Page 86 of Captured By the Scaled Outlaw
Chapter 29
Minutes pass. Slowly and cautiously, I sneak to the first row of barricades without being seen. By anyone who is still alive, that is.
I peek out from where I’m hidden, spotting a few scientists huddled around a vehicle with their shields raised. I suspect that they are still protecting the vehicle Kinsley is in.
From here, I don’t see Lowell.
Loading a bolt into my crossbow, I search the landscape for the glimmer of a scoped weapon. The shielded scientists and a handful of Gaia 4 members huddling behind empty turrets are all that remains. The gunfire has all but slowed to a halt.
Everyone is likely out of ammo.
I stand cautiously, testing if a bullet will hit me. But it never comes.
Walking down the center aisle with my weapon pointed at the ground, I approach Kinsley’s vehicle. My gaze sweeps the ground for any traces of Lowell, but any identifying factors are impossible to spot through all the debris. Instead, I find an abundance of bodies slumped in odd positions, unmoving. I can’t tell who’s who.
“Kinsley!” I call out.
My voice echoes down the aisle, the shielded scientists shifting in their steps.
“Kinsley!” I yell again. “I know you’re over there! I won’t shoot if you leave peacefully!”
More silence.
Why isn’t he retreating? He got what he wanted.
I slink closer, the sea of shields beginning to part for me as I close in. Behind them, a mess of deep-grey scales mixed with earthy tones of sand. Standing at the head of the body is Kinsley.
My throat constricts at the sight. The panic that only recently left my bloodstream fills me like parched soil on a rainy day, coursing through every vein at nauseating speeds.
Lowell is sprawled along the sand. Bullets puncture both his arms and chest, blood seeping out without a promise of stopping. His maw is filled with organic material, but what it was or used to be is no longer discernible.
His eyes flutter, on the brink of consciousness.
My eyes connect with Kinsley’s, his face almost unrecognizable through all the blood and ripped skin. His lips twitch in a smile, opening his arms as if requesting a hug.
“Well, look who came back,” he says, his voice coming out garbled, as if underwater. “I’m surprised you’re alive.”
I scoff. “Same to you.” My eyes flick down to Lowell. I notice his arms and legs are bound together with metal cuffs. “Still plan to return as a ‘hero’? You won’t be much of one when Nilsan realizes you sacrificed their workforce and abandoned basic rules.”
Kinsley jostles Lowell’s head with the tip of his boot, sighing. “You think Nilsan gives a shit about these nobodies?” he laughs. “I can make up whatever story I want and the board will eat it up. I can forge a ransom letter claiming that I had to bring supplies in exchange for your life, or that I was concerned about your lack of correspondence and acted without thinking.”
My breathing grows heavy, a seething fury gritting my teeth.
“I’m a well-respected figure, May. The worst I’d get is a slap on the wrist, and I can guarantee it won’t even make a damn difference inthe ethics investigation, either,” he says, twirling his blood-crusted mustache between his fingers. “I offered you the ability to join me andbesomeone and you turned me down like the antagonistic brat you are.”
Fists clench at my sides, gripping the hem of my shirt. “How could you be so stupid to think I’d agree to something like that? For all the grief you give me about my morals, you sure forget how much they meant to me.”
He exhales a scoff, shrugging. “Because I thought you’d be smart enough to take the deal. Hell, if you shoot this damned lizard right now, I’ll still keep up my end,” he says with a shake of his head. “It’d look better for me if you returned alive, anyhow. They’ll be lenient on us both if you seem like a pitiful victim of torture.”
“I don’t understand why you’re insistent on my compliance. I never took you as one to care.”
The laugh that bellows from his chest startles me. “It’s simple: You’re a useful tool,” he starts. “Nothing more than that. I came all this way, why not use you to my full advantage? I thought I already explained this to you.”
“I could expose you, you know.”
“No, you won’t,” Kinsley snorts. “Whistleblowers aren’t heroes in Nilsan, they’reliabilities.They’d send me to prison and ship you to some remote village so you don’t cause a stir within the city. You’d end up a bigger loser than me in the end.”
He’s right. That’s how it goes in Nilsan.
