Page 83 of Senseless
“No, some fucking general who invaded us,” the woman snarled.
“Oh, even better.” I pulled back harder on the cut-away fence, trying to bend the wires back so the opening would stay. “I can’t stick around, but freeing you guys keeps the guards distracted while we ride through.”
The woman’s expression softened but she still didn’t usher everyone through. “What territory you from?”
“Four Corners.” I bent the chain links back as far as I could, then picked up my bolt cutters and started jogging toward the next yard. “You’re all welcome there if you’d like. Good luck,” I called back behind me.
The next yard had already gotten all of its prisoners inside, but the two guards were racing across the field to man the tower. I shot them both, I was moving quickly so my hits weren’t as accurate. They went down clutching their legs and radioing for backup as I cut through the links on that fence too. Hopefully the people inside could break a window or unlock a door to escape.
Our plan was working. The guards scrambled to refill the tower positions to search for us after Shadow had taken care of them, while also keeping inmates contained. I heard over the radio calls that even contained prisoners were fighting back against their guards. The people could hear what was going on before I ever reached them.
By the time I got to the last yard, there were no guards in sight, only people in gray sweats jumping for joy near the fence line. They cheered when I ran up with my bolt cutters and stood back to give me space.
“I dunno who you are, ma’am, but thank you,” said an elderly man with tears in his eyes as he leaned heavily on a cane.
“She’s an angel, that’s who!” called another man in the crowd.
“Just someone trying to help and get back home.” I gave him a weary smile. Cutting this fence was going much slower. My hands were cramping and fatigued from the heavy tool and thick chain links.
“Here, allow me.” Another man, about Reaper’s dad’s age, with silver hair, held a rough hand out through the small hole in the fence.
I handed him the bolt cutters without a second thought, grateful for the rest as he easily sliced through the wires that kept them all caged. When the hole was big enough, everyone stood aside while the most frail and elderly men were helped out first.
“Here, I got you.” I grabbed the free arm of the first man who spoke to me.
“Thank you, darlin’,” he beamed at me. “Never thought I’d live to see freedom and a beautiful woman in the same day.”
“I have to go,” I said with a returned smile. “Good luck to all of you.”
My bolt cutters were returned to me and I took off running along the perimeter, listening intently for the roar of Shadow’s bike. The alarms continued to blare in their repetitive, monotonous screeching. Excited voices of freed prisoners shouted over the panicked orders and frantic radio calls of the guards. A motorcycle the size of Shadow’s should have drowned them all out, but I heard nothing.
“Fuck, where are you?” I looked around everywhere, even skyward to see if Horus would lend me his view again. My adrenaline was running too high to get into a hypnotic state, plus there was no time. We had to get the hell out.
“Shadow!” It wasn’t smart to call out his name, to draw attention to myself, but panic started riding me hard. If he had been captured or shot, this whole plan was for naught. I could not,wouldnot, go on to Four Corners without him, even if I managed to slip through the territory undetected. I had come too far, watched him make too much progress to abandon him now.
“Shadow!”
Something slapped over my mouth, a large hand that was also pulling me backward behind a small shack just beyond the fence line. My flight response kicked in, trying to jerk free for a moment before I heard a familiar, “It’s me, Mari.”
Shadow’s hand slid away from my mouth and I took ragged, grateful gulps of air. “Where’s your bike?” I demanded in a harsh whisper.
“I stashed it and took the towers out on foot,” he whispered back. “It was too loud and they would’ve heard me coming.”
“Guess I should have thought of that,” I muttered.
“It was still a good plan.” Shadow’s gloved fingers ran over my arms and sides. “Are you hurt at all? I heard shots early on.”
“I’m good.” I smiled back at him. “Some of those were mine.”
He squeezed my shoulder affectionately. “That’s my girl. Ready to go?”
“Yeah.”
Our hands clasped together and I followed as he took off in a run slow enough for me to stay on his heels. His bike was stashed inside another shack just outside of the prison’s perimeter—an abandoned pump house by the looks of it. We both jumped into the seat, and Shadow handed me his rifle. I squeezed my thighs around him as we peeled away from the prison, keeping an eye out with the rifle, ready for any guards who spotted us.
No one came after us, the alarms and shouts soon fading into nothing as we made our escape. But we weren’t out of the woods yet and I kept my grip tight on Shadow’s gun, ever vigilant. We didn’t know what else waited for us in this hostile territory.
Only an hour after leaving the prison complex behind did I allow myself to relax a little. This stretch of highway seemed long abandoned—covered in gravel, potholes, and discarded belongings that seemed to have fallen off trucks. Rocky hillsides rose up on either side of the road and I kept my gaze lifted for anyone who might try to snipe us from above.
