34. Chapter 34
Glenda
Random shots were still popping off as we crept through the edge of the woods. We didn’t want to walk down the driveway in case anyone was lurking around.
We walked through the tree cover, trying to move quickly but not make too much sound. Still, if one of us stepped on a branch or pile of crinkling leaves, we kept moving. We made it to the end of the driveway that opened into what used to be a parking lot.
It was covered in sandy dirt, and weeds peeked through broken concrete. We hunched down, each behind a tree, although the thin pines didn’t provide much room to hide.
I didn’t see anyone outside of the buildings. They were both concrete and one-story. They probably used to be white, but as the clouds moved and the moonlight beamed down, mold and dirt had accumulated at the corners and where they met the ground.
“What is this place?” I whispered. There was a spot for a sign, but it had been removed.
Allie shook her head, her voice quiet. “Not sure. And I don’t know which one to check first.”
One was off to the side with a truck bay, the other had double doors in the front. “That one over there is probably a warehouse. It’s all open I’d bet. The one in the front probably has rooms.”
“Easier to hide. Let’s start there.” She looked over, her dark ponytail swaying as she stood. “You good?”
I stood up and looked around once more. “I’m good. The coast is clear. Are we going in hot or should we pretend to be bunnies?”
Her brows shot up. “Depends on if they shoot first I guess, but we’re taking ‘em out anyway–right?”
“I suppose so.” I’d only ever had to open fire when our battalion came under fire during a move. The insurgents underestimated our numbers and the fight was over fast. “We can act like bunnies until we make it inside in case anyone notices us moving across.”
“So strut over with our tits out?”
I waved her off. “I think walking casually will suffice. Plus, we need our shirts for cover.” At this point I was more worried about her than me.
I didn’t know how much powder she’d had all day, but she looked ready to tell these dudes to say hello to her little friend.
And bravery was sometimes confused with stupidity.
But we came this far, and we knew Leigh was in one of those buildings.
I tucked both hands into my oversized hoodie pocket, holding a gun in each hand. “Coast is clear.”
We stepped onto the driveway and started walking towards the building like we were meant to be there. The shots had slowed, but there was still occasional yelling and shots.
My heart hammered inside my chest as we walked to the door. My head was on a swivel, making sure we made it to the door without being spotted. The closer we got, the harder it pumped. Loose gravel crunched as we walked, but we made it without any interference.
The doors were glass. If anyone was on the other side, they’d already seen us coming, so I grabbed the handle and pulled it. Allie walked in and I followed. We entered like we were going shopping or grabbing a bite to eat.
We weren’t met by anyone once inside but as we walked down the hall, we had to step over a body that fell across the floor. The walls were concrete brick painted white. The inside hadn’t been weathered like the outside. Some of the doors were open and held desks and old office supplies.
The echo of boots running slapped down the hall, so I grabbed Allie’s shirt and pulled her into a room, quickly but quietly pushing the door closed just enough to hide behind it without shutting it completely. None of the doors so far were fully closed, so it would’ve been too obvious.
I waited on the other side of the door, and when the sound got quieter, I blew out the breath I was holding.
Allie whispered, “Old print company. Must be abandoned. These are dated like twenty something years ago.” She shuffled through a few stacks on the desk.
“Perfect place to hide. Nobody’s probably been out here for a long time.” I ran a finger over the arm of a chair, noting the dust. Running my sleeve over the spot, I told her, “We need to stop touching everything.”
“Right. I’ll get the doorknob. We need to make sure to get the front door on the way out.”
Still looking around the room, I said, “I used my sleeve. We should be good.”
“Smart girl.” She reached out of the door and muttered, “Shit.”
I froze as a man I didn’t recognize walked inside; Allie, terrified, walked backwards at the sight of him.
He had on a cut, and his dark hair hung loosely to his jaw.
He had a huge scar over his face, like someone cut from his temple downwards without sewing him back up.
Or maybe it was a burn? He had light piercing eyes and his mouth was curled into a snarl.
As Allie turned slightly, he had a gun aimed right at her chest.
His eyes were on her, so I pulled both guns from my pocket. In a flash, I used one to shoot his hand first, with the other getting him right in the ear. Allie flinched at the pops, but relaxed once he crumpled to the ground.
“I can’t believe I froze,” she said.
“He caught you off guard. You did the right thing. But if anyone else is around, they’re onto us now. Grab his gun. We may need it.”
She grabbed the gun that was next to him on the ground and I grabbed his ankles, pulling him further into the room. Poking my head outside slowly, I looked around and listened. Waving her behind me, I darted from the room.
The further through the building we got, the more bodies we had to step over.
“Wait.” I paused. “Why the fuck are we sneaking around?”
Allie tucked that guy's gun into her pants and pulled out the ones that came from her stash. “That’s what I’m talking about. We need to ambush them.”
More shots rang out down one of the hallways and I was about to run in that direction, then heard muffled shouting. “Fucking kill me and be done with it!” It was Leigh.
Allie’s eyes widened. “That’s him.”
Nodding, I motioned in that direction. We came to a closed door and heard him again, but there was another voice. A woman.
Opening the door without another thought, I braced myself, both guns at the ready.
Two men, again wearing Scorpion cuts, stood up and said, “What the fuck?”
But I just marched forward, firing several shots just as they tried to fix their guns on me. They fell to the ground.
The hall was angling down and there was another corner. “There may be more. Look alive.”
We both stopped at the corner. I put the barrel of one of the guns around it, and sure enough, someone fired.
After pulling my hand back, I got down low, hoping to have a few seconds to figure out my next steps.
Allie leaned down and whispered, “I’ll do that up high again. When they shoot, go low.”
Nodding, I readied myself, then said, “Go,” hoping it was low enough for only her to hear.
She put her gun around the corner up high. I looked up at the wall to the right of me to be sure the shots were coming from up high before poking my head around enough to get a look. I had to be sure Leigh wasn’t in the line of fire. Once I confirmed he wasn’t, I took my shot.
The man grunted but didn’t fall.
“Fuck,” I said before I stood and took a better shot, hoping he was distracted enough for me to get it. He held his gut with one hand, and lifted his gun with the other, so I squeezed both triggers. I was a better shot with my dominant hand, but two was better than one.
As he fell, he got a shot off. There was a pinch in my leg, but I kept moving. “C’mon.”
The hall went on an even further incline, but there was a door at the end, and no other people in the hall.
“He’s gotta be in there,” I said.
“Glenda, you’re bleeding.”
Looking down, I shrugged. “I think it just grazed me. I wouldn’t be able to walk if it was stuck in there.
We gotta keep moving.” I could’ve been wrong and adrenaline could’ve made me feel invincible, but I wasn’t stopping to find out.
We were trapped in a hall. If someone came down, it was them or us, and Leigh was on the other side of the door.
“What’s the plan?” Allie asked.
“Whoever’s in there with him knows something happened out here. They’re probably waiting for us.”
“I’ll go first then,” Allie said, turning toward the door.
I grabbed her and said, “What the fuck? I can’t let you get killed for me.”
“I’m not getting killed. Not today, anyway,” she said with a grin. “But you’re a better shot than me, and you have a man. I don’t.”
A man’s voice echoed down the hall. “And whose fuckin’ fault is that? What the fuck are you two doing down here?” Hammer said as he turned the corner.
Allie’s shoulders slouched. “So much for being stealthy.”
Hammer grabbed her arm and got in her face. “Seriously, what the fuck, Allie? You trying to die?”
Her jaw set as she stared up at him. I was about to tell them to break it up when shots rang in the room, pinging the metal door that stood between us and them.
Hammer grabbed us both and pushed us behind him, then flung the door open and ran in. He took a few shots as he did, so I followed–and my breath hitched.
A woman stood behind Leigh with a gun to his temple as he sat cuffed to a shitty metal chair. But that was only part of my shock.
“Lydia?” I asked.
Hammer stood, his gun aimed at her. She winced and I didn’t see any blood, but there was a hole in the shoulder of her jacket.
Leigh’s eyes went wide, but his mouth was a thin line. “Glenda, what are you doing?”
Before I could answer, Lydia said, “Wow. I didn’t expect you to make this so easy.” Her grin was sinister. “Although I planned to kill you first so he could watch, my guess is, if I take any shot, one of you will try to take me out. Decisions, decisions.”
Hammer took a step closer, his gun still high. “What do you want?”
“I hoped for justice, but it’s looking like revenge now.”
My gun was trained on her, too. “Revenge for what? Did one of these guys promise to call you the next day?”
“Oh, look who’s got a smart mouth now,” Lydia said. “Feeling brave with a biker accompanying you? Because you weren’t so chatty before.”
“I don’t need them. In fact, why don’t you leave him alone and come deal with me, bitch.”
Lydia cackled but didn’t lose her focus on the two of us. “If he wasn’t standing there with a gun on me, I’d have no problem. I’m not scared of you. Reggie told me all about you. Weak little Glenda.”
The mention of Reggie made my teeth grind.
“That’s right. I know all about you. You were the one I was looking for, but when I saw him, it became a little game.
I mean, look at him,” Lydia said as she dragged the barrel over his cheek.
“But yeah, Reggie told me all about you. Couldn’t hold your own in the military.
Couldn’t keep him satisfied, so he fucked all the bunnies he could find.
He was so bored with you, he didn’t even care if you fucked anyone else. ”
My chest heaved.
“Apparently that whole club is a fucking joke. So much so that he came to me. We were gonna take over together. Then this fucker killed him.”
Leigh said, “I’d do it again, you crazy bitch.”
Lydia kept her gun on him but rubbed her hand through his hair. “That’s not what you were saying a few minutes ago.”
“That’s a lie,” I said through gritted teeth. “We heard you both, you fucking cunt. Let him go.”
“Or what?”
Suddenly, Allie shouted from behind me, “Or surprise, bitch!”
Lydia’s gun finally moved from Leigh and swung in our direction, so I took my shot. She wailed, but didn’t go down. Hammer had flung himself to Allie, so I rushed toward the chair and took us all down in a pile.
I grabbed her wrist, pressing my thumb into the soft spot as hard as I could. She yelped, the gun falling from her hand. Leigh squirmed and the chair fell away from us.
Climbing onto her, I backhanded her with one pistol, tossing the other away from me. I hit her over and over. She clawed at me with her hands, and her legs flailed, trying to throw me off.
I just kept hitting her–gun then fist, gun then fist–until something cracked. Her face turned into a bloody mess. Her hands stopped, falling to the concrete floor.
But I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. I had no control over my body. The gun and my own hands were covered in red, just like my vision. Everything was red, just different shades.
I was still swinging my arms, my thighs clenched around her body, when arms went around my waist from behind.
The red sheen of everything in the room started to dissipate but I didn’t stop flailing my limbs. My thighs were so tight around her that she lifted off the floor as someone pulled at me.
“Glenda! Glenda! Baby, it’s me. It’s over.”
Leigh’s words washed over me, snapping me out of my trance. The gun dropped from my hand and my body went limp.
He pulled me to him, and once my face hit his chest, I started sobbing. “I love you! I love you! I love you, Leigh!”
He dug his face into my hair. “I love you, baby. It’s all over. I got you.”
“I think she got you, dude,” Allie said.
A watery laugh escaped me but Leigh grabbed my face and moved it so he could look at me. “She sure did. It’s supposed to be the other way around.”
“I’m nothing if not stubborn,” I joked through sobs.
He pulled me in for a deep kiss, melting the tension in my body and slowing the jerks from my muscles. “I can’t say I’m glad I almost had to die for you to tell me you love me, but I’d do it again just to hear that on your lips.”
“Like I said, stubborn.” He grinned but I grabbed his cut and pulled him in for another kiss. “I love you, Leigh.”
Hammer said, “We need to get the fuck out of here.”
Leigh looked at me then back down at the lifeless woman. “We gotta take that bitch. She’s got my woman’s skin all under her nails.”
“She fought like a bitch,” Allie said as she patted my shoulder before she bent down to grab the guns. “I got a tarp in the Explorer.”
Hammer grabbed her arm. “I’ll walk you out.”
Allie pulled her arm free and pushed him, walking ahead.
Leigh’s brows pinched.
I laughed. “Don’t ask. I don’t think they know what’s up.”
Leigh looked down. “Oh shit, baby.”
“Oh yeah.” I leaned down, pulling my pant leg up. “Just nicked me. I knew it didn’t go in.”
“Well,” he said, scooping me up like he was carrying me over a threshold, “at least let me do this.”
I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. “Hey, how did you get free?”
“Allie lifted the key off that guy out there,” he said, tipping his head toward the door. “You were busy going to town on Lady.”
“She’s a good partner in crime.”
His smile faded. “Yeah, we’ll talk about that later. For now, I’m just glad you’re safe.”
Leaning in for a chaste kiss, I told him, “Take me home.”