AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Two hands closed around her waist, lifting her up and then pushing her so hard she fell six feet away into more hard, icy snow. She gasped and looked back toward the direction she’d come from, only to see Hayden’s fists driving into the face of her attacker. He pulled up his gun, pressing it beneath the man’s chin and pulling the trigger.
Three more men were on him, but they were down in under a minute. Then he was on her, his hand grabbing her face while the other still held onto the gun, ready to attack at any moment.
“Fuck, Anna. Are you hurt? Are you okay?” His voice was frantic, panicked. Those emotions sounded foreign on his tongue.
“I’m fine,” she breathed, her voice cracking. Her head throbbed, her hands and feet were raw and frostbitten, her side would definitely have a nasty bruise on it, but she was okay. She would survive this… “Austin.” His name was barely a whisper. “He’s…”
“I know. We need to get you out of here.” He grabbed her, lifting her up and pushing her forward. “I only have six shots left, let’s make them count until I can reload.”
She nodded, her mind still caught on Austin’s still form, on his warm blood and the way his last breath shot from his body, as if he’d been in agony until the very end. Austin, who’d teased her like a friend…
“Quicker, Anna. I know it hurts, but I need you to run.” Hayden lifted his arm, shooting an officer that ran toward them. “Sawyer!” Hayden yelled, yanking her from her own thoughts.
She spotted Sawyer twenty feet ahead of them, running in the opposite direction. At Hayden’s call, he turned, immediately heading to meet them.
“Brother,” Sawyer called. “The others are retreating. There’s too many of them, we need to get out of here.”
“No,” Hayden spoke. “Take her and the others. Keep them safe. I’ll hold the rest of them off.”
“You got it,” he agreed.
Her eyes widened as she turned to look at him, though his gaze was still on Sawyer. For the first time since she’d seen Austin choke out his last breath, she came back down to earth. Snapped back into her body. “What?” she gasped. “No. No, you need to come. Or we all need to attack. You can’t… you can’t just leave!”
Hayden shook his head. “They won’t kill me. They’ll know who I am. I need you to be safe, okay? I can’t concentrate out there unless I know you’re safe.”
“You can’t do this alone.” He needed Mason, and Sawyer, and… her. “I won’t let you.”
Hayden gave her a soft smile, putting his hand to the back of her head and pulling her in for a kiss that left her dizzy. His lips were as frantic as his voice had been, hungry and taking, as if this were the last kiss they’d ever share. Did he… did he think that it was?
“I love you, Anna,” he breathed against her lips, kissing her once more before turning and running back toward the camp, the carnage, the enemy.
“Hayden!” she screamed. “No! You promised!” He said he’d never take away her choice again, never force her to do something… he promised.
His steps faltered for a moment, but then he continued forward.
Before she could chase after him, Sawyer’s hands closed around her torso, pulling her to him. She thrashed against him, screaming a slew of profanities and she clumsily fought to get free.
Sawyer lifted her off the ground, running toward the others as if she barely weighed a thing. She sagged in defeat, a soft cry escaping her as reality began to set in.
Austin was dead. Laurie, too. Who knew how many others. And… “he only had five more bullets.”
“Fuck,” Sawyer grunted as he dropped her feet to the ground, pulling her forward by the arm as if he knew she was done fighting.
She wasn’t. Not even close. But for this moment… she followed Sawyer, running as quickly as she could.
Chapter Eleven
AUSTIN WAS DEAD. LAURIE. Jennifer, the mother of the two children they’d been helping. Liam, who Anna had spent most of her mornings with as they set off on their scouting missions… gone. There may have been more casualties. She couldn’t be sure when everyone was so scattered.
And Hayden? Nowhere to be found.
It had been hours.
Hours of Mason pacing back and forth, doing his best to reassure people and failing. Hours of Rachel walking to each person, offering them water or an ear to listen, her face blank and her eyes looking somewhere else, somewhere far beyond them all. Hours of listening to crying, confusion, shock, reassurance, but mostly, regret.
They needed to get their shit together. They needed to gather up the weapons they had, gear up, and get out there. Get to Hayden, wherever he was.
She wasn’t dumb. She knew they couldn’t rush in blindly. But they were planning on making their move in the next day or so anyway, so what would one day early do? Besides, the UNR would never expect it. Not after a successful assault like that one.
