Chapter Thirty-Eight - Cat
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Cat
RIVER AND I were leaning against the van waiting for the guys to return with the last item on the list. They must have been having a hard time finding it because they hadn’t returned for a few minutes now. The silence between us was awkward and heavy, but we couldn’t risk being too noisy. It would have been better if we could break the silence with small talk at least, but I had a feeling River wasn’t a small talk kind of guy.
Ever since he found none of us knew how to use a gun, he assumed some kind of leadership position over us. As far as I knew, no one person had been put in charge, but I didn’t put up a fuss as I guess technically he had more experience than me. At the same time, it’d only been a little over a week since everything fell apart, so who truly knew what the fuck they were doing yet? He just didn’t have to be so bossy about it.
We were both standing there brooding, most likely both over being stuck with the other, when his body went entirely stiff. His change of body language set off every alarm bell in my head so I went to follow where he was looking to see what had him so on edge.
“No,” he quietly reprimanded. “Don’t fucking look. The only way we’re going to get out of this is if they think we haven’t noticed them yet.”
“Noticed who yet?” I whispered frantically, now trying to keep my own body language under control when every atom in my body was telling me to panic. “What is going on?”
He took a few swaggered steps towards me then boxed me in against the door of the van. He dipped his head and ran his nose up my neck, stopping at my ear. I froze in place, confused what he was doing coming onto me if we were allegedly being watched and in danger. Was he just using this as an excuse to feel me up the minute my guys left me alone with him longer than a minute?
“What the hell do you think you’re doing-“ I went to raise my arm to push him off of me, but he restrained it in an iron grip.
“Shut up and listen to me very carefully,” he spoke into my ear. “When I let your arm go, you’re going to turn around and run as fast as you possibly can to the warehouse across the parking lot. I’ll be right behind you, but if we get split up, you need to find somewhere to hide. Somewhere really good, they cannot find you. If they get you, you’re gonna wish the biters got to you first.”
My eyes sprung wide and icy cold adrenaline flooded my system.
“What about Dom and Jules?” I whimpered.
“They’ll be fine. They’ll have time to get away.” He grunted. “It’s you they’re going to chase after.”
My legs threatened to go out from underneath me, but the second River released my arm, my feet were pounding across the pavement as fast as they could take me. I could hear River’s footsteps behind me and when we got a few feet away from the warehouse was when I heard tires screech around the back of the building. I didn’t dare cast a glance behind me to see how far away they were. My only focus was getting inside and stowing away somewhere.
When I got to the door and tried the handle, I found it locked.
River wasted no time pushing me aside and kicking it open in one blow, then shoving me through. When he pushed me through the door, I was immediately greeted by a biter pouncing on me and I was locked in a grapple with the thing in the dark. It took everything in me to swallow the scream in my throat, remembering River’s warning and not wanting to give away our position. I struggled for a moment, avoiding its gaping jaw before it was ripped off me and tossed to the ground where River quickly dispatched it.
“Take out your weapon and don’t move from that spot, for fuck’s sake,” he spat at me before darting off into the darkness.
A streak of light filled the space as he propped the door open on the other side of the warehouse to look as if we’d simply passed through. When he returned, he put his finger over his lips, motioning for us to be silent as he led me over to a rack on the back wall. He grabbed me by my waist and lifted me up to the higher rack before climbing up himself. We’d just pulled the boxes concealing our position back into place when we heard the door we’d came through burst open. Multiple male voices filled the space, sounding less than thrilled.
“Where the fuck did the little birdy get off to now?” An abrasive, nasally voice called out. “We’re gonna find you and when we do, you’re gonna be real sorry for making us have to hunt you down.”
I closed my eyes and tried to calm my racing pulse. I hoped to fuck we’d hid well enough because I really did not want to find out how whoever that was intended to make good on their promise. I felt River reach down and grab my hand. When I opened my eyes and looked at his face, the calm demeanor was gone. There was fear there, clear as day as surely as it was painted across mine.
“It looks like they ran out the back door. I found it propped open,” I heard a different voice from the first say. “Louis said he saw two more run out the front of the store. Just two guys, though. No more chicks.”
“I don’t care. Search the building. They could have just tried to trick us, knowing there was no way they could outrun us.” The first guy replied. “Matter of fact, go get the other two. Maybe we can use them to persuade our little lady to come out and play. If not, well, we can still have fun with them one way or another.”
My body shook with anger and my hands instinctively went to the knife sheathed at my leg. The only thing I feared more than losing my life was losing someone I loved. There was no way I’d let something happen to either one of my guys.
Maybe if I just came out now, they wouldn’t bother looking for Dom and Jules .
They didn’t know they were biting off more than they could chew messing with me. Maybe I’d have an opening to get away if I played along at first and they thought I was going with them willingly. I wouldn’t give away River either, just say he’d ran while I chose to hide. I knew my friends would take care of Rhiannon if something happened to me. They were treating her as if she was their own family already.
As if he could read my mind, River’s arms came around me. One arm welding me to his chest and one hand over my mouth, pressing my head into the crook of his neck. His tousled hair tickled my cheeks as once again his lips were at my ear.
“Are you fucking insane?” He whispered furiously into my ear. “You don’t even know if they’ll be captured or not. For all you know, they’re halfway back to the QZ by now. You’re going to throw your life away on empty threats?”
I turned my head to look into his eyes and found them blazing a hole through mine, fiery anger burning bright. He wrenched my face back away so he could speak into my ear again.
“Sit fucking still, don’t fucking make a sound and don’t fucking do anything stupid.” He growled. “If I have to sit here and restrain you until those shit heads tire themselves out and give up, I will. Your boyfriends will be fine, it’s you they want. If they catch them and bring them here, then we’ll reassess the plan, but until then, just chill the fuck out.”
My body went limp. My mind overflowed with visions of all the ways this could go terribly wrong. This was supposed to be a trial run. It was supposed to be simple and smooth. In and out. We’d been here less than an hour. How could shit have gone sideways so fast? River and I may have been complete strangers and he may only have his arms wrapped around me to keep me from doing something dumb. Still, it was the only thing holding me together right now.