“You’ll be able to find us?”
“Yes. I promise. There’s a cabin if you go west. Hopefully I’ll meet you before you get there. I sent my team ahead. They’ll be there to help you get to me.”
“You’re scaring me.”
He sighed. “I’m sorry. I’m trying to get to you. I ran into some complications.” He gestured to his cut face. “So I’m behind, but I’m on my way, I promise.”
I asked, “Should we wait another day before going?”
“No. We can’t risk them tracking you. You need to cross as soon as you’re able to. You’ll be close enough for me to reach if you run away from Rueberry on the other side of the bridge. Just. Run.”
Looking around, I didn’t see anyone at all, but I still leaned into Joz and whispered, “We need to run.”
“What?”
Realizing we were still holding hands—gripping each other for dear life, really—I let go of one hand and pulled him off the bridge. I knew we were on the right side of the bridge, but I had no idea which direction to go after that, but that hardly mattered. Ezryn had said it was dangerous to linger, that we needed to run. So I just headed away from the bridge and orchard.
When I started running and dragging Joz behind me, he asked, “What’s wrong, Rhile? What’s going on?”
“Ezryn said it’s dangerous to linger. That we don’t want the wrong people finding us.”
He grunted and pulled on his hand. “You can let go. Trust me, I’m gonna follow you. I’m not going off alone. I’m freaking the fuck out enough without being alone.”
I cringed and released his hand. “I’m sorry.”
He grunted. “Don’t worry about it.”
“We need to find some cabin to hide in, and Ezryn will come get us.”
“A cabin?”
“Yeah. West of here.”
“Which way is west? Do you even fucking know?” he asked, a little panicky.
I grimaced. “I packed a compass.”
“Let’s stop and get it out.”
“Not yet. Let’s get away from the bridge first.”
Joz grunted again, but kept pace with me, so I dropped conversation for the moment. Five minutes into our jog, a loud bang filled the air, making both of us jump.
My wide eyes met Joz’s, and he whispered, “Was that… a gunshot?”
I nodded. “I think so.”
“Holy fuck.”
I opened my mouth, but another shot rang out, only this time it sounded closer. Then another and another.
“Holy fuck, holy fuck. Run, Rhile! Run,” Joz pushed me.
I ran with him, but the shots kept coming.
“This way! I saw movement, heading west!” a voice yelled behind us.
Joz grabbed my sleeve and pulled me in a different direction as we both sped up even faster.
Out of nowhere, Joz grabbed my shirt and pushed me behind a huge tree. He stepped in front of me so his body was also hidden, and he held his finger in front of his lips, telling me to stay quiet. I gave him a nod, and he pulled me down into a crouch and into the bushes beside the tree. We were hidden from view on nearly all sides.
Footsteps filled the air, and my eyes widened when I realized how close they were to us. If Joz hadn’t hidden us, we would’ve been seen for sure. Joz grabbed my neck and stared at me, grounding me so my panic didn’t make me do anything stupid like whimper or scream in fear like I wanted to. My best friend no longer looked scared, he looked focused. I had no idea how he was doing it, but seeing his calm demeanor was helping me keep my shit together.
Another shot rang out, making me jump, and when there was a loud thump behind our tree, my eyes widened. They widened further when I turned my head and saw a leg. A leg lying on the ground. Lying on the ground because they’d been shot. What the actual fuck? Whoever had been searching for us was dead? Or at the very least injured enough they were no longer standing?
A strained sound came out of my throat, and Joz covered my mouth with his hand and leaned in to pull me into a hug. He pushed my head away from the… the body so he was blocking my view. With his hand over my mouth, he held me close as tears filled my eyes.
What the fuck had I gotten us into? There was a dead man on the ground two feet from us, and we were hiding in the bushes from who the hell knew. What were we going to do? How were we going to get away? How did we even know that guy hadn’t been the good guy? What if he’d come to help us? Ezryn had said something about sending his team ahead… what if that guy was with him? How in the fuck were we going to get out of this?
Joz whispered, “Fuck,” a moment before a gun was pointed straight at my head. “Stay calm,” Joz whispered.
My eyes followed the tip of the rifle all the way up—way, way, way up since the man was a giant—to a man in similar clothing as Ezryn in my mind-links, only this guy was covered in dirt. Like his entire fucking face was slathered in it so it was hard to make out his features. Maybe that was on purpose? What I did make out was the array of weapons he had. Besides the assault rifle in my face, he had another one strapped to his back, a pistol strapped to his thigh, a small gun on his opposite ankle, and two more in his shoulder holster. He had a few knives on a belt and his other thigh. Considering how many weapons I could see, I wouldn’t be surprised if he had more that I couldn’t see.
The guy tilted his head to the side, and to my surprise, blew a bubble with the gum he was chewing. It made me blink at him. What kind of possible-assassin-guy chewed bubble gum? A slow grin formed on the guy’s mouth as he took me in, and he said, “Rhile? Joz?”
Joz didn’t release me or even turn around to face the guy, but he did speak in a more commanding tone than I’d expect. “How about you stop pointing your rifle in our faces?”
The stranger snorted out a laugh. “Oh. Right. Sorry.” And now the bubble gum assassin was apologizing? He lifted his rifle to rest against his shoulder, scanned our surroundings, then grinned at me. “You gonna get up?”
Not knowing what to do, I turned to Joz who met my eye and nodded before he stood and faced the stranger. I wasn’t even surprised that Joz put himself between me and the guy. I stood up, keeping the tree at my back, not that I had much choice since Joz was practically standing on top of me.
Joz asked, “What do you want?”
The guy laughed. “I’m glad you two made it this far. Ezryn should be at the cabin tonight. I wanted to catch you to give you guys these.” He slid the backpack off one shoulder—I hadn’t even noticed; too distracted by all the weapons, I guess—and dug in it for a few seconds. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but my eyes still widened when he pulled a handgun and holster out. He bypassed Joz and held it out to me. “This one’s for you, Shorty.” I’d be offended if the guy wasn’t absolutely humongous, and you know, covered in weapons. I took the gun and holster hesitantly, and the guy grinned at me before blowing another bubble. Who in the hell was this guy? If it wasn’t for the fact that I was about to piss my pants in fear, I’d think he was a friendly, nice guy.
“Uh…” Very intelligent response.
The guy chuckled. “I know it’s not pretty, but that baby’s gotten me through some tough shit.” He swung the backpack strap back on and pulled the extra assault rifle off his back, handing it to Joz. “And this one’s for you, Kid. Not your normal weapon, I know, but she’ll get the job done.”