by Hamel, B. B.
I slipped down the steps and pressed myself against an inner wall as I moved toward the back of the fighters. Nobody bothered to look up as I made my way toward the back of the house. There were fewer women back there returning fire, since the brunt of the attack was coming from the front.
“Brooks.”
I looked over and saw Kasia sitting in an easy chair, a bandage on her head and shoulder. I made my way over to her, keeping low.
“Got hit?”
She nodded. “Just a shoulder wound. Can’t fight though.”
“Let me see.” I moved her bandage and took a look at the wound. It went straight through her, which was good, but she wasn’t going to be using that arm anytime soon. I pressed the bandage back down.
“You’re okay,” I said.
“I know.” She frowned at me. “I need you to do something for me, Brooks.”
“I’m not fighting,” I said. “I’m not showing my face to those guys out there. They know me.”
“Not that. I need you to get the girls out.”
I frowned. “Why me?”
“We can cover your retreat. You’re the only person here with the skills to pull this off.”
“Send one of your fighters. I’m getting Emma and we’re getting the fuck out of here.”
“Brooks.” She grabbed my arm, her face serious and intense. “We’re going to get overrun soon. Once that happens, I can’t protect everyone. I think the fighters can get away, but the girls upstairs? They’ll be killed or captured and put back into slavery. You can stop that.”
“How? If you haven’t noticed, you’re surrounded.”
“They’re weak in the back,” she said. “We’ll concentrate our fighters there, get you some space.”
“Then what? Run around the woods?”
“There’s a van hidden deep in the forest toward the road. There’s a path that’ll take you right to it.”
“How do you know they haven’t found that already?”
“If they have, we’re all dead. You have to try.”
“Fuck,” I said, looking around.
This was not what I wanted. I didn’t want to be responsible for these women. I was a fucking hit man, a killer. I wasn’t the type of person who saved the lives of innocents.
But then again, I was. I’d saved Emma and I was working to keep her alive. Maybe it would be easier to sneak through the lines with just the two of us and find that van, but would that be the right thing?
“Guns,” I said. “And a vest, if you can spare one.”
“No vests. But here, take mine.” She nudged a rifle toward me. I grabbed it, checked the clip, chambered a round, and then slung it over my shoulder. She handed me extra ammunition, which I shoved into my pockets.
“The key to their doors?” I asked her.
She made a face. “Their doors aren’t locked, Brooks. Only yours. We didn’t trust you.”
“Can’t say I blame you.”
“Please, Brooks, save the girls.”
I stared at her, torn. Maybe I could get Emma, sneak away with just her. We could probably make it in all this chaos.
“Okay,” I said. “Fuck, okay. I’ll try.”
“Good. I’ll give the orders. Go.”
I stood. “Don’t die, Kasia. You’re going to owe me big for this.”
She grinned at me. “I’m tough to kill. Now get moving, killer.”
I turned away and went back through the house, staying low. Kasia began to shout orders as I moved back up the stairs, dodging bullets and broken wood as I went.
What the fuck was I thinking? My only responsibility was for Emma. She was the only person I cared about, the only one I wanted to survive all this. Now, though, I’d decided to take on a bunch of strung-out junkie girls.
There was no way this would work. We were going to get mowed down. There were just too many of us.
When I got to the top of the stairs, I stopped, surprised by what I saw.
Emma was gathering the girls out in the hallway. She was dressing them in black, or at least making them wear black. The girls were actually listening, or at least as much as they could.
I counted twenty plus me and Emma. It was a big pack, but Emma seemed good at communicating with them. The girls that were too strung out were being supported by other girls. I quickly walked up to Emma.
“We need to go,” I said.
“We’re not leaving these women,” she said fiercely.
I grinned at her. “You think I’d do that?”
“Maybe. I’m not sure.”
“I won’t lie and pretend like I hadn’t thought about it, but Kasia down there was convincing, so we’re all making a run for it.”
She frowned at me. “Really? You’re going to help these women.”
“Better fucking believe it. Tell them to get their shit together. We leave in two minutes.”
Emma nodded at me, determination etched on her face. She went back to the group of girls and began to explain what was happening. Word rippled out in several different languages as the girls finished pulling on their darkest clothing.
It was a sad fucking bunch. Twenty skinny, young girls, all of them terrified. At least three of those girls were being actively supported by others, too strung out to run on their own. And there wasn’t a single common language between everyone.
But watching Emma talk to the girls, I thought we might have a chance. She was incredible, explaining with body language and her hands, or using another girl to translate wherever she could. Somehow she managed to get the girls loosely lined up, dressed in black, and ready to go.
“Did you explain to them what’s happening?” I asked Emma as she came over to me.
She nodded. “We’re making a run for it.”
“We’re going out the back. Once we’re outside, if they want to survive, they can’t stop moving and they can’t get separated from the group. Can you get that across?”
She nodded. “Okay.”
“And, Emma.” I pulled her close to me, speaking into her ear. “Keep yourself alive. Please, whatever you do.”
“I will. You too.”
I let her go and nodded.
Emma went back into the group and explained the plan. Once word was sufficiently passed along, I motioned for them to follow.
We made our way downstairs, back down into the fighting. There were fewer women firing out the front as we made our way through the house and back into the kitchen. Kasia was on her feet, looking pale but determined.
“Ready?” she asked me.
“Are you?”
She grinned. “You’ll like what we have in store for you.”
“Where’s that path again?”
She pointed. “Straight back. It’s a bit overgrown now, but if you head for that tree with the forking arms, you’ll see it.”
“Got it.” I looked at Emma. “Tell the girls.”
As Emma relayed the next message, I scouted out the back window. There were fewer men back there, probably mainly meant just to keep us pinned inside as they slowly pushed in through the front.
Which was good and bad. It was good that the back was left weaker, but they did expect us to try to push out from there. The men in the back were likely farther in the woods, waiting.
Kasia was stalking along her fighters, cheering them on. Emma finished communicating with the girls, all of who looked fucking terrified as all hell.
I held up my weapon and steadied myself.
“Okay!” Kasia called out. “Brooks, you ready?”
“Roger that,” I said.
Kasia got this wicked fucking grin on her face. “Girls, light it the fuck up.”
Suddenly the fighters all began firing at once. Kasia held up her hand, keeping us in place as we gathered at the back door.
“Now!” she yelled.
Three fighters appeared at the windows with shoulder-mounted rocket launchers. I stared at them, shocked, as they fired the rockets out into the forest.
> Explosions concussed the whole area, laying low trees. A fire raged out in the forest, and I could hear men screaming.
The fighters doubled down on their firing, filling the air with lead.
“Go, go, go!” Kasia yelled, throwing the door open.
I was the first one out. I had my rifle up, aiming forward, running like all hell. I could feel Emma and the girls on my heels, moving just behind me.
The backyard was a short slope of short grass. There was about twenty or thirty feet of open air before we got to the burning woods.
Bullets began to bite the air around me. I fired at the muzzle flashes I saw, but I couldn’t stop, couldn’t slow down. I went straight for the forked tree, searching for the path.
And I found it. The fires were raging on either side of the path, since clearly the fighters had aimed away from our escape route. I spotted a gun thug and fired a few rounds into him just as I burst into the forest and onto the path.
I heard some girls screaming and yelling. I looked back and noticed one had stumbled and fallen.
“Fuck, come on!” I yelled. I spotted another thug and filled him with lead, his body exploding with red.
I turned and went back, pushing the other girls forward along the path. I grabbed the fallen girl by the arm and lifted her up. The girls that had been helping her along were both dead.
I didn’t have time to help them. I threw the girl over my shoulder, grunting under her weight, and then stood. I moved, gun up, following Emma and the girls.
It was total chaos. I fired my weapon, but I wasn’t sure if I hit anything as bullets continued to rain down around us. We followed the path, running like hell, and soon enough the sound of clattering gunfire began to recede into the distance.
We weren’t safe yet, not by a long shot. The thugs were likely coming after us. I caught up to the main group and moved through them, carrying the girl on my shoulder. Emma nodded at me as I took over the lead and continued down along the path.
The forest was deep and dark. The only light we had was from the half-full moon up above us. We were lucky that it was a clear night at least as we picked our way along the path. It was narrow and barely used, but I was able to follow its twists and turns through the thickets and the pines.
We ran that way for maybe fifteen minutes before I finally burst out into a clearing. I stood there for a second, looking around.
There was no fucking van. There were only more trees, some bushes, and grass.
“Fuck!” I yelled. “There should be a van here.”
“There,” Emma said, pointing.
It was just a large mount of bushes and branches, but as I moved closer, I could see a headlight peeking out from the front.
I put the girl down gently on the grass and then started clearing the brush off. “Help me,” I called out.
The girls joined in. We had the vehicle uncovered in another minute.
It wasn’t a fucking van. It was a fucking small school bus.
“Get in,” I growled and tore the door open. The girls quickly piled in, carrying those that were hurt or couldn’t get in themselves.
Emma got on last, and I started up the steps. Suddenly gunfire erupted from the trees.
“Fuck,” I grunted, returning fire. I retreated into the bus, sitting in the driver’s seat. I found the key already in the ignition.
I turned it and the bus roared to life. I fired a few more shots out the window and then floored it.
I heard men yelling in the tree line, but I didn’t care. “Stay down!” I yelled at the girls as more bullets hit the bus.
Up ahead was a break in the trees. I noticed two ruts in the ground, and knew that this must have been an old dirt path at some point. I hit the path going thirty and flew out between the trees, driving wildly. I put the high beams on and tore down the path, not letting up on the gas one bit.
After ten more minutes of driving down the bumpy, winding track, I burst out of the tree line. I had to slam on the brakes as we skidded out onto a paved road.
The bus stopped there, engine running. I stood up. “Who’s hurt?” I called out.
Several girls raised their hands. I looked at Emma. “Take the wheel. Just drive for a while. We’ll figure out the rest.”
Emma nodded and got into the driver’s seat. I went to the back of the bus and started helping the girls as best I could.
My heart was hammering in my chest. I couldn’t believe we had made it. From my count, we had lost three girls, which was a fucking miracle. Many more of them were shot, but only one of them was in any serious danger.
I wasn’t a surgeon or a doctor, but I had training in battlefield first aid. I tied off bandages, stopped bleeding, did what I could.
We’d risked a lot to help these girls. I wasn’t about to let them bleed out in the back of some fucking bus.
I glanced up at Emma, and she caught my eye in the big mirror. I grinned at her and nodded. She smiled and nodded back.
I was fucking proud of her. That was for sure. She’d kept her shit together and done exactly what she’d needed to do. She was smart and fast and didn’t hesitate, even under fire, even when things looked dire.
I briefly wondered how the fighters back at the farmhouse were doing. I guessed most of them were trying to escape at this point, and I hoped they survived.
But more likely, they had sacrificed their lives to get these girls to safety. That alone spoke volumes about the Spiders. Maybe I hadn’t trusted them before, but I couldn’t deny their good intentions anymore.
And somehow they’d roped me into their fucking game. It was never my intention to save fucking lives. I was still a killer, still trained to murder men for a living, and yet there I was trying to keep a bunch of terrified girls alive.
Events had gotten out of my control. I needed to get back in the game, get some semblance of control back. But it seemed as though things had grown beyond me, had gotten bigger than just me and Emma. There was a whole war in this fucking city.
Louisa Barone and the Spiders against her fucking family.
And somehow I was in the middle of it all.
20
Emma
As I drove, I couldn’t get the memory of the gunshots and the screams of the girls who didn’t make it out of my head.
I had been terrified, absolutely terrified. Running into that burning forest felt like running into the mouth of hell. Bullets were flying through the air. Everything was chaos.
The only thing keeping me sane was Brooks. He seemed so calm as he shot his gun off at the other men, killing them when he could. And when the girls went down, he even went back to save one.
I couldn’t believe it. I knew Brooks didn’t hurt women, and I knew he was a good person underneath his shitty life, but I never imagined he was the type of man to go back for a total stranger in the middle of a hell storm.
But that was exactly who he was. He saved lives and fought for these girls when he really didn’t have to.
And beyond that, I didn’t know I had this kind of strength inside me. I’d wanted to stop, to curl down on the ground and cry, but I didn’t. I kept myself moving, pushed through the fear and the terror. I knew what needed to be done and I did it.
As I drove the bus along the empty road, not knowing where I was going, I felt terrible and elated. We had saved these girls. They had nobody else, and we had stepped up and gotten them out. A lot of people made a lot of sacrifices, and I couldn’t forget that, but I was proud of myself and of Brooks for doing the right thing.
As I drove alone, Brooks came up next to me. “Girls seem okay,” he said. “One needs a real doctor in the next hour or I think we’ll lose her.”
“What are we going to do?”
He shook his head. “We need to figure out where we are. Then we’ll drop the girl at a hospital.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean we’ll dump her outside the ER.”
“We can’t do that.”
“W
e can’t stay with her, Emma. The mafia will be looking for us, and the first place they’ll check is the local emergency room.”
I frowned and nodded. “Okay. I get it. But we have to get her there at least.”
“We will. Maybe one of the other girls will stay with her.”
“I don’t want to ask that of them.”
He grinned at me. “Look at you, so worried and nurturing.”
I laughed. “You’re the one playing nurse back there.”
He leaned forward. “I’d rather play nurse with you, strip you down, check your body over and over.”
I blushed but was distracted by the sound of a ringing phone.
Brooks’s head snapped toward the girls.
“Who has the phone?” he called out.
They stared back at him, wide-eyed and surprised. Slowly, one of the girls pulled the phone from her pocket and held it up.
Brooks quickly walked over and took it out of her hand. He silenced it and then sat back down behind me.
The phone started making that horrible noise from before, the same noise Brooks’s phone had made in his apartment. He frowned at it and then slowly held it up to his ear.
“Hello?”
“Hello, Brooks,” the same altered voice said as the phone came on speaker.
Brooks sighed. “Warn me next time.”
“Sorry about that. This line isn’t secure, so we must be brief.”
“What happened back there?”
“I’m sorry. Our shared enemy hit many of our safe houses tonight. It was a coincidence, I promise.”
“A coincidence,” Brooks said, his jaw clenched. “I don’t like that sort of excuse.”
“Many girls lost their lives tonight, Brooks. It’s only because of you that your little group made it out. Many other safe houses weren’t so lucky.”
“What do you want?”
“First, do you have injured?”
“One. She needs help soon.”
“I will send you directions to the hospital. After that, I will send another location. Please drop the rest of the girls there.”
