Chapter 26 #2
Beyond the guards are half a dozen people, all wearing rags and covered in dirt as they work tirelessly on a field, planting seeds within divots made by others with hoes.
They’re all in various stages of starvation with gaunt faces and skeletal arms. One worker collapses into the dirt, the seeds in their palm spilling into the surrounding earth.
No one around them reacts, their focus on their work, but the guards notice.
“Hey, get back to work!” one of them shouts as they march toward the prone worker and kicks them with a worn boot.
The worker doesn’t react, and my stomach clenches with dread.
“You lazy fucker,” the guard growls as they kick the worker again, harder this time.
But the worker still doesn’t move. My dread turns to nausea and a sense of helplessness washes over me. All I can do is watch while the guard abuses the poor man.
“Fuck this.” The guard slides his knife from his belt and crouches, intending to kill the worker.
However, before he can, a new man bursts from nowhere and tackles the guard.
The guard shouts out as the two fall to the ground and the sound of fists slamming into flesh echoes around the field as the new man beats the shit out of the guard.
But just as quickly as the fight starts, it ends when several more guards rush over and pull the man off the guard. He fights against the guards, his greasy brown hair obscuring his face, until one guard yanks his head back.
My hands fly to my mouth to muffle my gasp of horror.
Tobias’s emerald green eyes peek out from beneath a dirt-covered face that looks more haggard than it did the last time I saw him, almost two weeks ago.
A bruise mars the side of his face and one of his eyes looks more swollen than the other.
More bruises and cuts on his chest peek from beneath his ragged clothes.
Tears sting my eyes and I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry at the sight of him.
Probably both. While I’m relieved to see him still alive, I hate that he’s here, in this awful place and in this state.
He looks like he’s been in multiple fights and with how quickly he jumped to that poor man’s defence, I’m not surprised.
“Fuck, Toby,” I whisper as I watch my brother get dragged away, still fighting and cursing. Without thinking, I step forward.
Hands grab me and pull me back against a strong, hard chest. “Ollie.” I can hear the concern and horror in Alex’s voice. “You can’t save him, not yet.”
Objectively, I know that. But fuck, does it hurt watching the one person in my life who’s always been there get dragged away so they can do God-knows-what to him. I feel sick standing here, helpless.
“I know, sweetheart, I know,” Alex murmurs in my ear before brushing a soft kiss to my temple. “We’ll get him out, I promise.”
“What if we can’t?” I say, my heart in my throat.
It’s a fear I’ve had ever since I learned Tobias got taken, but been too terrified to speak aloud.
Like saying those words will somehow make that horrible thing happen, even though I’m well aware that awful shit happens regardless of what I say or do.
“We will.” He sounds so sure and confident that I want to believe him, even though I know he’s talking out of his ass.
“Come on, we need to move on before we’re spotted.
” He presses one more kiss to my hair before releasing me and stepping back.
“The more information we get today, the better prepared we’ll be for when we come to save them. ”
Alex’s words give me something to focus on, a way to help my brother even if I can’t save him from the hell he’s trapped in.
I suck in a deep breath and pull myself together, just like I have a thousand times before.
Feeling a little more in control, I nod at Alex and he leads the way through the forest.
We stop several more times, counting guards and their weaponry.
Most guards are wielding some kind of bat, golf club or knife while a few have access to shotguns.
There’s even a few wielding pistols similar to what the guys have, and every single guard sitting in the watchtower has a rifle.
But even with that, the number of firearms overall is low.
They still outnumber us five to one, just like we suspected, but maybe Rhys has an idea on how to even the odds.
It’s midafternoon by the time Alex decides we’ve scouted enough and should head back. We pick our way out of overgrown woodland and back into the dilapidated housing estate. However, as we move down a narrow side street, a sound catches my attention.
I stop and ready an arrow, everything in me screaming that we’re no longer alone. My heart thumps erratically against my ribs as panic and dread squeeze my chest like a vise.
I hear it again, the sound of a shoe scuffling against the pavement. A zombie?
“Ollie?” Alex frowns at me, having stopped several paces ahead of me.
I incline my head toward the mouth of the side street where I heard the sound, but stay quiet as I strain my ears. The housing estate is almost eerily quiet, like the place is holding its breath, waiting for something to happen.
And then I hear it. A metallic click that sounds like someone flicking off the safety of a gun.
Fuck. Not a zombie.
Alex curses, but before he can reach for his pistol, another click sounds behind us, at the other end of the street. It’s then that I understand our situation in horrifying clarity.
We’re surrounded, and there’s nowhere to run.