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I turned and ran from the barn chasing Taz in the direction he was running, but when I got outside, I didn’t see him anywhere.
I spun in circles as I panted and cried, trying to see him somewhere when my daughter’s shrill scream filled the air.
“Penny!” I screamed back, turning and running towards the direction it came from.
“Mama!” She screamed again and I caught a glimpse of her as Taz ran from a shed with her over his shoulder.
I ran as fast as I could, closing the distance until I was close enough to see the fear in her eyes. “Taz, stop!” I shouted as he ran through the tree line, disappearing completely.
“Delilah!” Fox roared from the opposite direction; his truck and a dozen other trucks and bikes tore through the yard. But I didn’t stop running.
“He has Penny!” And then I pointed to the barn, hoping someone would tear off and go back, “Maddie’s hurt!” I hit the tree line before I could hear his response, and covered my face as tree limbs cut my arms and legs, but I didn’t stop.
“Penelope!” I screamed and listened to her response, so I knew where to run. “Penny where are you?”
“Here, Mama!” She yelled back and I turned a sharp right to follow her. “Hurry!”
“I’m coming!”
My face and arms bled from the sharp branches. Eventually I hit a clearing and saw Taz trying to shove Penny into a truck he had parked waiting for him. She fought back against him and clung to the doorframe, giving me the precious time I needed, to get closer to him.
I pulled the gun from my waistband as noise crashed through the trees behind me and aimed it at the ground by Taz’s feet. I didn’t have enough skill with a gun to hit him without potentially hitting Penny, so I aimed at his ankles and fired a shot.
I watched the dirt next to his feet cloud up into dust from the bullet and he flinched but didn’t stop. He pushed Penny in, and I knew if he got in the truck, I’d lose her.
So I aimed higher and fired again, this time hitting him in the thigh just as he slid into the driver’s seat. He still didn’t stop. As I cried out in fear, a blur passed me, racing toward the truck.
Fox.
Taz howled in pain and rounded to face me as Fox slammed into him, punching him in the face before Taz swung his knife back toward Fox’s neck. Fox pulled Taz out of the truck and the fight was on.
“Fox!” I screamed in agony and fear even as I ran around to the other side of the truck. As soon as I was around it, Penelope threw herself out of the passenger side and into my arms. “Oh my God,” I sobbed, clutching her tight as she clung to my neck bawling. I rounded the front of the truck as Houston and other bikers cleared the tree line and surrounded the fighting men.
Houston walked over to me and held his hands up cautiously as I trembled, watching past his shoulder where Fox and Taz fought for the knife. “Give me the gun, D.” Houston said, and I shook my head as confusion burned in my brain before I realized I still clutched the gun in my hand with a death grip. My hands trembled as I realized I’d just shot a man.
“Fox.” I whispered as Houston covered my hand with his and tore the gun from my seized-up fingers.
“He’s fine.” Houston said as Taz wailed in pain from behind him. “Don’t let her see it.” He nodded to Penny where she still clung to me. I held my hand over the back of her head and tried to soothe her as my eyes found Fox over the hood of the truck just in time to see him plunge Taz’s knife into his neck and then tear it to the side, cutting open the man’s entire throat.
Violent heaves of revulsion rolled through me as I cringed and buried my face in Penny’s hair at the same moment that my legs gave out as the adrenaline wore off. I fell to my ass as the fear of it all overcame me and tears poured down my face. “Are you okay, baby?” I asked, pulling back and prying her face out of my neck to look her over. “Are you hurt?”
She shook her head as tears poured out of her, “I’m scared.” She whispered and I sighed and let her crawl back in against my neck.
“Where are they?” Fox bellowed from where he just killed Taz and Houston waved his hand over the hood to him.
Fox ran around and stared down at me with eyes wide with fear, hesitating a few feet away from me as he stared at his tiny daughter in my arms for the first time.
“She’s okay.” I stuttered, gasping for breath still. “She’s okay.” I repeated like I was trying to convince myself at the same time.
He looked down and saw the blood he wore on the front of his shirt and his busted knuckles and grimaced, tearing the flannel off and wiping his hands off on it before tossing it aside.
His white tee shirt was clean of any crimson stains and he raked his hand through his hair in uncertainty.
“Let’s give them a minute.” Houston said to the other bikers as they backed up to give us space.
Fox was frozen stiff though, so I held my hand out for him and he took it, falling to his knees at my side, bouncing his eyes back and forth between me and the back of Penny’s head.
He lifted his hand and hesitated with it an inch over her hair before gently running it over the brown locks that matched his perfectly. She jolted at his touch and then slowly pulled her face from my neck to look at the man kneeling at her side, staring at her in such wonder.
