First World(66)

“Olden!” Lucy and half the compound girls screeched together.

Josian looked at us.

“She was our compound leader. That has to be why that Walker doorway was in our manor,” I answered for the group.

“That evil bitch,” Lucy fumed.

Samuel held her back from storming straight out the door.

“I’m going to kill her.”

Josian nodded. “Oh, yes. She’s on my list to be eliminated. But I’m worried about this power accumulation. Until we know more, we cannot confront them head on.”

I was standing close enough now that I could hear him mutter, “Need to talk to my brothers.”

I wondered, just for a brief moment, if he meant actual family brothers. Or if that was more ‘Walkers in the hood’ – buddies – bros.

Lallielle looked around. “Did he have any information that might help us escape?”

Josian nodded again. “There weren’t many people inside the warehouse when he entered this room. If we take off as a large group, we must run forward about fifty yards, and then take a sharp right, between the two large pallet stacks. That is the exit.”

He issued his command. “No heroes today. Let’s get out in one piece.” He turned back to our more intimate group. “Once we are outside these walls I’ll be able to access the doorways again and get us back home.”

I took the grenades from Josian’s pack and handed them around the room. The girls knew what to do with them.

Pulling the rolled material from my pocket, I opened it to palm two throwing knives. I slid them under the sleeve of my jacket as a makeshift wrist sheath. I flexed my hands – not perfect, but would do the job. I handed Lucy and Chrissie two knives each, leaving the last as backup.

We gathered the girls together.

“Alright, everyone listen closely.” Josian had no problem capturing the attention of the room. “We’re going to escape now. We will exit as one group. I will lead and I expect you all to follow.”

I bit back my ‘sir, yes, sir’ which sprung immediately to mind. A sense of energy and life was filtering through the group.

“Wait a few minutes for the grenades to do their jobs,” I reminded them.

As Josian hit the lights, throwing the room into darkness, he stepped up and opened the door. Those with grenades stepped forward, and as soon as they’d all left our hands I slammed the door closed again. We could not run out into that yet.

I gave us as much leeway as I could, but it was time to leave.

We bolted from the room, through dispersing clouds of smoke. Josian charged ahead. I was close to his heels, with Lucy beside me. The room was huge, a well-lit warehouse. And it looked like it was currently being used to store thousands of stacked box pallets. Whether from the ‘nades’, or something else, we had a clear path in front of us.

But not for long.

Black-clad security guards began to run from everywhere. None of them had their guns out yet, so we still had a chance. Plus they were a little wary of being stampeded by our mob.

I had a glimmer of hope that we were going to make it out unscathed. Then Olden stepped into the end of our pathway, a large machine gun in her outstretched hand.

“Machine gun! Take cover!” I screamed before diving off the passageway as the first of the bullets echoed around the cavernous room.

I had managed to grab Lucy’s hand and take her with me, but I couldn’t see anyone else. Olden continued to fire. Bullets rained relentlessly.

Breathing in a harsh, jagged manner, I attempted to push my panic aside – I couldn’t help anyone if I was having a heart attack – before moving further behind the table.

I barely breathed until there was a lull in the fire. It would take her sixty seconds to reload, just enough time to assess the situation. I peeked around the corner. My heart hammered as I saw the scattered bodies in the pathway. I gagged at the sight of masses of blood.

Olden’s gun had carved a destructive path through the group. She was in the same spot, right at the junction of our lane, wearing her usual overconfident self-satisfied expression. There was a large male guard on each side of her.

Smiling broadly, she rested the gun over her shoulder.

I couldn’t tell who was down. There were too many body parts scattered, although my frantic eyes continued to survey the destruction. Breathing in heavy pants, I pulled back behind the table.

“Abigail, nice to see you again.” Her voice echoed around the room. “How terrible, a few of your friends did not make it.”

She chuckled after that, like this was the most fun she’d had all year. Freak.

“What do you want, Olden?” I yelled over my shoulder.

As we waited for a reply, Lucy and I moved back against the table.