Page 79 of Split You Open

The two of them smile and turn back, heading in the direction Wes has indicated. I watch as they depart, one foot after another. Alarm bells in my head tell me that letting them walk free is a bad idea.

We should kill them.

Instinctually my hand goes to my belt where I usually keep my axe. Instead, I find the gun I replaced it with.

I don’t know if it’s luck or someone watching out for me but as my fingers caress the hilt of the gun, the two hikers, nearly out of sight, stop. They exchange looks with one another, then as one turn to face us again—this time with their own guns drawn.

“Move!” Wes shouts.

Bullets spray the ground just in front of us.

As I fling myself behind a tree, I pull my gun free. Without hesitation, I step back out and return fire. I hit the man in the shoulder as his bullets slam into the tree I’d just used for cover. He stumbles backward.

Wes yanks me out of the way as the woman steps up to cover her partner. Her bullets sail over our heads as we duck into the bushes. Crouched low, I peer around the tree. I point and aim. Four of my bullets miss her completely. I’ll have to work with Blair on my aim because, fuck, I’m not great at this. One of the bullets meant for her strikes her partner in the gut as he tries to get up.

Wes jumps up and charges forward, gun hot as bullets go flying.

I join him, ready to blow this bitch and her partner to smithereens. We duck and weave, firing whenever we get the chance—taking cover when we have to. Bark and dirt go flying as their bullets sail past us. There’s a cry of pain as Wes fires off a round.

Quickly, I dive behind a fallen tree. I peer over to see the man unmoving on the ground. The woman is on her knees—one hand pressed to a gaping hole in her gut. Her gun dangles from her other hand.

“Toss the gun!” Wes roars, his gun raised at her face.

“Fuck you,” she calls back breathlessly.

Wes’s brows crash together. “I can help you, but I need answers.”

The woman spits at him.

Getting on my stomach, I army crawl, low and out of sight. Wes barks his order again. The woman drops her gun but it’s within reach. That doesn’t sit well with me. Her partner’s gun is within reach too. Creeping closer still, I keep an eye on both weapons.

“Why are you here?” Wes demands.

“For the girl, of course,” she hisses.

Wes stops a few feet away from her, his gun pointed at her head. “What girl?”

I crawl around on the forest floor until I’m directly behind the woman. It takes everything in me to move slowly enough to get to my hands and knees without making a sound.

The woman’s eyes narrowed. “The girl. The one who must’ve been here. It’s the ideal hiding spot for a contract killer.”

Wes tuts. “There’s been no girl around here.”

The color drains from the woman’s face. “You’re lying. We were sure she’d been staying here…”

“Nope, I have no idea who you’re talking about.”

The woman shifts her weight on her knees. It's a subtle move and one that I could play off as her trying to get comfortable as she slowly bleeds out. But I’m not stupid.

I lunge as she suddenly goes for her partner’s gun.

A snarl rips past my lips as I tackle her to the ground from behind. She cries out in pain but I don’t give a fuck. When I get her beneath me, I brace a knee in the middle of her back and jerk her arm back until I hear it pop out of the shoulder socket.

Her shriek echoes all around us.

She tries to flail her other arm around, but I grab it and yank it back until that arm is pulled from the socket too.

Wes walks over, shoving his gun into his waistband.