Chapter Ten
Idon’t know what woke me from sleep, but my eyes snapped open, sensing something. Trying not to make any noticeable movements, I curled onto my side, keeping my eyes closed. After a few moments of silence, I peeked one eye open, wondering if someone had woken and was twiddling around to try to pass the time before sunrise.
From what I could see, everyone was still asleep. Mina and Sasha were curled together a few feet from me while Rainer and Murphy were across the fire, flat on their backs. I couldn’t see Emmanuel, Elizabeth, or the twins, but I didn’t hear the telltale sign of fishing gear being gathered, something Emmanuel enjoyed doing when he woke too early.
Wondering if the paranoia Rainer had insinuated was setting in, I closed my eyes once more when I heard the distinct sound of branches crunching under shoes. Snapping my eyes open once more, I easily spotted three shadows creeping into the clearing. It was too dark to make out anything more than their shapes, the fire extinguished hours ago.
My heart started beating quickly in my chest, my mind going a mile an hour as I tried to formulate a plan. I was too far away from Murphy and Rainer to draw their attention without also drawing the attention of the intruders. But they were the only ones armed.
Watching their stealthy movements, I realized these people knew what they were doing. Besides the crunch of leaves and sticks beneath their feet, they moved with silence, calculated in their steps. I couldn’t tell if they were scanning the camp, but when they moved out of view, closer to the twins and their parents, their steps stopped.
Holding my breath, I rotated once more, keeping my eyes closed. Seconds passed without any steps coming in my direction and I peered through slanted lids once more.
Stephanie was curled up in her mother’s arms, but Lucas was slightly off to the side and I watched in horror as one of the figures reached into his waistband as he stepped closer to the small body.
Adrenaline pumped through my veins as I realized I needed to do something. I couldn’t lie here in silence, not when it seemed I was the only one aware of what was going on. Through the darkness, I couldn’t tell if any eyes were on me, but it seemed all the figures were faced in the opposite direction, their gazes firmly planted on the small family.
Taking a deep, silent breath, I rolled onto my stomach, crawling toward the fire. I paused every few inches, hoping to avoid their detection, until I was next to the cooled embers. My hand searched the ground blindly until a sharp point nicked my finger.
I bit back a curse at the sharp blade, smoothing my hand down until the hilt of the hunting knife we used to skin the animals and fish we caught was in my palm. Gripping the knife in my hand, I continued my crawl inch by inch. The figures were blind to my movements, seeming to speak to each other in hushed whispers and focused intently on the children before them.
My breaths became heavier the closer I came, fear begging me to halt my movements. Quickly, I glanced toward Murphy and Rainer’s still forms, wishing they would wake and become aware of their surroundings. I needed one of them.
My quick glance was too long and I yelped quietly when a rough hand gripped the back of my shirt, pulling me to my feet. Memories from last week when I was held in this same position rushed through me, but instead of a cool blade pressed against my throat, there was the unmistakable barrel of a gun pressed against the side of my head.
“What do we have here?” A rough voice clucked against the back of my neck.
Squeezing my eyes shut to gather whatever courage I had left, I peeled them back open to stare at the two other intruders in front of me. Closer to them and with the slight shine of moonlight, I recognized their uniformed bodies as similar to the uniformed men from the night prior.
Gulping, I realized I was in much further over my head than I had initially realized. These weren’t the Matthew’s and Brett’s of the world, wanting food and supplies to survive. These were men that were here to capture us.
My fight-or-flight instinct kicked in once again and my fist squeezed around the hilt of the knife, but it felt flimsy in my hand in comparison to the gun pressed against my temple. What use was a knife when one pull of the trigger would end my life quicker than I could raise my hand?
But fuck, I couldn’t let them take any of us. Especially the twins. Once more, my gaze landed on the other side of the fire, but this time a pair of what I knew were dark blue eyes met mine. I shouldn’t have been surprised that it would be Rainer yet again to save my ass.
A short and subtle nod was all Rainer gave me, and I tried to decide what it meant. Did he want me to stay still while he formulated a plan? Did he want me to make a noise to alert the others? Sure, these three had guns. But so did two of ours. And three against seven didn’t seem like a fair fight, even when they were all armed.
Rainer still hadn’t moved from his spot, and I decided I couldn’t wait around to figure it out. The more I thought, the more I decided that waking the others was the best course of action. These men knew they were outnumbered, hence why they had been so silent in their approach. They didn’t want to wake the rest of us, their goal was the twins, even if I didn’t know why.
Without thinking too hard on the decision, I lifted the knife in my hand and blindly stabbed behind me with all my strength. Immediately, the man’s hand on my back loosened, and I took the opportunity to pull away and duck.
“Fuck!” The man screamed in pain right before the echoing of the gun sounded in my ears. I was too close to the sound, my ears ringing painfully, but I didn’t feel pain anywhere else. I had ducked quick enough to avoid the trajectory of the bullet.
The yell and gunshot together were loud enough to wake someone miles away in the silence of the forest and immediately, everyone snapped to attention. Emmanuel was the closest to the others and with keen eyes, he took in the scene faster than I ever could.
His eyes landed on his son’s body, too close for comfort to the armed men. Immediately, he jumped into action, lithe on his feet in a way I hadn’t anticipated from the gruff old man. Unfortunately, he wasn’t fast enough and before he could make it two feet, the blunt end of a gun was raised over his head and swung down.
His body wobbled for a moment before falling to the dirt beneath him. Elizabeth yelped in horror, pulling Stephanie’s body behind her back as she stared up at the armed men. Lucas was still near the intruders, and his young mind was too slow to gather what was happening as he rubbed sleep from his eyes.
“Alessia, move!” Rainer’s hard voice yelled through the clearing and I realized I had been standing still, too shocked to move.
Thankfully, his command had my body moving just in time before another gunshot rang out behind me. Rainer raised his hand and let off another shot. Turning my head, I watched as the man who had grabbed me fell to the ground. The darkness protected me from seeing anything else, and I was thankful. I don’t think I could handle watching what I knew would be blood pouring from the man’s chest.
Murphy was up on his feet, standing beside Rainer, as the two of them approached the remaining men. As they passed me, Murphy gently laid a hand on my stomach, pushing me behind the two.
“Stay back,” he whispered, and I didn’t need to be told twice.
My feet took me backwards, nearly tripping over myself, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the standoff in front of me, not until I knew we were all safe.
Small hands grabbed my shoulders and I turned briefly to see Mina holding onto me, fear in her bright gaze. Sasha was at my side and she gripped both Mina and me, pulling us backward and further away.
“Don’t take another step,” one of the intruders instructed, and Rainer and Murphy stopped immediately.
I couldn’t see around the two of them, but when Elizabeth yelped once again, covering her mouth in dread, I had a sick feeling that the men had grabbed an unsuspecting Lucas.
“We mean no harm. We’re here to gather everyone and take them to the camps in town. There’s shelter and food and safety.”
A chuckle left Rainer’s mouth, but there was no humor. The sound was dark and detailed everything he thought of the man’s words.
“You need guns to bring us to safety?” Murphy asked, his voice more threatening than I had ever heard before.
“We aren’t the ones who killed someone,” a different voice said and my gaze bounced to the all too still man on the ground.
A groan filled the clearing and Emmanuel finally came back to, standing up behind Elizabeth. Grabbing onto Stephanie, he pushed her behind him before doing the same to Elizabeth.
“Let go of my son,” he grunted, and Murphy and Rainer took that moment to move a few steps closer to the intruders.
“If you could all gather your things, we can all be on our way with no more trouble.”
“Highly unlikely,” Rainer bit out.
In tandem, as if they had done this before, Murphy and Rainer moved swiftly toward the intruders. They were simply shadows as they moved, my eyes adjusting slightly to the night, but still not enough to see what was happening or who had the upper hand.
Gunshots rang throughout the sky, Mina’s soft cries hitting my ears as Sasha continued to hold on to both of us firmly. Hours seemed to pass as the scuffle broke out, but I knew it could have only been minutes.
Finally, the loud ringing of shots stopped and two more bodies laid on the ground, motionless. A deep breath of relief left me when I recognized the two forms still standing. We were all safe.
Scrambling out of Sasha’s grip, I ran over to the other side of the clearing, taking in everyone. Stephanie was sobbing into her mother’s shoulder, and Elizabeth ran a soothing hand up and down her back. Thankfully, both of them seemed fine, although I knew this terror would stay with Stephanie for the rest of her life.
Emmanuel had a large bump on his head and from the way he was swaying on his feet, I knew he had a concussion. My eyes fell to Lucas next, his small body trembling. Quickly, I scanned him from head to toe, thankful when there didn’t seem to be any injuries except for a few red marks on his arms. Most likely, those would turn to bruises.
Finally, I looked to Murphy and Rainer. Blood was dripping from Murphy’s lip, but overall, there didn’t seem to be any dangerous injuries. Rainer was a different story. The left sleeve of his threadbare gray t-shirt was darker than the rest and when I leaned in closer, I saw the trails of blood seeping down his arm. Without asking, I lifted the sleeve and saw the bullet burrowed deep into his skin. He winced as I touched the skin around the wound.
Years of school and training kicked in at that moment and I rushed to the log near the fire that I stored the first aid supplies under. We didn’t have much but we hadn’t needed to use any since my last tally.
Making my way back toward the others, I directed Emmanuel, Murphy, and Lucas to sit down. They had injuries, but they could wait until I dealt with Rainer.
“I need you to sit down,” I told him and gestured toward the ground. “You’re losing blood and I don’t need you passing out.”
Rainer listened, but he looked at me with confusion. “What are you going to do?”
“You can do everything else out here, but I can do this. Now be quiet so I can focus.”
Thankfully, Rainer closed his mouth, allowing me the focus I needed. The sun wouldn’t be up for a few more hours, but this wound couldn’t wait that long. Given that, I could barely see what I was working with. But even though I had never trained for something like this, I couldn’t fight the surge of pride as I rolled Rainer’s sleeve above his shoulder. For the first time, I was no longer worthless out here. And I was going to hold on to that fact for as long as I could.