35. Taryn
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
TARYN
Trust us.
Adrian’s voice was in my head.
Somewhere beyond the fence, my men were either hearing this or they weren’t.
God, please let them come. If not for me, then for Wren. I prayed to myself.
“Move.” A man yanked my head back.
I stumbled deliberately, buying Wren a few more seconds. She was still holding the button; I could tell by the rigid angle of her arm.
Nash reached for me, just as there was a metallic pop somewhere outside the fence.
Every head turned. Then darkness swallowed the compound, and the generator failed.
For half a second, nobody moved, then the shouting began.
“What the fuck is going on?” The man behind me muttered.
A rifle cracked from beyond the eastern fence, and one of Caesar’s men dropped.
Then another shot, and another body dropped.
“Contact East!”
Another rifle crack, then another, three shots from farther south. There was another that cracked from beyond the fence, and a guard near the gate folded.
All the men spun toward the new threat just as a metal canister sailed over the fence and bounced across the gravel. White smoke poured from it almost instantly.
“What the hell is happening?” I heard someone yell from a few yards away.
The cloud swallowed half the eastern yard, and more shots came through the confusion. They weren’t random but controlled. Whoever was out there knew exactly what they were doing.
Chaos detonated.
My heart slammed against my ribs. “They’re coming,” I whispered, a smile blooming across my face.
Of course, they came, and they weren’t coming alone. We didn’t have the kind of firepower that was erupting all over the compound.
The grip on my hair loosened, and I drove my head backward. Bone crunched behind me, and a man screamed. I dropped, twisted, and came up with the small knife I’d hidden in my bra, stabbing the second man.
Wren drove her knife into the thigh of the man holding her. The dumb bastards hadn’t even disarmed her. The man howled, and she ripped free.
“Robin!” Wren shouted frantically.
“We need to move!” I shouted at her.
Men were running toward the eastern fence. Others were shouting near the office, likely gathering more weapons.
I heard someone cranking on what must have been a backup generator, but it coughed twice and then died.
The yard stayed dark except for moonlight and muzzle flashes.
As we neared the middle of the compound, we ducked behind an old truck. A large shape cleared the fence, and my chest nearly cracked open when I saw Beck hit the ground right after and roll to his feet.
Lucas came over behind him, as Adrian appeared through the side gate seconds later, pistol raised.
Colson hurried past me and focused on Wren. His eyes immediately fixed on the blood on her mouth, and his expression turned icy. The man nearest to her died faster than I could blink. One second, he was standing, and the next, Colson had him by the throat and drove a knife up under his jaw.
Wren froze, her mouth hanging open. “Damn.”
Good. She deserved that kind of brutality protecting her.
Beck found me, and his eyes swept over my face.
Split lip.
Bruised cheek.
Blood on my shirt.
Then his gaze landed on Nash trying to fight his way to me, and everything inside him changed.
“Dad?” The shock on his face turned into rage when he looked back at me. “Did he do this to you?”
“Not before I did that to him.”
Beck looked at Nash’s wrist and the slash across his face near the other one.
Understanding dawned, and he smiled. “I should be pissed you started without me.”
Before I could reply, Nash lunged.
Beck met him halfway, and they hit hard. Nash took the brunt because he couldn’t match the enhanced strength Beck was capable of.
Nash’s injured wrist, swollen and useless, hung close to his body. He fought with his other hand, aiming his knife at Beck’s ribs, but Beck deflected it with his forearm and punched Nash in the mouth. Nash reeled, and Beck struck him again, forcing Nash against the truck’s side.
“Is that wrist bothering you?” Beck taunted him.
Nash spat blood into the dirt. “Your bitch did that.”
Beck smiled. “She’s an ass-kicker. A smarter man would’ve learned that already.”
Nash lunged with the knife he still held in his grip. Beck caught his forearm, slammed it against the truck door, and drove his knee into Nash’s stomach.
The knife dropped.
Nash folded, but instead of staying down, he grabbed a fistful of Beck’s shirt and head-butted him.
Beck stumbled back, and Nash tackled him. They hit the gravel hard, and Nash clawed for the fallen knife with his good hand.
I started toward them and felt a hand grab my arm. Before I could swing, I heard Lucas’s voice.
“No. He’s got to do this alone.” He pulled me back against him, his gun at the ready.
Beck caught the back of Nash’s shirt and dragged him away from it. Nash twisted and threw an elbow. Beck blocked it, then drove his fist into the same cheek I’d cut earlier.
Nash screamed.
Blood opened fresh across the wound.
Nash swung wildly, and Beck ducked. One punch to the ribs, then another to the jaw.
Beck stood. “You should’ve stayed dead.”
“Fuck you.” Nash pushed himself to his knees. “And the bitch you rode in on.” He made another grab for the knife on the ground.
Beck was faster.
He grabbed the blade and in one motion drove it beneath his father’s ribs. “Things could’ve been different.”
Blood poured from between Nash’s lips. “The only thing… I’d have done… different… was fuck her… as… soon as I saw her.”
Beck twisted the knife deeper. “Burn in hell, motherfucker.”
Nash sagged against him, and Beck threw him to the ground.
I ran to him and hugged him tight. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be, Fox.” He kissed the top of my head. “It was always going to end like this.”
Our moment was brief; I saw an enhanced guard charging toward Adrian as he was putting a knife into another man. I broke free of Beck and intercepted him.
My knife struck him in the side as his other arm came up and grabbed my wrist. I drove my forehead into his nose, and his grip loosened. Lucas’s hatchet came down into his shoulder, and the man screamed. I drove my knife into the side of his neck, and he dropped.
Lucas smirked at me. “Teamwork.”
“Wren already used that line.”
He laughed as he kissed my forehead. “I missed you, Menace.”
We were in the middle of a war, and my men were still affectionate. Ben would be so proud.
Gunfire erupted near the office, and I saw Adrian duck behind a fuel truck.
“Down!” he yelled, making eye contact with me.
Lucas and I both dropped.
Bullets tore through the metal siding behind me.
Caesar was coming down the steps, death on his face, and a rifle in his hands, shouting orders at anyone still listening.
I noticed the woman who had led us to the pen, herding the women, one by one, into the warehouse. Hopefully, they’d be safe there until the fighting was over. The warehouse door slammed shut behind the last of them. Good. Out of sight was the closest thing to safety any of them had right now.
Caesar shouted something from the office steps, and three of his men broke away from the eastern fence.
They were trying to get organized.
Shit.
The surprise had bought us minutes, not a victory.
A man sprinted toward Adrian while another cut across the yard toward Lucas and me. The third stayed closer to Caesar, rifle raised as he searched the darkness for whoever was firing from outside the fence.
Adrian shifted behind the fuel truck. “Two coming!”
“I see them.” Lucas stepped away from me, hatchet loose in his hand.
The first man reached us, his weapon whistling through the air with a menacing sound. I understood immediately that he wasn’t enhanced. He was way too slow.
I ducked beneath his axe, drove my knife into his side, and ripped it free as I moved past him. Lucas caught the back of his shirt and finished him with the hatchet before he could turn.
The second man hit Lucas from the side. Lucas staggered but stayed upright.
I lunged.
The guard blocked my knife arm and shoved me backward hard enough that my boots skidded across the gravel.
Lucas buried his shoulder into the man’s stomach, and they went down together. I stepped in and kicked the guard’s knife away before he could reach it.
“A little help?” Lucas grunted.
“You look like you have it under control.” I grinned, enjoying myself way more than was normal in this situation.
“Taryn.”
I smiled and drove my blade into the man’s throat.
Lucas rolled away as the man went still. “Teamwork,” he said, breathing hard.
“Again?”
He laughed, caught the back of my neck, and kissed me hard on the mouth.
“We’re being shot at, idiot.”
“I missed you.” He shrugged.
That ridiculous warmth hit my chest again, but before I could answer, Adrian yelled. “Move!”
Lucas grabbed my arm, and we dove behind the truck. Gunfire ripped through the spot where we’d been standing.
Metal pinged above my head, and I pressed my back against the tire. “These dicks are beginning to piss me off.”
Lucas checked his gun. “Lucky for us, they aren’t pussies. We’d have no chance then.”
I gave him an unamused look as a shadow dropped beside us.
Beck.
Blood covered the front of his shirt, but most of it didn’t appear to be his.
“Caesar has at least five men trying to push around the north side.”
“How many are enhanced?” Lucas leaned out around the tire and fired off a shot.
“Two that I know of.”
Adrian slid into place on the other side of Beck. “Three.”
Beck glanced at him in question.
“One moved before the shot reached him.” Adrian raised up and fired at another man crossing the yard.
Lucas and Beck both nodded, firing shots off periodically.
Something about the way they trusted each other made me smile despite everything. My men had become a team.
Adrian noticed my expression. “What’s the smile for?”
“I’m just happy.”
“I love you, baby. But you’re not making sense.” He turned to Beck and Lucas. “If we get out of here, Finley needs to check her out.”
Beck tapped my knee with his. “There is no if, only when.”
“Damn right.” Lucas fired another shot.
“Taryn!” Wren screamed as she and Colson slid behind the truck.
Colson grabbed a pistol from a dead guy lying near us and handed it to Wren. “Rotters.”
We looked around the truck.
A rotter had gotten its hands through the fence and caught one of Caesar’s men by the jacket. He fought to pull away while fingers clawed at his throat.
Another rotter slammed into the chain link beside it.
Then another.
My stomach dropped. “Shit.”
“We expected this,” Adrian whispered. “All the gunshots were bound to bring them.”
The tree line was moving. Shapes staggered through the darkness.
Dozens.
Maybe more.
I heard someone shout. “Infected!”
Men turned their weapons toward the fence.
Gunfire erupted, drawing even more movement from beyond the trees. Bodies crashed into the fence, and metal rattled. Hands shoved through the openings, teeth snapping.
One man started stabbing through the fence, and a rotter caught his sleeve. He screamed as three more hands joined the first.
The fence bowed inward.
“We need to move further away from these fuel tanks.” Adrian grabbed my hand.
As we started toward the center of the yard, the western fence gave with a metallic shriek. One support post tore free, then another. The top half collapsed inward, and rotters spilled through.
Chaos became something else entirely.
Caesar’s men scattered. One fired until a rotter tackled him. Another tried to run and slammed directly into Beck.
Beck caught him by the throat. “Wrong direction.”
He shoved the man straight into an approaching rotter.
“Cold,” Lucas said, wide-eyed.
Beck shrugged. “Better him than us.”
Fair.
A shout came from near the office, and more men emerged.
Four, no, five.
I recognized the one in front.
Gideon.
Of course he came to help protect his fuel supply, even though Caesar had shit on him.
He looked terrible. There was a bandage around his head and dried blood on his shirt. One arm hung stiffly at his side.
As they drew near, his eyes bounced between all of us. “This is your fault!”
I couldn’t help it and started laughing.
He looked offended.
“This is of your own making,” Adrian corrected him.
He ignored him and turned his attention to Wren. “After all that I’ve done for you! Allowing you to stay even after you lost your mind.”
Everything stopped, and Wren’s face emptied.
Colson stepped in front of her.
He turned back to me. “You destroyed my town.”
“No. Your town was messed up long before I got there.” I growled, thinking of what the women in this compound were going through because of him.
“You opened the fence.” Gideon accused.
“Nope.”
“Liar.”
Wren popped up from behind Colson. “Leave Robin alone. It was me!”