Chapter Four
I know deep down Jake would never show himself if it wasn’t a last resort, I wonder if he has a plan of some kind. Shawn, Samantha, Magi, and Zac are the only ones still out there that could help us, unless he and one of them have an idea of how to get us out of this mess, I don’t know what we will do.
“Stand by them,” the stranger says as he points at the group of our friends that have already been found. “Don’t get any bright ideas like reloading your weapons. I have a keen eye and am an expert marksman… You wouldn’t get that far.” He snickers in the joy of thinking he is gaining the upper hand. “After all, you saw what I did with Eli’s gun didn’t you?”
Jake walks over towards Eli, Mar, and Leah, picking up his gun as he goes. Slowly, the pressure from the gun to my head and my hair being pulled releases, and I begin to walk toward Jake, the stranger matching me step for step. As soon as I reach the group, he grabs Mar by the hair and begins to pull her away from Eli.
Eli starts to reach for her but with little usefulness.
“I wouldn’t,” the man says, pointing his gun at Eli yet again.
It has also become increasingly obvious that this man and his gun are running things around here.
Standing back where he and I were just moments ago, Mar has taken my place. I can tell by the look on her face she is trying to be brave. Most likely for her little brother’s sake, but it could also be to show this man that he doesn’t own us.
“Come on, little brother,” he says.
I look around, trying to see if Zac will give up his location or not. He would always choose saving his sister over his own safety, but he is nowhere to be seen.
“Zac, you don’t have to come out if you don’t want to,” Mar yells into the void. “You be brave, ok?”
A rustling sound comes from a tree in the near distance causing us all to look that direction. It isn’t Zac, though; it is Magi, and she is climbing down out of an old Elm tree. We all gasp in surprise, thinking she would be one of the last ones to came out.
“What’s this?” the man asks in mock surprise. “Alright, I was trying to weed Isaac out, but Magi, you will work nicely. I know all about you.”
Magi makes her way to where Mar and the man are standing. She has both hands in the air with no gun in sight. I know she carries one, but it might be in her backpack.
“Where do you want me?” Magi asks, “and I hardly believe you know all about me.”
“Where is your weapon?” He asks the question I was thinking. He grabs her arm with his free hand and spins her around to face him.
“I don’t have one,” Magi responds while mustering up the most disgusted look I have ever seen cross her face.
“I do not believe that for a second,” he counters. “My intelligence tells me you are also good with guns. You wouldn’t be out here without one.”
I take a good look at Magi and notice she does not have a backpack on either. That bag is the only bag which has our needed Methrodine and The Defender in it, along with some protein liquid and antibiotics, she would not risk it being taken or The Defender being discovered. She would leave it in the woods before she turned it over to the likes of him.
“Search me,” she says, with a surprisingly cocky tone to her voice. “I have no place to hide a gun or even a knife.”
The man forgets about Mar all together, letting her briskly walk back to our group and proceeds with checking Magi for any kind of weapon. The search is a bit more thorough than I would like to witness. To my surprise, she was telling the truth and did not even have a small blade on her.
She must have a plan, she has to.
As Magi distracts the man with searching for guns, a knife, or anything deadly, I notice Jake nod his head in the direction of the woods that we had come from. The nod was so slight I couldn’t tell if it was a sign or a coincidence.
I give a small smile as I see Zac climbing out of a tree behind the man. He is followed by Shawn, and they both have their guns at the ready. Shawn has Magi’s bag on as well as his own, which makes sense as to why she doesn’t have it with her. Moments pass by, and the man has no clue they are behind him.
“Go!” Jake shouts.
The abrupt and loud sound of Jake’s voice distracts the man, causing him to turn towards our group. Shawn runs at full speed taking Magi down and out of gunshot range. As soon as they hit the ground, Zac takes aim, shooting the man square between the shoulder blades.
The stranger goes down to his knees at first and then hits the dirt right at my feet.
Magi gets to her feet, helping Shawn up as she stands in an upright position. She then walks slowly towards the man on the ground, reaching down and feeling for a pulse as soon as she reaches him.
“He’s still alive,” she says.
“Well, let’s finish him off then,” Shawn says with his gun already pointing towards the man’s head.
“No,” Jake says,
