Page 3 of Bones
A bright light shone right on my face and a strangled exclamation cut through the silence. Hands reached into the safe, grabbing my arms and dragging me out to lay on the cold floor. Someone spoke in a harsh, angry whisper I couldn’t make out, but a body knelt beside me and cut the zip ties around my wrists. The blood rushed back into my hands. I wanted to lash out, to run, but I remembered now, Wolf’s voice thundering in my head. I cracked my eyes open, squinting in the light. Shadowy figures filled the room, but they sure as hell weren’t the mercs. I tried to focus on the scraps of whispered conversation I could hear.
“—believe that little fucker lied. There’s nothing here!”
“—end well. Fuck!”
“—leave her. We gotta get outta here.”
The person beside me reached out, and I instinctively flinched. They withdrew and set the flashlight on the floor, illuminating a handsome male face. He looked somewhere in his mid to late twenties with a strong jaw covered in light stubble. His brown eyes—gentle eyes—widened in concern, and that told me all I needed to know.
“—not gonna hurt you.” He reached a hand out to me again. “Can you walk?”
I nodded, shaking. I tried to push myself up but then sank back with a hiss of pain. He fell for it. His brow drew together in concern, and he seized my arms, helping me to my feet. I wobbled on one foot, keeping my other foot raised as though it hurt to walk on. He ducked under my arm, supporting my weight as I pretended to limp. Maybe my leg was fine, but I didn’t have to pretend to need his support. Thanks to the blood loss and hunger, the room wouldn’t stop spinning, forcing me to lean on him. The other shadowy well-armed figures bled out of the room, scouting ahead. Their guns glinted in the dim light as we crept down the hallway, and all five of them blended into the shadows with their dark clothing.
A cool breeze blew in from the open window at the end of the hall, and I studied it as we grew closer. It looked big enough for me to fit through and a flat roof stretched out below it. Perfect. My companion and I brought up the rear of the group, and the other four passed the window and turned down the next hallway. Once we reached the window, I doubled over, moaning in pain. He fell for it again, hook, line, and sinker, crouching down to look at me.
“Hey, are you?—”
As soon as he crouched down, I threw my shoulder into him, hard. I glimpsed the surprise on his face as he went down, tripping over my foot that I’d placed behind his, but I ducked through the open window, dropped onto the roof, and ran. My bruised body screamed in protest and my head swam, but the flood of adrenaline helped me push past it. My feet pounded across the concrete. Behind me, I heard bodies drop onto the roof in pursuit. I didn’t dare look back. The edge of the roof loomed in front of me, and I didn’t pause, throwing myself into the darkness and praying to any gods listening that I would land on something besides the ground.
I collided hard with a ramshackle patched-up tin roof and pain stabbed me through the chest making me gasp. My knees and palms burned as I tried to get a grip on the tin, slicing my skin on the sharp edges. I slid way too close to the edge before I finally stopped myself.
A body landed with a thud on the roof somewhere nearby, and I pushed myself up and took off again. The pain in my chest twisted with each breath, but I didn’t have time to examine it. No one yelled at me to stop, but they were trying to steal me from the mercs, so that made sense. I wished theywereyelling so I could have some idea of their location.
The small buildings in this town sat almost on top of each other, sharing walls to reduce building materials, which meant I could easily run across the roofs but there wasn’t much cover. I jumped a crumbling stove pipe and made a sharp turn left. I couldn’t see my pursuer anywhere. I needed to get to the ground. It’d be easier to disappear?—
A furious shout rang out and then gunfire erupted behind me.
I swore, flinging myself to the roof on my stomach. Bullets sprayed around me, but a stolen glance revealed it wasn’t the mysterious gang pursuing me. The mercs poured onto the roof.
The gang scattered, ducking for cover and returning fire. I swore again, trying to crawl forward on my stomach. I did not want to get stuck in the middle of a gang war.Again.
The gunfire moved away, and somebody let out a strangled scream. I started to scramble to my feet. I just needed to get off this damn roof before?—
A body slammed into me, crushing me back down against the roof and knocking all the air from my lungs.
“Don’t move,” a voice growled in my ear.
His weight pinned me to the roof. I finally gasped in a lung full of air, and then bullets sprayed around us again, tearing up the tin roof. I tried to kick away from my captor, panicked.
“Don’tmove!” he hissed again.
I gritted my teeth to keep the whimper from getting out and forced myself to go still. As soon as the gunfire eased, he moved, dragging me in a crouch behind the remains of a brick chimney. His hand gripped my arm like a vise. I couldn’t get a good look at his face, but somehow I knew it was the one who’d tried to help me earlier.
“Get her back!” The scream came from somewhere behind us. “Find her! Get?—”
Gunfire swallowed up the rest, and I prayed to the gods somebody put a bullet in that merc.
I took advantage of the moment and tried to wrench my arm free. He moved so fucking fast and suddenly trapped me with my face against the crumbling chimney and my back against his chest. His arm wrapped around my neck in a chokehold and tightened. I panicked and clawed at his arm, black spots dancing in my vision.
Do not fucking panic!Wolf barked.
I slumped in his hold, pretending to pass out. He relaxed his arm so I could breathe but continued to hold me against his body. As soon as I could, I sucked in a breath and twisted my chin so I could sink my teeth into his forearm. He swore as he wrenched free, and I tasted blood. I tried to duck under his other arm, but suddenly bullets slammed into our hiding place. The noise deafened me. Pieces of brick-and-mortar flew everywhere. Both of us dropped back down behind the sorry shelter of the chimney. He grabbed a handful of my jacket and yanked me toward him. I braced for a blow, but instead, he swung me around to trade places, giving me more cover from the bullets.
I didn’t have much time to process that before he let out a strangled gasp that told me he’d been hit. He fell forward onto his knees, his hands grabbing at his gut, and slumped on top of me. I shoved at him as his weight crushed me for the second time, and he rolled off onto his back beside me. I struggled up to my knees, trying to peer around the chimney when a hand snagged my jacket. I snarled as my gaze snapped back down to him. Couldn’t he just die already?
“Road past Ace’s is clear,” he groaned out each word, but his eyes stayed sharp on my face. “Run.”
I hesitated. He wasstillhelping me? Of course, it could be a trap, but even in the dim moonlight, I could see the dark blood oozing out between his fingers. I could smell it, thick and coppery.
