Pulling out my phone, I shoot her a text:Sorry I can’t be there right now, baby girl. I will come see you soon.
Watching the sent turn into delivered and then read, I pocket my phone. Now she knows I’m thinking of her and haven’t forgotten what happened.
Rhett spreads the maps out on the table. It’s full of red circles and blue tracking lines. The Board’s houses. “We need to move tonight. Hunt is tomorrow,” he says.
Bam cocks his head. “Weapons?”
Rhett nods to the gear pile. “Everything we need. And then some.”
The plan is simple, in the way a guillotine is simple. Find the heads, line them up, let gravity do the work.
We pour drinks. The taste is acid on my tongue, but it burns the fear away.
Colton raises his glass. “To the last man standing,” he says.
I clink mine against his, the sound sharp as a bone snap.
Bam grins, already plotting. Rhett lights a cigarette and lets the smoke spiral toward the ceiling.
Caius refills his glass, then lifts his phone to snap a picture of the group, like it’s a high school reunion. For a second, we are young again. Untouchable.
Then the moment passes.
I go to the porch, letting the cold bite my skin. I stare out at the woods, at the sky low and heavy with storm.
I hear the voices behind me, the laughter and the bickering, and for the first time in years, I feel the sharp edge of joy.
We are going to destroy them.
We are going to win.
I stand there, hands in my pockets, until the others drift outside. They join me, shoulder to shoulder, eyes forward.
No one says a word, but it’s enough.
It tastes like destruction, rebirth and the blood of those who wronged us.
We are the last of our kind.
And soon, we will be the only ones left.
“How are we going to kidnap 14 people and transport them all in time for the full moon?”
“No worries, Jules, my cousin and his buddies are around. They’re already getting the tranqs ready. Easy as putting a baby to bed,” Cai grins.
Bam looks skeptical. “I dunno, babies are hard to put to bed aren’t they?”
Cai rolls his eyes, “Yeah, but whatever man, just… it’ll be fine. They know what they’re doing. They’ll have their men do a timed attack, transport them to the ritual field and we all just need to be there.”
He opens his phone, dials a number, and waits. “Slade,” he says, when the call is answered. “We’re good with the plan. You have the feeds?”
A low, rumbling voice on the other end. Even his phone voice sounds like a threat. That would be a man I wouldn’t fight unless I absolutely fucking had to.
“Good. Stand by,” Caius says, and ends the call. “Slade’s been on the campus security team for three months,” he explains. “He’s mapped every camera, every patrol route. He’ll get the targets in no problem.”
Bam lifts his glass, toasting the air. “To family.”
I look at my watch. The hour hand is almost at midnight, but no one is tired.
