Chapter Twenty-Six
My heart pounded an unsteady rhythm against my chest as I struggled to decide what to do. Part of my brain screamed at me to turn tail and run. But I had already risked it to come here and I wasn’t leaving until I saw what was inside those locked rooms.
Taking a shaky step forward, I stopped when a hard chest pressed against my back. I recognized Warner’s presence before he even spoke.
“Nothing to see here, folks. Everyone get back to work.”
To my surprise, everyone listened, quickly tilting their heads until they were staring back at their screens. Rushing forward toward the door at the back of the room, Warner’s steps sounded behind me. The two of us raced down the stairs, and I was happy to see no one in the area.
Finally glancing at Warner, I saw the pistol in his hand and my eyes gaped. “You’ve had that this entire time?”
“No time for questions, babe. Get whatever you came in here for.” He nudged my body forward and my eyes fell to my room on their own accord.
Memories from last night came flashing back, my body tightening, until Warner ran a warm hand down my arm, caressing the bandaged skin.
“Ignore it for now. You can fall apart later.”
Shaking my head, I broke the trance, jogging toward the nearest door with a padlock. And then I realized I didn’t have a fucking key and this entire plan had been useless. Thankfully, I had a better prepared man at my side.
“Cover your ears.”
Doing as he said, I placed my hands tightly over my ears, the sound of the gun echoing in the small area. Warner repeated the process on the other two locks, all three doors now available to us. Without waiting another second, I pushed inside the first door and everything seemed worth it when I spotted the stacks of files. I knew there was information in here. Unfortunately, there was definitely not enough time to sort through any of it.
“Grab as much as you can and let’s get the hell out of here,” I tossed over my shoulder, striding into the room and grabbing as many files as I could. I shoved numerous papers into the bag I held, crushing the flowers Stephanie and Lucas had gathered, but hopefully they’d forgive me once they saw their parents.
Once the bag was full, I grabbed a few more stacks in my arms, running back out of the room to see Warner laden down with his own stack. He raised a brow, asking if I was ready, and I nodded. We raced up the stairs, Warner holding the papers under one arm while he held the gun in his other.
No one bothered to stop us as we raced back out, the threat of the weapon enough to keep them seated. A head of blonde hair caught my attention and I noticed the doctor who had stitched me up from last night. She nodded as our eyes met, a silent display of encouragement, and my feet pounded faster as I followed Warner out of the building.
The fire was still blazing throughout the camp, much larger than I anticipated, flames licking up toward the sky. I prepared to turn toward the back of the camp, but Warner continued to stride forward, toward the front of the camp.
“What are you doing? We need to sneak out the back,” I shouted, forgoing any sense of keeping our movements a secret.
“There isn’t enough time. We’re going to have to fight our way out of this one, Alessia.”
Charging forward, we reached the front gate, where three armed guards stood. Obviously, whoever was in charge of controlling the fire had instructed them to stay. Their heads turned in unison at the sound of our thudding feet, but before any of them could blink, three bullets sprang from Warner’s gun, meeting their intended marks.
All three of them fell to the ground instantly, blood pooling around their heads. The sight was strange, reminding me of the bodies in our clearing in the woods. But when I had seen those bodies, I had been sick. Now, all I felt was relief.
Warner and I stepped over their bodies, running as fast as we could. His legs easily could have outrun mine, but he kept my pace, refusing to leave me behind. My eyes didn’t leave the street in front of us, knowing that freedom was only several feet away.
With a few more steps, Warner was pulling my body around the corner of a burned building, holding me close to his chest. He peeked around the corner, most likely to confirm we weren’t being followed, and then he sighed. Leaning his body against the black wood, he met my gaze.
“You said you’d leave us behind if we messed up the plan,” I told him, my voice rough as I tried to regain my breath.
“What can I say? I’m a fickle man.” That he was. And he was also the man who had saved me.
Something sparked between us, the friction between us akin to the friction as I created the fire, but Warner shook it off before I could decipher what it was.
“We need to keep moving. They’ll notice you’re gone soon. And we need to find the other three.”
Nodding, I started walking beside Warner, creeping between the buildings of the town. The adrenaline was wearing off and the pain in my thighs was bordering on unbearable, but I trudged on, knowing we needed to get into the woods.
It felt like we had walked for miles when I finally spotted the edge of the woods and standing there were my brother and the twins. The second we came into view, Aiden’s shoulders slumped and the twins let go of his hands, rushing forward.
I gathered the two into a hug, holding tight. We had done it. I had done it. I was going to get them back home.
“Where to now?” Warner asked, leaning against a tree on the edge of the street.
I realized he was talking to me; I was the one who had said I knew a safe place in the woods. But I was no expert and I suddenly realized the likelihood of us finding our camp was slimmer than the odds of escaping.
“Into the woods,” I said, knowing it was absolutely nothing to go on, but it was the best I had.
***
“Alessia, do you know where you’re going?” Aiden asked, and I didn’t respond.
Between him and Warner, they had asked that question at least fifty times in the past few hours. And every time, I stayed silent. Because the truth was, no, I had no clue where I was going. But the deeper into the woods we went, the less likely we’d be found.
I knew the general vicinity we were in and I knew we needed to keep walking further north. Too bad I wasn’t entirely sure which way north was, but I thought we were going in the right direction.
The three of us had decided it wasn’t worth stopping for the night, no matter how exhausted we became. The twins had given up walking an hour ago, but both men had one of them slung over their shoulders, letting their small legs rest.
My body was begging for a break, my legs buckling beneath me every few steps, but I knew we couldn’t stop. Vex and his men could be following us at this moment. If we stopped, they could catch up.
Our trek continued for miles and miles until suddenly, even in the dark, I recognized the area. Holding up a hand, I had the others pause, listening to the quiet of our surroundings. In the background, I heard the familiar rushing of a creek and I wondered if I had truly gotten this lucky.
Putting more strength into my steps, I rushed forward, halting when I spotted the familiar clearing I had spent four months in. The area was empty, not that I was surprised, but I would have been blind to not recognize it.
Our firepit still sat in the middle of the area, the remaining ashes black against the wood. Warner and Aiden approached at my back, setting the twins on the ground gently, and looking around.
“Do you know this place?” Aiden asked, coming to stand at my side.
Nodding, tears pricked my eyes as the memories flooded me. It had only been a few weeks, so why did it feel like a lifetime ago?
“This was home.”
***
We all decided to rest for a few hours in the clearing. The twins were dead asleep, too tired to wake, and my body was giving out. However, none of us could actually sleep, instead taking the opportunity to rest our sore muscles.
Warner clenched the gun in his hand, eyes scanning the area in case someone came upon us.
“Where’d you get the gun?” I asked quietly, not wanting to disturb the peace of the woods.
“Grabbed it off a sleeping guard last night. Figured it’d come in handy today.”
Of course he had. It seemed Warner was always a step ahead of everyone else and it made me wonder about his life before all of this.
“We’re going to need food at some point,” Aiden added a few moments later.
My body protested, but I struggled to my feet anyway. I knew we should leave the area soon and, for now, I couldn’t just sit around and do nothing. Luckily, I knew there were fruit and nut trees nearby.
Walking to the perimeter of the clearing, I allowed the moonlight to guide my way toward the familiar trees. As I picked some food for us to snack on, I wondered about our next steps. Now that we had found the clearing, I knew the general area where we had walked to the next camp.
But even as the thought came, I realized they most likely weren’t there. After we were taken, Rainer must have moved the group somewhere safer. I had firsthand knowledge that he wasn’t one to stay in place after someone knew where we were.
Frustrated, I started walking back toward the others with an armful of food, keeping my eyes trained on the ground so I wouldn’t trip over a root. I was nearly back when a cluster of hazelnuts caught my attention.
There was a solid handful, pushed together in a perfect circle. There was no way that they would have fallen to the ground in that manner. My mind raced, thinking of Mina, who loved trees. Who had taught me about these hazelnuts.
Holy shit, was this a sign? Had they come back here and led a way to their new camp, just in case? I nearly dropped the fruit and nuts I had gathered in my hurry back to the clearing, a new energy coursing through my veins.
The sound of my steps must have worried Warner and Aiden because they were both standing alert when I made it back. Thrusting the food into their waiting hands, I couldn’t contain my giddy smile.
“I know where to go,” I told them, nearly bouncing on my toes with excitement.
“Fucking finally,” Warner said around a handful of berries and I rolled my eyes at his dramatics.
Obviously, I hadn’t been doing a good job of pretending I knew where we were. But now I did. The second the sun crested the horizon, we’d be on our way back to home.