Page 39 of Wandering in Darkness
Though I can no longer see Grayson, I know I need to wait for him to give me the okay before I make any move forward. My eyes stay focused on the SUV, and just as the man is headed back to the hatch, I see the back passenger door open.
I watch Grayson enter the vehicle and know that I need to put my trust in him as I fire a shot into the air in the hope of doing this with the smallest possible number of people dead at the end of it. “Get on the ground!”
Of course none of them willingly get on the ground so I can refrain from shooting them. Three are facing me and one is in the vehicle dealing with Grayson. Of the three I can see, they all have guns they seem prepared to use and are so distracted by me that they don’t appear to realize that Grayson is collecting their only hostage.
I take a deep breath, well aware that I have to do whatever it takes to get Antonio out of this unharmed, even if that means killing all of them.
“We’ll shoot your buddy in the fucking head if you don’t come out here,” one guy calls. Like they think I’ll believe that they’re going to shoot the guy theywantin the head. How gullible do they think I am? “Come on, now. You’re making a big mistake.”
“I don’t think I am,” I say as I slide out of cover just enough to shoot the guy closest to me in the leg. He goes down with a cry while I shoot the next guy in the arm and shift to the third guy who is firing his gun in my general direction at hyper speed.
Honestly… I don’t think a single one of his shots even comes close to me. And when he realizes this, he ducks down behind the SUV and presumably plays dead.
“Stay down or the next bullet goes in the head,” I warn the three men as I slowly make my way toward them. The one I shot in the arm has lost his gun, but the one hiding behind the SUV and the one I shot in the leg still have theirs.
“Throw your guns,” I say.
The one behind the SUV throws his gun so hard and fast that it ricochets off a tree and slides over to the guy I shot in the leg, giving himtwoguns.
He seems quite pleased by this as he lifts them both and starts shooting in my direction. Dodging back behind a tree, I keep myself pressed tightly against it until he decides he’s done trying his hardest to execute me. I really have no choice but to kill him. I could shoot him in the leg again and see if that willmake him stay down and compliant, or I can shoot him in the shoulder and hope he’ll put down both guns and listen to me.
My stomach squeezes tightly as I take a deep breath and turn to shoot him just as he’s flung forward and hits the ground.
I look up and see that the person holding the gun is Grayson, and he has Antonio tucked behind him.
“Let’s go. Quickly,” he orders as he reaches back inside their vehicle.
I can’t tell whether the shot was lethal or not, but the guy chooses to stay down this time. Grayson snatches up the case holding my rifle while Antonio runs toward me.
“Jesus Christ! Fucking hell! Shitty shit! Oh, all that is… something. Fuckity fuck,” he cries. “I nearly died.”
“I’m so sorry,” I say as I pull him behind cover. “I’m so sorry I left you.”
“I aimed and fired just like you said. The guy was three feet from me and I missed. I missed! I knew I’d miss, but I was like, ‘He’s only three feet from you! It’s physically impossible to miss,’ and I still missed. Ha… thank you for saving me. Both of you. Thank you.”
“I would like to say it’s my fault you’re in this situation, but I very much feel like it’s Felix and Lane’s.”
“I will never forgive them for this,” he decides. “Never. Until the day they die. I’m just making a list of shit they’ve dragged me into and shit that I won’t forgive them for. Hold on… how many did you shoot? I couldn’t see very well from my position.”
“I downed three and Grayson took care of the man in the vehicle with you.”
“There’s another—” he says a moment before a bullet strikes inches from my chest.
I tear Antonio back and Grayson shoves me behind a tree as another shot barely misses us. At least Grayson has a gun now so I’m not alone. I shove my rifle case into Antonio’s arms whileI try to judge where the man might be in the trees. I know the direction he fired from, but I can’t quite tell if he’s still there. And he clearly knows our position.
While I try to listen to the world around me, try to hear where he might be, Antonio presses tightly to me to whisper in my ear. “There’s backup coming. We have to go.”
I give him a nod so he’s aware I’ve heard.
“I’ll move and draw him out,” Grayson says, voice quiet as he begins to step past me.
I grab his wrist, absolutely hating this idea. “Don’t you dare. He’ll show himself, just wait.”
“Why would he if he has backup coming? He’s going to be patient, wait for us to fuck up and if we don’t, he’ll have backup here to help him. I’ll be fine?—”
I shove him toward Antonio and rush away from the cover we’d found. The guy is instantly on me, gun firing as I feel tree bark strike my cheek. But it tells me his position and when I move again, his only option is to fall back or shift his body in a direction that would show him to Grayson.
He moves forward, planning to outgun me, but he doesn’t realize how fast I can focus and pull the trigger.
