Page 94 of The Devil's Redemption

But how am I going to get out of here? I remember seeing tools or something on one of the walls when we got here. A sickle is no match for a gun, but if I can get to it without being seen…

That’s never going to happen.

Once Jasper continues walking, I stand, ready to sneak to a location that he’s already checked. Hopefully, he won’t do another lap around the barn to look again. I scoot around the left side of the stack of hay, opposite of the direction Jasper just went. Just before I take off back to the other side of the barn, I feel a hard body at my back, and a hand clasps over my mouth.

I try screaming, but then I hear a voice I recognize whisper in my ear.

“Stay quiet. I’m going to get you out of here.”

I stop struggling, and tears of relief begin to pool in my eyes.

Stone.

Ineverin a million years would have thought I’d be so happy to see him. Still with his arms around me, we step farther out from behind the hay. He stops suddenly and pulls me back into the shadows. Letting go of me, he whispers again.

“Don’t move,” he instructs.

I hear a rustling of fabrics coming from him, and I wonder what on earth he’s doing and why we’re not already out the door.

“Take my shirt.”

Oh.

If I weren’t already so scared, I think I’d be smiling. The gesture that he just made, not to mention coming in here and saving me, speaks volumes. I thread my arms under his and around his torso.

“Thank you,” I cry into his chest.

“You’re welcome, but we need to hurry up, Sasha.”

“Yeah,” I agree, letting him go and throwing his shirt over me.

Stepping out from behind the hay bales once again, we slowly and quietly walk toward the front of the barn. Stone helps me with my balance as I hobble along. I don’t see or hear Jasper anywhere. Where did he go? I peer around Stone and see that Blade is no longer laying on the ground.

My breath hitches.

Did he get up himself, or did someone come in here and carry him out? Where are the rest of the Skull, and why didn’t they all charge in here? I look toward the door, and I see Rooster laying on the grass just outside of barn, a bullet hole through his head.

One down, one to go.

I don’t like that Jasper appears to be nowhere around. Something isn’t right. I look behind me as Stone helps me to the door. That’s when I see Jasper step into the light from the back of the barn, gun raised and a look of hatred on his face as he shoots daggers at Stone.

“Stone,look out!” I scream.

He stops in his tracks and looks behind him. Without hesitation, he curls his body around mine at the same moment that the gun goes off. A second later I hear another shot, but this one comes from the opposite direction. Something heavy collapses onto the floor as SoCo sprints through the door of the barn.

“Don’t even think about it, motherfucker,” he threatens.

I hear another gunshot, and I scream. As Stone releases my body, I begin shaking. I’ve reached my limit. I truly think my fear and anxiety is going to pull me under and swallow me whole. When I turn around, I see a little blood dripping down Stone’s arm.

He took a bullet for me?

“Are you okay?” he asks me, but I don’t answer... I don’t know how.

Shouldn’t I be asking him that?

But I assume he’s okay, because he seems to have his wits about him, unlike me. I just stare at him for a moment before my eyes travel to SoCo and Jasper. Pretty Boy jogs into the barn next and helps SoCo with him. He’s cradling his blood-covered hand to his chest. SoCo must have shot him in the hand to keep him from shooting at Stone, or anyone else, again. I don’t see a gun anywhere near him anymore. SoCo and Pretty Boy tear him off of the ground and force him onto his knees in front of Stone and me.

As SoCo keeps him in place with a gun to his head, Pretty Boy comes over to Stone and me.

---