with my secrets.
“Reckon you can take them on your own?” Ace said, a hungry glint in his steely eyes.
“Is that an offer of help?”
“Maybe.” Ace chuckled darkly. “What’s in it for me?”
“A chance to beat the shit out of some lowlifes?”
He didn’t reply at first, just watched alongside me as the leader of the group walked past the captives and kicked one in the gut for fun.
“Fuck it. I’m in,” Ace declared, surprising me. “I’ll follow your lead.”
I hadn’t thought he would actually help. There was nothing to gain and he didn’t strike me as the type of guy to give a shit about anyone else. Ace usually sat on the side lines and observed from afar, sort of like me. Maybe we had other things in common too.
I conveyed my plan and we split up, Ace going left whilst I went right. There were about six of Mark’s lackeys that we needed to deal with, so we’d be taking on three each. I stayed hidden, waiting for Ace to get into position.
“Banana split!” Ace shouted from somewhere opposite me and I hesitated only a moment before I barked a laugh and ran onto the dry land to punch a guy in the face.
I told him to give me a signal. I never expected that Ace, a member of the Drakes, would yell something like that before going into a fight. I was still laughing when someone hit me in the ribs. I turned to deflect another blow then let loose with one of my own. The guy stumbled but then someone else grabbed my arms, tugging them behind my back. I was pulled against a hard chest only to have the guy I’d just hit punch me in the gut. I struggled against their hold, but whoever held my arms had a firm grip and I was forced to absorb the blows to my stomach.
“This’ll fucking teach you for trying to jump us!” the guy holding me growled in my ear. “Fuck him up real goo—”
He never got to finish his sentence as we were both shoved forward. I landed on the ground, my face colliding with the dirt with the weight of the guy on my back. Shouts came from overhead and I shoved the guy off me. He was a dead weight and when I stood, I noticed the knife sticking out of his neck.
“Holy shit!” I exclaimed, jumping back. “What did you do?”
“You’re welcome,” Ace called dryly, knocking the last lackey to the ground then strolling over and tugging the knife out of the other guy. He wiped it on his jumpsuit then pocketed it.
I gaped at his casual demeanour. “You killed him!”
“To save your life,” he replied, folding his arms with a bored expression on his face. “Relax, take a couple of breaths.”
“Yeah, sure, I’ll just chill while you’re over here murdering people.”
“Breathe,” Ace commanded, his tone allowing no room for negotiation.
I did as he said, calming myself from the shock of his blatant murder. “Where’d you get the knife?”
“Found it.”
“And did you kill them all with it?” I asked, looking around at the six unconscious bodies around us. I knew Ace was dangerous, but it was one thing to see people die and another entirely to see someone take a life.
“Nah, just that one,” he replied with a shrug. “The rest are still alive, just not up for a chat right now. You’ll need to get used to it, you know. You’re going to see a lot more death before this trial is over.”
“All as casual as that I hope.”
Ace barked a laugh as I stepped towards where the leader lay, keeping my eyes from the rest. “Let’s free these people and get out of here.”
Ace moved to help the captives who hadn’t run off during the fight while I quickly checked the leader for the map and compass. Screeching howled overhead and I picked up my pace, finding the items stuffed in one of the guy’s jumpsuit pockets. I transferred them to my own pockets before going over to help Ace.
“Got what you came for?” he asked, smiling at me slyly as he helped someone up. He didn’t miss a beat, which made me think he knew more about what was happening here than I’d originally thought.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I replied, untying the last Potential so they could get away. Blood dripped from their nose and forehead, and they stumbled as they walked, but they weren’t badly hurt. They darted away into the dark fog shrouding the forest. I doubted they’d last the night.
“Right,” he said, looking at me with a faint glimmer of amusement. “So, what’s your move now? Going to follow them all so that you can continue your superhero duties and protect them from the big bad monsters in this place?”
