Chapter 19
NINETEEN
Asia
I flew down the stairs and into the kitchen, my socked feet slipping on the floor Lourdes kept operating-room clean.
Caitlin, who had ducked down in front of the sink, looked at me. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know! It sounds like we’re under attack.”
“That asshole Christopher.”
“Guys, you in here?” Lourdes called.
“Yeah—”
The window over the sink exploded, sending glass raining down. I lifted my arm to cover my face but barely registered the sharp pricks in my arm, the warmth of my blood as it oozed to the surface.
I faced the kitchen door and saw Miles and Lourdes crouched.
“You remember the plan, right?” I whispered urgently.
“Yes,” Lourdes said, her voice trembling.
“Good. Take Miles and get to that car. If someone comes, you go. If we don’t meet you in twelve hours, you go.” I held Lourdes’s gaze. “Don’t come back. Protect him.”
Miles interjected. “But I—”
“Miles, what would Jack say if he were here?”
The boy trembled but his voice was strong. “Protect your sister. Stick to the plan.”
“Good. Now go!”
I watched as they scurried away, crouching down low. The gunshots sounded farther away, and that gave me some hope. If they made it to the side of the house, they could use the other buildings for cover and get to the tree line and the car we stashed beyond it.
“They’re gone, Asia?” Caitlin whispered urgently.
“Yeah,” I responded. “That was a good idea.”
Caitlin was adamant about contingency plans, but she shrugged me off. “Whatever.”
“Why didn’t you go with them?”
She was focused on where the window used to be, the burlap blowing in the breeze. “Better odds here. Now what are we going to do?”
I crouched next to her, and then slowly, mindful of the glass, inched my way closer.
I stood up tall enough to look out.
The storehouse was engulfed in flames.
Three men rounded up the livestock, and two others went into the bunkhouse. And then there was—
“Get down!” Caitlin whispered urgently.
I ducked down just as another bullet whizzed into the kitchen.
“Let’s go,” I said.
I knew Christopher, and he would destroy anything and everyone for what he wanted. But there was no way I was going to sit in this house and wait for him.
“Uncle Levi!” I risked yelling.
Somehow he had made it downstairs, and was slumped on the bottom step, his shirt wet with sweat, his chest rising and falling.
“Get out of here,” he said.
I rushed to him, pulled his thin, bony chest to my side and yanked him up. “Come on, Uncle Levi, we have to go.”
“I said get out of here, girl,” he said.
I looked at him, seeing the sternness in the set of his jaw.
Saw the love.
“We don’t have time for this! Let’s go. We’ll figure it out later,” Caitlin said.
“Go,” he whispered.
I lowered him to the ground slowly. Then I squeezed Uncle Levi’s shoulder, refusing to believe this would be the last time I would see him, and carefully, cautiously, made my way to the side door.
Caitlin was a step behind me, and I pushed the door open carefully. Once I found it clear, I stepped outside. She followed and closed it behind her.
“What do we do?” she whispered.
“We find Christopher and end this,” I said, gripping my knife.
“Then let’s go.” She stepped off the porch a second after I did.
I rounded the house, freezing when I saw dirty brown boots.
Stayed frozen when I heard the shot.
I tensed and air was forced out of my lungs when Caitlin slammed her hands into my back, harder than should have been possible, and sent me careening forward into the dirt.
I smelled the gunpowder, the blood on my arm from the glass—heard another shot.
I looked towards the man, watching his skull cave in as blood bloomed out of the new hole between his eyes.
He flopped onto the ground, the way he fell hitching his shirt up so that his soft, hairy belly was exposed. Almost immediately, mosquitoes and gnats swarmed around him.
I heard another thud, and whirled back to Caitlin.
I stared at her face, but looked down at the hand she pressed against her abdomen, staring at the blood pouring through her fingers.
“You’re hurt! Let’s go. I’ll get you to Lourdes. She can help—”
“Yeah,” Caitlin said.
She coughed and her pale lips specked with rich red blood. She tried to sit up but collapsed back down.
I scrambled to her and grabbed her hand.
“Caitlin!” I said.
She coughed again, then looked at me. I was shocked to see her lips lifted in a smile. “I always thought you were a bitch.”
I smiled through the tears that ran down my cheeks. “You, too.”
Caitlin laughed, coughed, squeezed my hand.
Then she was gone.
I squeezed back, held her still-warm hand until mine was numb. Could barely hear anything over my pounding heart.
Only let go when the heavy crunch of boots in the yard left me no choice.
I gripped my knife tighter.
Grabbed Caitlin’s gun.
And moved.