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Chapter 1
Somewhere between Ellisville, VA and Blacksburg, VA
“No gunfire.” That had been one of Jason’s statements before he and Dianne split up. She had gone into the compound with the full intention of making no noise whatsoever. Slip in, grab Tina, slip out. That was the plan. Unfortunately, as Dianne was learning all over again, the best laid plans do indeed often go awry.
“Hey!” As Dianne reached up to help Tina down the steps from the shed where she was being held, a loud voice boomed from behind. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” Dianne whirled around to face the source of the noise. A large man who had been charging around the corner of the gas station to avoid Jason’s gunfire was skidding to a stop, a rifle held loosely in his hands. He stared at Dianne with wide eyes, unsure whether she was a stranger to the compound or one of the people that the group at the compound had either outright kidnapped or coerced into working for them.
Dianne’s pistol was tucked into her waistband holster and her rifle was slung over her back. Her left hand was still held out to Tina as she dropped to the ground, allowing her legs to buckle beneath her as she braced her left arm for an impact with the ground. Her right hand darted toward her holster and drew her weapon, flicking off the safety as she pulled it from its holster.
Five shots went out in rapid succession, three of which hit home in the man’s chest and one which sliced through his neck. He dropped his rifle as he clawed at his neck, trying to scream out in pain but managing only to summon a horrible gurgling as blood poured unhindered through the jagged hole in his neck.
Dianne turned around to help Tina down but found her friend already halfway down the steps, holding onto one of the shed doors for support. She was dressed in a dirty, torn nightgown and wearing slippers, both of which had holes in the top, sides and front. She bore a scowl that was plainly visible even in the moonlight as she shuffled over to the dying man, trying not to slip on the grass and dirt.
“Asshole!” Tina shouted as she kicked the man in the side. He reached towards her and Dianne pulled her away before grabbing the man’s rifle and tossing it as far away from his body as she could.
“Tina!” Dianne held her friend by the shoulders and looked her up and down. The older woman’s short form looked even shorter, her skin was filthy and she appeared to have lost a significant amount of weight. “Quiet down; this is a rescue!”
“You could’ve been a bit quieter about it.” Tina raised an eyebrow and smiled at Dianne. “Thank you, though. I was getting tired of being here.”
“No sweat. Let’s get out of here.” Dianne turned away and Tina took the opportunity to kick the dying man one last time before following Dianne.
Dianne’s eyes widened in an exasperated expression at Tina’s action. “Do you have to?”
“Yeah.” Tina nodded. “He was an asshole.”
Dianne rolled her eyes. “Come on. We need to get out of here.” She led Tina down through the makeshift fence at the back of the compound formed by the shells of old cars. The pair crawled through the fence and made their way out behind the compound, circling around to the side as they followed the path Dianne had taken on her way in.
The lack of artificial lighting in the compound made their getaway smoother than Dianne had anticipated though she wondered in the back of her mind why no one had investigated the gunfire behind the gas station. The thought was almost immediately followed by the sound of voices along the side fence of the compound.
“John’s dead! Who shot him?!”
“Is it the sniper?”
“It couldn’t be! That was from inside the perimeter!”
“Get to searching, you idiots! The woman’s gone!” The last voice made Dianne’s skin crawl. She pushed Tina forward into the brush, whispering at her to crouch down so that they could hide from the searching lights of the people inside the compound. As the lights and sounds of people running around started drawing closer to the area outside the compound where Dianne and Tina were walking, Dianne cringed as a gunshot rang out. The light that had been drawing closer to her and Tina suddenly vanished but before she could try and think about where the shot came from the sky erupted into fire. Light and heat poured out from the front area of the compound, accompanied by the sound of a massive explosion. Dianne, acting purely on instinctual self-preservation, threw herself to the ground, pulling Tina along with her.
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