On the edge of a full-fledged breakdown, he lands a punch near my right kidney. Playing with fire, I expect to get burned. Still, I am hopeful. His mental instability will cause him to make mistakes.
Perhaps I'm equally delusional because I still believe Axel will save me.
My whole body aches as we exit the building. While we were in the office, a storm must’ve developed. While the wind whips my hair, the rain instantly drenches me to the bone. Every few seconds, lightning flashes and lights up the now-empty hill.
Where did everyone go?My head on a swivel, I search for any signs of life as we pass through the damaged front gate. Hanging on one hinge, it bangs against the charred wood of what used to be the gatehouse.
Under the enormous fir tree, he shines his phone on my paper airplane. Before the downpour, he probably could’ve stuck his head out the window and used a stick to dislodge it. Now, the soggy bill flutters near the top of the thirty-foot pine, impaled by a sharp branch.
Wulf, where are you? Tears well. Perhaps Lewis wasn’t lying when he said they all died. A sob escapes me, but I hold it back. I can’t afford to break down, not with so much at stake.
“Get it.” His AK points at me, yet I’m not too worried. He must have a fear of heights. Otherwise, I would already be dead.
The fierce wind troubles me more than his weapon. Of course, the damn thing got stuck at the tippy top. There’s no way those uppermost branches will support my weight. If I factor in my dizziness with my injuries, I estimate zero chance in hell of achieving my goal.
“Helium, hydrogen…” Chanting to myself, I grasp the prickly trunk and lift my foot onto the lowest branch.
With one down and a hundred to go. I inch my hands further up. The process is repeated until I can climb no more. Now, at least three feet above me, the soaked C-note waves in the wind.
“I’m sorry. I can’t reach it. Perhaps we can-”
“Get me the damn paper.” When Lewis fires his weapon, bullets whizz by my face. Some break branches, while others create holes in the vinyl siding.
Wishing I had more upper body strength, I pull the branch holding the one-hundred-dollar bill closer.
Stretching long, hanging on by my toes, I reach out my hand until I can pinch the wet paper between my index and middle fingers.
“Got it!” The branch I’m standing on snaps, and the tree wobbles.
Arms flailing, I fall.
Chapter 22
“The tiger and the lion may be more powerful… but the wolf does not perform in the circus.” — Mahendra Mogaveera
Axel
By the time I dispatch the last moron who dares keep me from my wife, a deluge of rain falls, reducing my visibility. Slipping on the mud, ignoring the forty-mile-per-hour gusts, I sprint down the hill in the dark. Once I reach the office building, a part of my brain registers the lack of gunfire. Hopefully, the survivalists have surrendered, allowing my pals to tuck the ladies safely into the hotel room.
Inside Lewis’ private lair, I curse.Where is she?
“For fuck’s sake, you’re not helping,” Gwen sounds so close I turn, expecting to see her.
Oh shit.I race to the open window, lightning strikes, and my heart jumps into my throat. At my eye level, she wobbles near the top of a tall pine.
“You’re almost there. Get it.” From this angle, the asshole below remains hidden behind the thick boughs outside the fence.
The storm intensifies. My wife stretches her fingertips toward the paper airplane containing the microdot. With the tree swaying in the wind, on tiptoes, she tugs a branch down to her face. While she leans over, the branch she stands on bends precariously.
I have only moments before it breaks.
Praying for a Hail Mary, I shove the desk off a four-by-six area rug. After I fold it in half, I wrangle it out the window and toss it over the barbed wire. Next, I climb out the opening, push off the building, then land on the protective surface. As the razor wire collapses under my weight, I swing my legs to the other side of the fence, clutch the carpet’s edges, and slide with it to the ground.
Worried Lewis may have heard, I peek around the corner. My held breath releases when he ignores me. Instead, his eyes remained glued to my wife directly above him. Two of her fingertips inch toward the bill.
Babe, don’t do it,I call silently, but it’s too late. When the wood snaps, her arms thrash in the air. As she wobbles, I monkey up the chain-link fence and throw the carpet over.
A second later, her body bounces off the thick wool. Unmoving, she lands on the ground back inside the compound, the bill held in her fist.
