Chapter 45
The waiting game was the hardest part as they moved quietly around to the front of the building.
Right away, she saw two guards sitting on the steps.
Veronica wasn’t going to be the type of leader who bossed her men around and didn’t take action.
Crouching, she set her weapon on the ground and carefully moved forward.
Her arm was around the first man’s neck before he saw what was happening.
As the second man leaped to his feet, though, Darrell was behind him in an instant with his arm in an identical chokehold to the one Veronica was using.
As soon as both of the men were unconscious, her companions came forward and quickly bound their wrists and ankles.
They were dragged away from the main steps and quickly searched by their remaining two companions, waiting for the next wave of prisoners.
They didn’t have to be left in suspense long as she heard screams from inside moving closer to the door and saw smoke billowing out from the cracked-open windows.
It was truly a putrid stench. Suddenly, the front doors burst open, and men started to emerge.
She tackled one to the ground, binding his wrists as he struggled against her.
The others in her party quickly joined in, taking down the blinded men one by one until only their party was left standing.
As she looked around at the chaos, Veronica realized they weren’t alone in their actions.
From out of the residential areas, the locals had emerged to join Veronica and her group to take back control of Starver City.
It only took a few minutes for the entire group of thirty of Markwood’s followers and generals to be completely harmless and hogtied in the center of the courtyard.
A group of locals who continued to grow surrounded the men, but Veronica saw right away that the one she was after, the man who had started all the chaos, was nowhere to be seen.
He had to still be in the building somewhere.
Slipping away from the others, she moved carefully back to the building with her weapon drawn.
The smoke had started to clear, but just to be safe, she pulled a handkerchief over her nose and mouth as well.
It was completely silent inside, with only the sounds of the locals cheering outside filtering into the compound.
She squinted to try to see ahead of her through the painful stinging of the smoke, but it wasn’t doing much good.
Suddenly, before she could react, she felt a hand wrapping around her neck from behind.
Veronica tried to scream, but it was no use.
He had a greasy hand covering her mouth as well.
From the barreled belly pressing against her back, Veronica knew it was Markwood himself.
He removed the hand from over her lips long enough to grab a pistol from somewhere on his person and shove it into her side.
“Now you listen to me, you little bitch. We are going to go for a walk, and I don’t want any funny business, do you hear me? If you so much as blink the wrong way, I’m going to give you another hole to breathe out of,” Carl hissed.
“You will never get away with this. You have to know. My men have already taken back the city. You are fighting a losing battle,” Veronica shot back.
“You think so, sugar? Well, as far as I can tell, I’m the one with the gun and you’re my ticket out of here. These terrified little towns are a dime a dozen. I’ll just pick a new one and get better men and come back for you,” he said.
Veronica scoffed. “Are you deaf or really just that stupid? Did you not hear me? They aren’t going to let you leave here, even if you do kill me. This isn’t my fight; I don’t matter to those people at all.”
“Fine then, you can just be a shield for all I care.”
He shoved her violently forward without warning, sending Veronica stumbling nearly to her knees.
She wasn’t about to give up so easily . Instead of catching herself, she let herself fall and pretended to be injured for a minute.
When he grabbed hold of her a second time, Veronica was ready.
With lightning-fast reflexes, she snatched the knife stashed in her boot and slashed upward, catching his gut and chin in the process.
The gun went off, barely missing her cheek as she darted out of the way.
The man lunged for her, but Veronica was faster than he was.
She was able to quickly move out of his way and get the upper hand.
As she wrapped her arm around his neck, she held tight and waited for him to go down, but he had more strength than she had anticipated.
Instantly, he was back on his feet, slamming her against a wall with enough force that she let go and gasped for air.
Veronica knew she wasn’t going to have another opportunity to take the man down.
As he lunged for her one final time, she quickly ducked to the side and drove the knife into his chest with all of her force.
A strange gurgling noise came from his lips as he dropped to the ground.
At that same moment, Darrell and the others burst into the building.
Taking in the scene in front of them, Darrell quickly ran to Veronica and pulled her into his arms. Never before had she been so relieved to see someone.
Her chest felt like it was on fire, but at least she knew it was finally over.
The nightmare had come to an end. Now, they could rebuild and start truly living their lives and preparing for the future.
As they emerged from the building and the city dwellers gathered to cheer, Veronica knew it was time they started living again.
Nothing was going to hold them back now.
She couldn’t wait to see what they were able to make of themselves without Markwood and his men controlling their every move.
Wrapping her hand into Darrell’s, she smiled up at him and waved to the crowd with her free hand.
Together, she knew they could conquer anything that came their way.