“So that makes four including Fang and the other guy,” Dante added.
“Right. We’ve got four shooters. From what I can tell, only two of them have automatic weapons. Fang and the other guy might be going back to the SUV that pulled up, so let’s get these two guys out of the way,” Cole said.
“Piece of cake,” said Dante.
“Yep, piece of cake. Give ’em hell, boys,” Cole said, and the night erupted around me.
I crouched down against the roof of the car, wishing I’d stayed inside it. Gunfire blasted all around me. There was the rapid fire of Fang’s backup gunmen. Then there was the pulsing gunfire of Cole and his men shooting back.
My rescuer fell to the ground in front of me. He’d been shot by one of Fang’s men. I quickly grabbed the rifle from his hands.
“No offense,” I told his dead body as I grabbed the weapon and held it against my chest. I knelt back down against the car and listened to the gunshots all around me.
The gunfire started to thin out. I heard a couple of cheers as one of the automatic weapons was silenced. Then I heard a couple more assault rifles go out. The Overlords were down to just Dante and Cole.
They closed in on either side of me, pressing against the car.
“We’ve got the one guy out there, and it looks like Fang and his other shooter are in the car,” Cole told him.
“I’ll get this guy. You start heading over there,” Dante said.
“You sure?” Cole asked.
“Oh yeah, I’ve got him.” Dante turned around to face the car and started stepping to the side, walking to the back of the car until he cleared it.
I closed my eyes. I didn’t want to see Dante get taken out by one of Fang’s men. I heard both of their guns go off—Dante’s and Cole’s. I didn’t look to see where Cole was shooting.
“Alright,” Dante cheered.
“Yeah, now it’s just me and Fang,” Cole said.
“I’ll cover you,” Dante told him as he started to walk away.
The night went silent again. I hated the silence. At least with the gunfire, I knew what was going on. I could hear the action and tell where everything was. In the silence, the only thing I could hear was the hum of the SUV’s engine, the car Fang’s other two shooters had pulled up in.
I wanted to run out in front and grab the automatic weapons that were lying next to his two dead shooters, but I didn’t know who or what else was out there waiting on us to make a move like that. For all I knew, as soon as I ran out to grab one of those guns, someone would have opened up on me, taking me out.
“The tension is killing me,” I said out loud, unable to hold it in any longer.
“Me, too, Sasha,” Dante said. “Me, too, but Cole’s got this. They were literally face to face a little while ago, and they didn’t do shit. I don’t know what the deal is with those two, unless they’re waiting for some special main even style fight. Wait, he’s trying to say something.”
I stood up and turned around to face Dante, to see if I could catch what Cole was trying to tell him.
“He’s not here,” I heard him shout over the SUV.
“What do you mean, he’s not there?” Dante asked, lowering his gun.
“Uh, Dante,” I said, feeling an arm wrap around my neck and the barrel of a gun press against my temple.
“Oh shit, Cole. We found him,” Dante said as he turned around to see Fang with me in his grasp.
“Tonight just keeps getting more and more interesting, don’t you think?” Fang asked Dante as he started to pull me away from him.
“Hey, man, just let her go,” Dante urged him. “This beef is between you and Cole. Leave her out of it.”
“Oh, she’s going to be left out of it. Where’s Cole?” he demanded. “I want him to witness this.”
“Witness what?” Dante asked. “What are you planning on doing, Fang?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I’m going to kill this traitor, and then I’m going to kill the two of you.”
For some unexplainable reason, I wasn’t afraid he was going to shoot me. Maybe it was because I’d been through so much already, but it felt like he was bluffing. It felt like Fang was just trying to use me as a distraction so he could buy some time to find an escape. I could almost hear it in his voice. He wasn’t about to kill anybody. He was about to try to run like the coward he was.
“Put your weapon down, Dante,” Fang told him, and I was surprised to see Dante comply.
He raised his hands and lowered the rifle he had to the ground, slowly, carefully. He stood back up without taking his eyes off of Fang with an arm around me and the gun to my head.