Although that plan might have failed because Luke seems convinced that he’s found them. And Ollie and Rhys won’t know they’ve been caught.
Shit. We need to help them.
Alex clearly has the same thoughts I do because he’s creeping closer to them. Harlow slinks next to him like she’s stalking prey. Tobias glances at Alex and his jaw tightens in the low light before he follows suit. For all his complaining earlier, he’s not turning back at the first sign of danger.
Good. We’re going to need all the help we can get.
I sneak behind them, gritting my teeth as my leg screams in agony at the slow, methodical pace I’m setting. Getting shot in the ass is… well, a pain in the ass. Especially when you’re trying to be heroic as fuck and saving the love of your life and your best friend.
Upon closing the distance between us and the Scourge, we find the small camp they’ve made in the middle of the forest. They have a small fire going, making it easier for us to hide in the shadows as the two thugsgo about eating their dinner, oblivious to our presence. The younger of the two looks pissed as he eats the last of his food from his pot before throwing it beside the fire.
“Did Luke say how far we are from the outbuilding?” he asks glumly while staring at the fire.
The older guy calmly finishes his food and places his pot down next to him before answering. “About two miles northeast of where we are right now.”
The young guy groans and rubs his face. “And here I thought I’d get a semi-decent night’s sleep,” he mumbles as he rubs his face.
The other man doesn’t look all that sympathetic. “Plenty of time to sleep when you’re dead.”
If it’s up to me, that’ll be sooner rather than later.
“Are there going to be any of those Lodge assholes there? Or can I actually rely on the people there?”
The older man shrugs. “Guess we’ll find out when we get there.”
It seems the Scourge and Lodge members don’t get along. I file that piece of information for later.
The three of us wait patiently as the two men clear camp, throw on their backpacks and put out the fire before beginning their journey. Thankfully, they don’t even attempt to stay quiet as they trudge through the undergrowth of the forest, making it stupidly easy to follow them. I also don’t have to worry so much about staying silent, making it much less painful for me.
But just to be safe, we keep our distance and our mouths shut.
Covering the two-mile distance takes nearly an hour since navigating through an overgrown forest in the dark is difficult as hell. But our oblivious quarry finally slow as they reach what looks to be an abandoned farm. The house is completely unusable; the structure nothing more than a burned pile of bricks, but the brick and metal outbuilding about fifty metres away appears solid enough.
Which is probably where Ollie and Rhys are holed up.
Alex stops at the edge of the forest and crouches as the two Scourge members hurry to the other side of the ruined farmhouse. “What’s the plan?” he asks as Tobias and I stop next to him.
“We need to know numbers. There’s no way in hell this Luke guy doesn’t have a large force of Scourge here to recapture Rhys and Ollie. Not since they’ve escaped once already,” I say as I scan the area in front of us.
It’s flat and open, which is great for scouting but not so great for when we need to get closer to the outbuilding. In the low light, I’m able to make out several figures, all congregated beside the crumbled house. A few others are on the opposite side, closer to the outbuilding, but with it being so dark, it’s hard to make out exact numbers.
“I count at least ten, maybe twelve, and about half of them have hunting rifles and shotguns,” Tobias whispers grimly. “Far too many for us to take out in a gunfight.”
“Ifwe end up in a gunfight,” Alex says, his own gaze flicking between the two sets of figures. “We could use our knives instead.”
“Come on, you know as well as I do that the worst thing you can do is bring a knife to a gunfight,” Tobias says with a scoff.
“Good thing we have both,” I say, patting him on the back before turning to Alex. “What’s your idea?”
“We sneak up on the guys closest to the outbuilding and take them out as quietly as we can. I reckon if we do that, we could even sneak Ollie and Rhys out of the building before they even know they’re gone.”
I think over his plan for a moment before nodding. “Sounds like a plan. Let’s go.” I go to move, hoping to use the forest for cover for as long as I can.
“Whoa, wait, what?” Tobias hisses, grabbing me before I can leave. “We’re just going to go stab a couple of guys and hope they don’t notice the dead bodies?”
I roll my eyes and shake off his grip. “I’d hoped you’d have enough sense to hide said bodies before they’re found.” Although he does havea point. While the darkness will obscure most of our killing, it won’t completely cover it up for those next to the house.
Unless…
