“Samantha,” Magi screeches.
“Cover me,” I yell, to no one in particular. The whole of my group begins exchanging gunfire with the living guards. They appear to be coming from out of nowhere. There must have been six or seven per truck.
Trying to ignore the gunfire, I rush to the edge of the pit, trying to spot Samantha anywhere. There is so much dust thrown up from the wreckage that visibility is impossible.
“Liz,” a small voice calls out of the fog.
The dust clears just enough for me to see Samantha suspended by one hand from a very small ledge about three feet below the surface of the road.
“Hold on,” I yell down to her.
I get down on my stomach, inching closer to the edge, hoping it doesn’t give way. I can get close enough to the edge to safely reach down for her.
“A little closer,” she breaths, while trying to reach up with her free hand.
Finally, I achieve contact with her other hand.
“Swing your left leg up, and I will help you pull yourself up.”
“I think my shoulder is out of place,” she winces through the pain.
“Magi can help you when we get you up top, but for now, we have to get you out of here.”
She does as she is told and swings her foot up towards the ledge. Once it’s there, she can push up to a crouching position on one foot, although I can tell the pain is cutting through her body with every movement. Just as she pulls up to a standing position, a bullet buzzes past us, narrowly missing Samantha’s head. The guard who took the shot, dropped to the ground seconds later.
“I am going to have to thank whoever took him out later,” Samantha tries a laugh.
I pull her up the rest of the way, hoping we will be able to clear the gun shots, but before we can turn around, the gun war stops suddenly. Not another single shot rings through the air.
Looking around, it is easy to tell that each of the guards are either dead or have retreated in the third truck. At least five of them are in the truck retreating the fight.
Samantha and I hobble over to our group, hoping that everyone is still ok.
“What happened?” Dia asks, as she notices Magi on the ground.
“She got shot,” Eli says, with a frown on his face.
I look at Magi sitting on the ground. She is temporarily nursing a gunshot wound in her left bicep.
The rest of us look unharmed for the most part. Dia stands, hiding behind Mar’s leg. Her once white dress is tattered and the color of the concrete that she stands on. We all gather our things. Two of us are shot, one with a shoulder out of place, and all of us mentally and physically exhausted. We don’t know where we are heading, all we know is that Robert Towers is going to have to be willing to take us there.
If he’s not willing, I’m sure he can be persuaded to change his mind.
Chapter Twenty-One
We spent the past five hours walking down the broken road of a city once beautiful, but now lost to all human contact. Other than that of The Facility, that is. We are becoming more needing of a place to stop for the night than I think we ever have.
It will be getting dark soon, and who knows what the city holds at night.
“We need to stop soon,” Magi says while slapping another bandage on her bleeding wound.
“I can’t feel my arm,” Samantha complains.
“Baby,” Jake smirks while bumping her on her good side.
Dia and Zac seem to have taken to each other. They have chosen to team up and help each other. Zac is a good seven years older than her, but I think he is glad to not be the youngest anymore. He knows how it feels, though, and I think that is why he is taking her under his wing. They knew each other before, when we lived in the R9, but never to the extent they are getting to know each other now.
I run up to Jake as he falls back a bit.
“My mom died today,” I whisper.
“I know, Liz, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” I let a tear fall. “I didn’t get much time with her after we found them again.”
He lets his arm fall, letting his hand brush against mine. I take the hint and put my palm against his. He squeezes my hand slightly, lifting it up to his lips, softly kissing me.
“What about Dia?” I am trying hard not to become overwhelmed by the feelings of desire that comes with his touch.
“We will all take care of her,” Jake whispers.
“I knew you were going to say that. But really, we are a ready-made family at eighteen and nineteen, and that’s not normal.”
“It’s our normal.” He kisses my hand again.
We all walk in silence until we come upon what looks like an old food supply store building. I remember we had small versions of these in the R9. We took our money given to us by the government and traded it for lesser amounts of food.
“It’s abandoned,” Leah comments.
“I wonder if they left any food?” Shawn asks with childlike curiosity as his stomach audibly grumbles.
“Doubtful,” I laugh. “It’s probably been long pillaged of its contents.
“It would make a good place to stay, though,” Magi says while holding her arm.
Shawn and Eli are in the back of the group, helping encourage Robert to walk with us.
“Liz and I will check it out,” Jake says. “Zac and Dia, you will stay in the middle of the group, got me? The rest of you, stand guard.”
Dia and Zac shake their approving
