Theo shouldn’t have left me to suffer alone.
As I got nearer the road, I did, in fact, second guess myself. I was turned around, didn’t know if I was even going in the right direction anymore, cursing myself under my breath. God knows what possessed me to think I could navigate through a thick woodland when I’d spent most of my life locked away.
I was an idiot, a fool, to think I would be any use. With a small cry, I twisted around, then span again, trying to get my bearings. This was a disaster. It was too dark; the air was frosty and heavy with something I couldn’t name.
Every time a bush rustled, even by my own feet, I tensed up, my heart stuttering. I’d made such a huge mistake.
My mouth opened to call for my brother, to ruin his cover, and hope I hadn’t stumbled too far in the wrong direction.
This was the way they’d gone though. It was. Both of them, my brother and my uncle, shoulders tense, legs long and stealthy. I just needed to keep pushing, get over myself and the fear creeping in.
Something in the air shifted after a few more minutes; I was near the road. I could just feel it. Then, as if from nowhere, a shadow appeared in front of me.
I opened my mouth to scream in shock when they lurched forward, a familiar hand pressing over my face. Theo. It was Theo. The relief I felt made my bones quiver. Theo.
A very displeased Theo.
Despite his anger, I smiled.
“What the hell, Vi?” he whispered to me, tension high in his body, rolling from his shoulders to the balls of his feet, making his entire body coil. “This isn’t safe!”
“I wasn’t safe back there either,” I snapped, annoyed again that he had tried to leave me out. It wasn’t fair; I was as much a part of this as they were. My body was jittery, aching for pain, for something. I frowned at him.
Theo noticed, tugging me to him with a grunt, his grumpy face in shadow. He looked behind me as he rested his chin on my head, like the enemy might leap free any second. His muscles were so hard, his entire body like a stretched elastic band.
“I felt too alone,” I muttered into his chest. “I want to be here with you.”
Theo opened his mouth to argue, his hand playing with my hair as he no doubt thought of some words to tell me off with or a way to get me back in the car, when his radio crackled. They had radios, which had made me laugh when Connor pulled them from his pocket. It all seemed so farcical. Who were these men? What was this life? I still struggled to place us within it. When I saw them move through it with such ease, it felt fake. A joke.
But Theo didn’t let me go, held me to him just as close, so I heard Connor’s voice come through the little speaker when it crackled to life. It was cold, switched off, mechanical.
“Coming round the corner now,” Connor said, and Theo swore, stepping out of my warmth and looking over his shoulder at the road. I could just make out the tarmac, shinier than the woodland ground. I’d been close, in the right direction. Go me.
“Fuck, Vi, stay back. Please wait here. I don’t want you to… see this.”
For a moment, my resolve wavered again. I just wanted to have some bloody conviction for once, to believe in myself or in our actions. Theo seemed genuine in his remorse for what was about to happen. What was he doing? What had I missed? What were he and Connor going to do—? Did I care?
We stepped closer to the road, me following Theo, who kept trying to shove me back.
A car barreled around a narrow corner, flying straight past us before the loudest, most ear-piercing screech filled the air. Metal and tarmac and rocks ground and smashed together, screamingly loud, crashing and banging. Theo turned his front toward the commotion, his shoulders raised, braced, not reacting to the noise while I brought my hands up to cover my ears, wincing. The clamor overwhelmed me.
The car skidded and spun, its tires blowing out as the entire thing careened towards the trees on the other side of the road. I watched in horror as it smashed through the tree line and wrapped itself around a massive trunk, smoke pouring from it in an instant. No people. At least the evil still remembered their seatbelts.
“Oh, my god!” I shrieked. “Was Margaret in there!?” I charged into Theo, grabbing at him. “Theo! You’ve killed her!”
What was the point of this? Killing her, not saving her. They weren’t, this wasn’t… I made to run to the car, but Theo grabbed me, yanking me back, wrestling with me to stop my feet ever touching the tarmac, to stop my body ever moving beyond the tree line.
“Vi, look!” Theo grunted out, holding my body to his with one muscular arm banded around my waist, grabbing my chin and forcing me to look at the road. Right after the first car, just seconds later, another car came around the bend. This one slower, slowing, but not to a stop. The driver was obviously freaked, unsure. Just slow enough for a gunshot to ring out and blow the tires. “Connor,” Theo muttered in my ear, and I realized he was close behind me now, crowding his body around mine. I’d sunk my body against his, the sense of safety powerful as ever. “Connor is taking out the driver of the car, then we’ll go in.”
We watched the second car roll to a stop, and Theo stepped away, checking his weapons, looking every bit the delicious bad boy he was. So damn sexy, with his hair tumbling over his forehead and his expression intense. Inappropriate. My mind was a mess. “You wait here,” he said and kissed my head. “Wait and watch. Our sister is in the second car, unharmed.”
“Who’s in the first?” I asked as he backed away. Something flashed across his eyes, but he shook his head. “Just wait here.” He sighed, hesitated. “Take this knife.” He pressed a small blade to my palm and huffed, nodding to the gun as well, before turning and striding down to the road, his weapon raised. Connor came down the bank on the other side of the road and nodded to my brother as they both reached the second car.
I watched with a stony lack of emotion as they fired into the front of the car again, screams and yells echoing into the still night as the windscreen shattered and they took more lives. This road was quiet, but it wasn’t private. Someone else could be along at any moment. I was conscious of that as my legs carried me to the first car. Across the road, where neither Theo nor Connor were looking, and along the bank towards the crushed, smoking metal.
I had to know. Had to see. My gut churned as the sounds of fighting and gunfire rang out, but I trusted Theo to be safe. He and Connor had the upper hand. They would be swift. I didn’t have much time. But something compelled me to keep stepping forward.
Reaching the car, my heart pounded as I took in the scene. Metal twisted against bark, smoke poured thick and heavy from various places, and bodies. I saw bodies. Warm, red flesh and white bone poking through. Yellow fat spilling out and onto the glass covered road. At least two people were dead. The car had flipped onto its side, leaving the front passenger hanging out the window, most of their body still stuck behind the seat belt. It was gruesome.
