Page 66 of Montana Falls
“Take Price too, in case they need carrying.”
“Are you calling me weak?” Kody teased, trying to ease the worry in her eyes.
“No.” She snorted. “It is just a precaution.”
I might have been paranoid, or ridiculous, but I didn’t care. Something in the air was making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and I refused to ignore it.
I refused to lose anyone I cared about because I didn’t bother listening to what I swore the world was telling me.
We moved to the front door and Price opened it, his gun raised as he carefully pushed it wider. The hinges creaked loudly, echoing through the stillness. Inside, it was dark and I could barely make out the shapes of old furniture, a rickety table and a couple of chairs, all covered in dust.
“Widow?!” I yelled. “Delilah?!”
The floor creaked under my boots; the wood warped from years of exposure as the three of us headed inside, a handful of Red Diamonds following us in silence…
Then not silence. The slightest sound. A muffled moan. A quiet yell.
“There’s a basement.” Price said, as he pointed to the floor beside him and the faint outline of a trapdoor.
“I think I can hear them. But be careful – come after me.” I ordered, as he lifted the lid and we all descended into the dark together.
Hopefully we all made it out again.
Chapter Twenty One
The woods were unnervingly quiet, except for the faint murmur of panic echoing between us all, where we stood just outside the rundown wooden cabin. My heart was racing for a handful of minutes, but it was slightly relieved when I watched Price emerge from the darkness, carrying Delilah in his arms. She looked pale; her face streaked with dirt and tears, but she was alive, and that was all that mattered.
“Lilah!” I raced toward her as Price gently placed her down on the grass, then nodded to me before heading back inside to continue helping. “Oh, sweetheart, are you okay?!”
She kept crying as she wrapped her freezing arms around me, and I hugged her back just as hard. She was trembling something rather vicious.
“No, but yes,” she sobbed as Logan followed me and dropped to his knees beside her and Kody came out of the cabintoo, promising that Widow was also found alive, much to my relief.
“Am I okay to touch you, Delilah?” Logan kept his voice low and soft as his hand hovered near her. “I want to check out your injuries and things.”
“Yeah.” She spluttered, and I stroked her messy purple hair, offering sweet whispers that were attempting to comfort her as she kept speaking, “I think I’m fine – my stomach hurts, but it’s a dull pain from the stitches. I just really need a drink.”
“Here.” Kody said from behind me, handing over a bottle of water and a banana he’d grabbed from the car. “Don’t guzzle it and take small bites or you can make yourself sick.”
I pulled back and got to my feet, to give Delilah enough room to take the things, and to let Logan have easier access to her wounds. My phone buzzed in my pocket, the sudden noise cutting through the silence around me. I pulled it out and saw Retta’s name flashing on the screen.
Fuck.In our rush to leave, we hadn’t managed to tell her we were going to need to reschedule.
“Retta, I’m so sorry.” I answered, my voice low, glancing around to keep an eye on things as I hurried to speak. “We were coming to see you but then we got a call that Darius found Widow and-”
She interrupted me, tone harsher. “You’ve found Widow?”
“We’ve just pulled Delilah up from this basement thing, and now Price and Lincoln is grabbing Widow next.” At least, I presumed they were. “We all rushed here, and I completely forgot to call; can you meet us at the hospital or something? I think to bring them there is easier than home right now. I don’t think I have any medical supplies and Henley no longer has her mama’s things to use.”
Retta was silent for a second, no doubt just as relieved as I was that we had found both our people relatively okay.
They weren’t dead, and we hadn’t lost yet another member of our group.
“Of course, pet. I can meet you at the hospital. But if you can tell me what’s wrong with the kids, I can see what I can do to help before you get them to another doctor.” She said, her words almost rushing out. “You have Delilah now, right? Get her to take a seat in the car or somethin’ and tell me what she looks like.”
I did as she asked and as Kody, Logan and I stepped closer to the treeline, settling Delilah inside the car, I opened my mouth eagerly, ready to describe everything I could see, just to make sure the poor girl wasn’t going to die out of my negligence.
“Is Misha nearby? He’s good with first aid.” Retta asked.
