With that, we step past the gate and into the woods. Neither of us looks back, and as the gate clanks shut behind us, I feel a strange peace settle over me. This seems like the right thing to do. I hadn’t had any doubts, but now … now I’m certain.
Onward to the future.
Chapter 17
Aron
For all that we left as quietly as possible, there are still Syndicate goons on our tail.
It’s been three days since we gave authority over the Royal Syndicate to Don Yancy, and though there’s no official price on our heads, hitmen, assassins, and hopeful upstarts have been taking potshots at us the whole time.
One guy hit Matt in the back of the shoulder yesterday. I took a bullet in the calf this morning, and we’ve had to adjust our trajectory through the woods twice to avoid other attackers. We started carrying large sticks as improvised weapons, which have worked surprisingly well. I think perhaps our pursuers weren’t expecting us to fight back.
They probably also started to back off after I caved in one assassin’s skull with said stick.
It helps that Syndicate-trained hitmen aren’t accustomed to trudging through the woods. They’re used to city streets and back alleys, not deep vegetation and tree cover. Matt and I played in the woods around the city as kids, though, and we’ve both kept ourselves fit. It’s a little ridiculous how easily we can evade them just because it’s a different environment.
The blackout tattoos are healing as well as can be expected, but what we really need is a good shower and a change of clothes. I have to give Matt credit for keeping us alive. I’ve got the knowhow to kill and cook food for us, but he’s surprisingly knowledgeable about various plants and herbs that have been useful for our backs and gunshot wounds. Considering I was at his side our entire lives, I’m at a loss to explain where he learned it all. It’s like he’s got this encyclopedic memory, storing tidbits of data like a hard drive, but I can’t figure outwherehe got those tidbits from.
“Okay, spill it.”
Matt turns back to stare at me. “Spill what?”
“How do you know all this?” I point at the handful of what I thought were weeds but turned out to be valuable herbs that are helpful in fighting off infection. “I went to the same schools you did, took the same classes. How the fuck do you know this shit?”
Matt grins. “Television. Internet. Books. Magazines. Take your pick.”
“Seriously? You’re going to tell me you learned this from documentaries and bullshit like that?”
“I’m telling you, but you’re not hearing it.”
I toss my hands up in defeat. “Because it’s insane!”
Matt wraps his good arm around my shoulders and kisses my cheek. “You’re adorable when you’re befuddled.”
“And you’re a fucking witch. That’s the only explanation.”
“Or maybe while you were busy getting married and starting a family, I was continuing my education. It’s not a big deal. Just be grateful that I know this stuff. We’d be dead in another day or two without it.”
True. I guess what I’m most upset about is not the fact that he has all this knowledge beyond Syndicate dealings but rather that he had a life outside of the one I lived with him to learn it. I’m jealous of that life, of the moments I missed by being anoblivious idiot. How did I not see how much of my life revolved around Matt, how much I needed him?
So much pain and suffering could have been avoided if I’d realized sooner …
“What are you thinking about?”
I blink with a start. “Huh?”
“You zoned out for a minute there. I don’t know what planet you were on, but it wasn’t this one.”
“Oh. Sorry.” I swipe my hand through my hair, which could use a good shampooing. “Just thinking about the way events came about. Wondering what might have happened if—”
“Whoa! Just stop right there. There’s no changing the past, so don’t bother wondering.”
I suppose he’s right. “Okay, let’s look to the future, then.” I wave an arm at the forest ahead of us. “Do we know where the fuck we’re going? I know you said we’re avoiding the city and the old Empire ranch that we burned to the ground, but that only tells me where we’re not going.”
He chuckles low in his throat. “Fair enough. There should be a river a few more miles in this direction. If we follow that downstream, it’ll take us to the next town. Nowhere special, nowhere important to the Syndicate, but there’s a pharmacy there. A motel.”
“Um, Matt? We have no money for meds and a motel.”
