AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I immediately take stock of our situation. I’ve already identified all the exposed dregs, the weapons they carry, and the rounds of ammo attached to their bodies. It’s safe to guess there are more hidden in that line of cars. Regardless, we’re substantially outnumbered and utterly fucked. I look at Max and whisper, “You got the ball?”
His brows furrow. “Dude, this isn’t the time for soccer.”
Anger flows through me at the idiocy. I know he has that grenade. My eyes roam down his body to see if I can spot it, but he’s a one-man army and packs his weapons well so they’re not visible. He could have a rocket launcher on his body and no one could tell.
I turn back to the dreg man in the suit, knowing it’s useless but needing to buy myself some time to think. I make my voice light even though my blood is boiling. “Thanks anyway, but we’ll just head back the other way.”
The man shakes his head. “Afraid I can’t allow that. We’re taking the girl.”
The fight breaks out before I think of a plan. We’re already diving behind two cars, me and Emily behind our car, and Max and William behind another, when the bullets fly. Regardless of the bullets, our bigger problem is that we’re surrounded. Not a problem for Max, who’s already taken out the dregs high above in the telephone poles. I missed how he did it because he doesn’t have a fucking gun.
We sit here and let them waste their ammo. I hold a small blade between my thumb and forefinger and wait for the opening. The moment the firing stops, I use the reflection in a nearby car as my guide and fling my arm out, sending the throwing star sailing through the air and slicing the throat of three of the dregs along the way. Max lets out a whistle of appreciation and says something about the arcs of the blood spray, but I barely pay him much attention.
“Alright boys, you ready for a fight?” When three voices respond, my attention snaps behind me to Emily and I give her a dead serious look. “Get underneath the car if you won’t get inside of it.”
“Or what?”
“I’ll stuff you inside the trunk myself, and if I get shot doing it, then there might be no one to let you out.”
“Why are you so adamant about me staying out of danger? You don’t even know me. I can fight. I can help, I’m more useful than you think. And who knows, I might be the one saving your ass. You need me, Griffin.”
“I won’t let anyone die when I can stop it.”
She tightens her grip around the knife that Max gave her last night, and I feel a pang of guilt at having stripped her of her weapons. “Huh. I’ve never had my own personal bodyguard. I don’t know what kind of martyr shit you’re trying to do, but right now you’re the one who’s the damsel in distress.” She throws the knife, and it goes sailing by my head.
I wrap my hand around her throat and press her head against the bottom of the trunk of the car before leaning in closer. I can feel her breath on my lips before I speak. “You’re going to need better aim if you’re trying to kill me.”
She smiles and her voice comes out as a rasp, even though I’m not cutting off her airway. “Look behind you, dumbass.”
I look behind me and see a dreg on the ground. The knife sticking out of his throat is responsible for the growing pool of blood around his head.
“We can both throw. Guess we have something in common after all. What a shame. Now if you’ll let me go, I’d like to retrieve that, seeing as it’s the only weapon you guys will let me have.”
I don’t let her go. Not yet, anyway. I look at her again and hesitate for only a moment before I pull a dagger from one holster on my waistband and hand it to her, along with the second knife I took off of her the night I first saw her. I’ve been so focused on protecting her, I let my guard down. That’s something that never happens. I owe her more than this right now. “Don’t use it to stab me in the back.”
She grabs them both. “Don’t hand me over to the dregs.”
“Deal.”
Music blasts from the car that Max and William are—were—hiding behind, and Max howls into the air with glee. “Dance for us, pet.”
“He’s got issues,” she breathes out.
“You have no idea.”
Moans soar through the air as rotters in the area make their way toward us. They drag their bodies across the ground and limp from the tree lines. A dreg shouts out in anger. “What is your fucking problem? You’ve drawn every rotter in the area.”
Emily and I stand up and join in the fight. We slash and stab at our attackers, and take the guns from the fallen and use them to take out their friends. It’s a bloodbath.
Max spins around, swinging his morning star with one hand and a knife in the other. He’s got blood on his teeth due to the fact he can’t stop grinning during his killing spree. Headlights illuminate him from behind and music blasts through the air. He’s having the time of his life.
A few rotters join the party, forcing the dregs to fight them off instead of us. At least it makes things easier on our account. “Get in the car,” I holler at Emily, Max, and William, but Emily ignores me. Her focus is on the car ahead. “What are you doing?”
“Is that a dog in there? You don’t even have the windows cracked, its gotta be a million degrees in there.” She approaches the car, but the dreg leader jumps in front of her and slashes his knife through the air, which she narrowly avoids by jumping back.
Max is the first to reach her. He breaks a window on the car and the dog jumps out, still barking.
The dreg in the suit looks like an apple with how red his face is turning from anger. “Either kill them or shut up, you mutt.” When the dog does nothing but bark, he kicks the dog.
