Page 13 of Wanted
He wasn’t ready for the sight that made him bite his tongue to keep in a scream.
A man was crouched on the steel slope and stared right at them through large goggles reflecting the nearby light. Hewas reminiscent of an ancient warrior, with a spear pointing upwards and one hand resting between his feet for balance. In the sparse light, Liv could only get the general shape of him, but his insides shriveled at the sight of the spikes growing out of the pauldrons on the stranger’s shoulders.
For a few seconds of absolute stillness, Liv was starting to think the man was some fucked up version of a scarecrow, a freaky sculpture, which in the light of day couldn’t pass for a human, let alone frighten him.
But then the junkyard ninja creep reached to his belt.
Knox pulled on Liv’s arm as soon as the man put a horn against his mouth and blew, sending a deep, bone-chilling roar through the air.
Liv’s hand squeezed Knox’s, and he broke into a run, no longer trying to creep around but instead heading for the gravel road he spotted between a pile of three cars and the random scrap they’d passed earlier. Metal cried out as they stepped on it without care and bolted at full speed.
Now that they had left the murderers and their high-beam flashlights behind, the path ahead was so dark Liv could barely see it. Still, there were lots of places where he and Knox might hide. If he could only spot a clear passage off of the road, they could—
The headlights of a roaring truck revealed the uneven road under their feet, turning the dusky gray of the world into a scenery of high contrast, where Knox and Liv both had shadows the size of streetlamps. The vehicle stormed after them, noisily crunching gravel with its wheels and speeding their way so fast Liv feared the men intended to run them over, but just as he spotted a crevice that might offer shelter, a series from a machine gun tore through the air and made Liv and Knox drop to the ground while dust from the road spun around them in a gray cloud.
Despite the instinct to stay down, Liv tried to crawl away on all fours. But when he looked back to make sure Knox was following him, he saw him on his knees and with both hands up. The menace with the spear stood behind him, pointing his weapon at Knox’s back as if he were about to harpoon him.
“Go! Fucking go!” Knox yelled as the truck stopped behind him with a screech of tires.
Liv could have made it. Maybe.
But only if he were a different man, because the moment he saw his best friend, the friend he shared everything with, so broken, with that fucker’s spear at his nape, self-preservation became the last thing on his mind.
Like a wild animal ready to defend its mate, he charged at the crazy bastard, grabbed the spear and shoved at it so hard the metal rod making up the grip hit the masked madman in the goggles.
He’d killed for Knox, and while it left him with nightmares, he would not hesitate to do it again.
“No, you first! I’ll hold them off!” he yelled, wrestling the bastard for the spear. The beastly guy rumbled under the leather mask, but before he could have made good on his wordless threat, Knox grabbed his foot and toppled him. They were both about to make a run for it when the truck doors opened and someone cocked their gun even before stepping out of the vehicle.
“On the fucking ground! Now!” yelled a new voice as the mountain of a man approached them, with the headlights glowing sharply behind him.
Liv sought out Knox’s gaze, and when he saw its blue shade dimming in resignation, his chest ached as if the masked man had cut his friend open. He wanted to touch his chest and check, but Knox laid in the dirt, making Liv’s head spin with desperation he couldn’t contain.
This wasn’t where their story would end.
Could not be.
Instead of following the order, he kneeled right next to Knox's prone body and covered it with his, grasping at the sole scrap of information he had about those people. The only one that could prove of use anyway.
“We thought the place was abandoned, I swear. We got lost, it was raining, and it was my idea to get into the junkyard. Please… don’t hurt my boyfriend! He just followed me here.”
Knox looked up at him, but then his eyes rolled back as he went limp.
Chapter 6
Knox
Reality was a blurof lights and darkness, but a splash of water to the face brought Knox back into sharp focus. He spat, confused by what was going on, but someone was holding him upright, and as soon as he tried to speak, thick fingers stuck a pill into his mouth.
“Is he on drugs?” asked someone from farther away as Knox’s head lolled from side to side. The powdery, bitter flavor was familiar, and when he recognized the hand stroking his back as Liv’s, he didn’t question a thing and swallowed before accepting a few gulps of water from a plastic bottle offered straight to his lips.
“It’s perfectly legal medicine,” Liv said as the edges of Knox’s vision came into focus. He hated this moment of transition after his blood pressure dropped, and he closed his eyes, leaning on Liv, who sat next to him on a cold floor, which felt like it was made of… metal?
The events that had led them here spun through Knox’s mind as if he’d gotten kicked in the face. But they were still alive. And he got his meds. So maybe Liv worked something out with—
“You two punks don’t know who you’re dealing with,” Shane’s voice came like yet another punch, and when Knox looked up, his vision returning to normal, he saw a tall, handsome man watching them from behind steel bars.
His short dark hair was messed up by the hood, which was now lowered, and his forehead creased as he watched them scramble on the floor with a cigarette dangling from the lips. He had a black eye and the crooked nose of a boxer, but his eyes pierced the two of them with sharp attention.
