Page 42 of Obey

I almost smiled at how stupid it was. “Wrong move, boy,” I muttered. I ducked the overhead blow he tried to bring and darted forward, my blade held out in front of me. A quick slash to the right and left and blood was spurting from his throat, his coronary artery cut right through. When I stood up, his eyes met mine, shocked and horrified at what had just happened.

And I didn’t even feel bad about it. That was what he got for attacking me and mine the way they had.

The kid dropped to the ground, his hand still clasped around his neck and his breath wheezing, and I stepped over him, my eyes going to the ongoing battle.

Nothing had changed in the short time I’d been battling with the now-dead Steed. My boys were ducking and weaving and avoiding bullets and knives now, but that wasn’t going to last much longer. We’d had more men when we first waded into the battle but Devil had fought a man off for long enough to get a phone up to his ear and call for reinforcements.

He’d only come with twenty of his men, which meant he’d had at least twenty more at his clubhouse. It was something I hadn’t had. I’d brought everyone I could marshal at the moment and I had no idea how long it would be until the rest of my reinforcements got here. The other clubs hadn’t been ready to move yet, but I’d left orders with Gemini to call them and hurry them up.

I hadn’t heard back from him yet.

I was hoping that meant the other clubs were on their way to back us up, but I didn’t think I could bet on that. Stay here much longer and we’d all be dead and it wouldn’t matter when the reinforcements got here.

They’d get here to see us lying dead in the street, and Devil would have already gone on to our clubhouse, killed anyone he found there, and taken Saraya back.

I had to get back there and get organized again. I had to get my men out of here alive and get back home before anything else went wrong.

“Banshees!” I screamed. “Home!”

I turned and ran for my bike, counting on my men to follow me, and ducked when I heard the gunshots behind me. Of course they were shooting at me as I left. They’d be doing the same thing with the rest of my men. They wouldn’t be willing to leave us alone to retreat.

They’d just see it as open season on our retreating backs.

I stood tall again and sprinted forward, my eyes on my bike and my ears on the footsteps behind me. Please let all my men make it out, please let all my men make it out, I chanted to myself. Please let us get home to regroup.

Please let those other clubs be there to back us up.

The silence from Gemini wasn’t making me feel very good about that last part but I couldn’t think about that right now. I needed to stick to that part of the plan, not waste my energy trying to reinvent the wheel.

I jumped on my bike and turned, counting the men I had following me. They were all there, I realized with a jolt of surprise. Everyone was going to make it back to the bikes. If they could do that, and we could make it out of here...

A rain of gunfire broke out and I saw two of the men I’d just been counting on fall.

Neither of them moved again, and I counted them as lost. I didn’t want to leave them here, and I hated the thought that they might still be alive, in which case I was leaving them in Devil’s hands. But I didn’t have time to run back for them, and I certainly wouldn’t be able to escape if we were towing two men who couldn’t ride for themselves.

“On your bikes and go!” I screamed at the men still on their feet. They were a tattered lot, many of them sporting wounds and limping, but as long as they were able to ride, that was good enough for me.

It would, I hoped, be good enough to get them home again.

I watched as they took off one by one, all of us ducking and dodging the bullets that were still raining down on us, and I could see out of the corner of my eye that Devil and his men were rushing in our direction.

They were on foot, though, and that meant that if we got away and got out of here, they’d have to go back for their bikes before they could come after us.

“Go, go, go!” I screamed as my men jumped onto their bikes and got them started. “Ride for home and don’t look back! Split up if you need to, take any route that’s open!” I didn’t know if it was better to split up or not, so I would leave it up to the men. They’d be able to read the situation as they were riding. This wasn’t the first time they’d had to run for their lives. They knew what they were doing.

They knew how to make sure they got home safely.

I watched the final man leave, then threw my gaze back at Devil. I hadn’t been able to kill him, but I’d stabbed him several times before one of his men pulled me off him.

And that was on top of the stab wounds he’d already been sporting, which were, I was betting, Saraya’s work.

“This isn’t finished,” I muttered. I knew he couldn’t hear me.

But I knew he’d understand, all the same.

I put my bike in gear and slammed on the gas, tires skidding as I got the hell out of there. And I’d just hit the main road when I heard the sirens.

Shit.