Chapter Twenty-Nine
––––––––
AMAROS AND CAMRIEL were gone when Zoe woke up the next morning. She’d heard them quietly getting up and driving away in the tank an hour ago. Amaros had left a note on the floor just outside her room. She was reading it when Grace woke up.
“Where are the knights?” she asked sleepily, sensing their absence immediately.
“They’ve gone to town in search of supplies,” Zoe said. “They want to fix the roof before another storm hits us.”
Grace unzipped her sleeping bag, looking adorable in her shorts, tights and oversized t-shirt. “Brr,” she said with a shiver and quickly pulled on a sweater. “I wish we had central heating.”
“We can search for some firewood and use the fireplace in the kitchen,” Zoe suggested.
They scoffed down a quick breakfast of cold venison and water, then headed to the woods. Bringing back armfuls of broken branches, they moved the grill out of the way, then piled some of the wood inside the fireplace. They stacked more against the wall nearby.
“Stand back,” Grace warned Zoe, then struck a match from the box she’d pilfered from the sporting goods store. Zoe kept her distance as she cautiously crouched down and set some twigs on fire. The branches began to burn after a couple of minutes.
“We’ll have to stay close to it to stay warm, but it’s better than nothing,” Zoe said in approval. The smoke was being sucked up through the chimney, so it was working properly. They would be able to relight it easily enough. She hoped the rest of the chimneys would work this well.
“What do you want to do now?” the teen asked, standing up and brushing her hands on her shorts.
“How about some target practice?” Zoe asked. “Maybe we’ll turn out to be naturals and the guys won’t have to teach us.”
Grace gave her a skeptical look. “They’ve never used guns before either,” she said as they headed to their temporary bedroom to grab their pistols.
“They were created to be warriors,” Zoe reminded her, then picked her gun up off the floor. “They’ll be able to use any type of weapons they come across,” she figured.
After a quick search, they found the targets they’d pilfered and grabbed spare ammo, then headed outside.
“Where should we set up our range?” Grace asked.
Zoe looked around the open area in front of the building. “Not here,” she decided. “I’d rather head higher up the mountain and find a spot. We need somewhere far enough away that we won’t scare away all the wildlife.”
“That looks like an old animal track,” Grace said, pointing at a narrow trail off to the right.
“Let’s see where it goes,” Zoe said and took the lead. She’d shoved the ammo, water and snacks into a backpack. Hefting the backpack over her shoulder, she began to climb the trail.
“It’s a lot steeper than it looked from down there,” Grace said after they’d been ascending for twenty minutes.
“I think I can see the top,” Zoe replied. They could move a lot faster than normal humans and swiftly climbed to the top of the peak. “Wow,” she said in wonder when the trail ended and she got a load of the view.
“What is it?” her young friend asked. Zoe waited for her to reach the top, then turned her around. “It’s amazing,” Grace said in wonder.
They had a view of the woods that hid their base as well as the town far below. “I can see the guys,” Zoe said, spying the black truck in town. “It looks like they’ve found another truck.” A smaller red vehicle had just pulled up behind the tank.
“The trucks look like ants from up here,” Grace said in amusement. “We’ve probably got a couple of hours to practice before they’ll return. I’d like to at least be able to shoot somewhere close to the targets by the time they find us up here.”
“Me, too,” Zoe agreed with a rueful grin.
The top of the mountain had a relatively flat area about a hundred yards across. They leaned a couple of cardboard targets against some rocks, wedging them in place with heavy stones.
“How far away should we stand?” Grace asked. She was holding her gun awkwardly, with the barrel pointing at the ground.
“Maybe twenty feet?” Zoe said uncertainly.
“You go first,” Grace said, unwilling to be the first to embarrass herself.
“Don’t laugh,” Zoe warned her without any heat.
They trudged twenty feet away from the targets and turned towards them. Choosing the one on the left, Zoe flicked the safety off, pointed at the bullseye and pulled the trigger. Her arms jerked and they both let out a screech at the noise.
“We forgot the earplugs,” Grace said ruefully.
“We’re idiots,” Zoe groaned, then trotted over to her backpack. She fished earplugs out and tossed one of the packets to the kid. Inspecting her target, her shoulders slumped. “I missed it,” she said dejectedly.
“We can’t expect to be experts on our first try,” Grace said. “I’ll be just as bad,” she predicted.
Inserting the earplugs, Zoe moved to stand behind her. Grace stood with her feet apart and both hands gripping the gun hard. She flicked the safety off and fired, letting out a whoop of joy.
“You missed,” Zoe said in commiseration.
“Yeah, but this is way more fun than I expected,” she said in jubilation. “I’m glad the guys aren’t here to see how badly we suck.”
They snickered, then buckled down to learn how to shoot with at least some degree of competency.
Two hours later, Zoe sensed they had company. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Amaros and Camriel who were approaching their shooting range. “Can you feel that?” she whispered to Grace as they took their earplugs out.
“Yeah,” she replied quietly. “Humans. Four of them. They’re trying to flank us.”
They moved closer together to strategize. “We could make a run for it,” Zoe said, glancing at the trail. “We can be gone before they even see us.”
“They’ll just follow our trail to our base,” Grace figured. “What if they’re not evil? They might have gray souls rather than black. Maybe they’re just looking for help.”
They both knew that was unlikely, but it was a slim possibility.
“Let’s listen to their chatter,” Zoe said.
Falling silent, they picked up snatches of whispers in between gusts of wind.
“...kill any men and take the women...”
“...strip them of whatever gear they have and take it back to the hotel...”
“I hope they’re teenagers. I like them young.”
That last sentence was complete and they shared a bleak look.
“Okay, their souls are black,” Grace said. “What’s our plan? We can’t shoot them from a distance, since we both have crappy aim.”
Even after so much practice, they’d barely hit their targets.
“How’s your aim with rocks?” Zoe asked speculatively, then bent down to pick up a stone.
“A lot better than it is with guns,” Grace said with a grin.
They quickly stuffed a bunch of rocks into their pockets, then turned back-to-back to face the men who’d just reached the summit. They’d split into pairs, just as Grace had said. One man from each pair cautiously peered around large boulders to stare at them.
“The small one is mine,” the same man who’d said he liked them young whispered. In his forties, he had a shaggy beard and questionable hygiene.
“I’ll get that one,” Grace said flatly. “I’ll take those two down, you take the others.”
Neither of them had much combat experience, but they weren’t about to let these twisted freaks take them anywhere.