AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I stared at Grimes's men, who were standing roughly parallel to our position in the trees, before studying the landscape around us. Because this wasn't just about killing the men in front of me; it was also about making sure that we got Sophia away from Grimes forever.
Finally, I turned to Warren. "What's the fastest way back down the mountain to the car?"
He pulled his blue bandanna down from around his nose so he could answer me. "The same way we came up. "
"There are no other shortcuts? No way we could get there quicker?"
He shook his head.
"What about Grimes and his men? Is there another trail that they could take to get in front of us and cut us off?"
Warren shook his head again. "Not a direct trail, no, although they can always just cut through the woods. "
I nodded. It wasn't ideal, but there was nothing that I could do about it.
"And how do you want to take out those guys guarding her?" Owen asked.
I unzipped my backpack, drew out one of the silencers inside, and held it up where he could see it.
"Quietly," I said, passing the metal over to him. "I'll approach them head-on, while you sneak around behind them. We should be able to take them out before they realize that they're surrounded. But whatever happens, we can't let them get a shot off. That's my main worry, that they'll signal Grimes, and he'll realize that we're here to rescue Sophia. "
"That's a big chance to take," Owen said, screwing the silencer onto the end of his gun.
I let out a breath. "I know, but we're just going to have to risk it. This is our best, quickest chance to get close to her. It might be our only chance. I want to get Sophia out of here before Grimes and Hazel can do anything else to her. "
Owen's face hardened, and anger sparked in his violet eyes, the same anger that I felt. He nodded.
"And me?" Warren asked. "What do you want me to do?""You stay here, and lay down some cover fire for us if things go wrong," I said. "I'd like to kill these guys and slip away before Grimes realizes what's happened, but
Owen's right, and we probably won't be that lucky. So if worse comes to worse, we kill as many of them as we can here, then get Sophia to safety. "
Warren patted his rifle. "You got it. "
I looked at him, then Owen, wondering if I was about to get us all killed. If they had the same thought, they didn't show it. Their hands curled around their guns, and their gazes were steady, determined, and level with mine.
"Okay," I said. "Here's what we're going to do. "
I looked at Owen, who had moved about thirty feet to the left of where I crouched at the edge of the trees. He nodded, and I threw a rock high overhead. It landed in the woods on the far side of the clearing, crashing into the underbrush beyond the pit. The men had been talking among themselves, but their heads snapped in that direction, and they straightened up and pushed away from the tombstones they'd been leaning against. A few of them raised their guns and took some tentative steps forward, as though they were thinking about investigating the noise, although they still kept away from the edge of the pit and out of Sophia's reach.
While the men were debating what they'd heard and whether it was some sort of animal, Owen used their distraction to sprint out of the woods behind them. I threw another rock in the same general direction as before. It too tumbled through the underbrush, keeping the men from noticing Owen crossing into the woods on the far side of the clearing.
Sophia noticed, though.
She glanced over her shoulder at just the right moment to see Owen disappear into the trees. She froze, her eyes wide, and I could almost see the wheels spinning in her mind as she wondered whether she'd actually seen what she thought she had.
"What are you looking at?" one of the men muttered.
"Get back to work. That ditch isn't going to dig itself. "
Sophia shrugged and went back to her digging, but she kept turning her head from side to side, peering into the trees that lined the clearing. She knew that something was up. Good.
After a few more minutes, the men settled down again, having decided that it was likely some animal creeping through the woods, after all.
Not an animal - the Spider. But they were going to find that out soon enough.
"Show time," I whispered to Warren.
He nodded, dropped to a knee, and raised his rifle to his shoulder, getting a bead on the men.
