Static Screams

Sawyer proved to be surprisingly good at backtracking the way they’d taken us to the masonry. Twenty minutes after leaving the bumpkins we were back in town. Just in time to see Tana, Amanda, and two men disappear down a manhole. Despite being worse for wear, we had caught up to them. We definitely looked like apocalypse survivors now that we were covered in blood, sweat, and a thick layer of grime.

We waited a minute for them to get ahead of us, and then climbed down the manhole after them. My feet hit the ground first, and before Seven could even get a few rungs down the ladder, gunshots echoed through the tunnels.

“Logan!” Sawyer gasped from above ground, where he was waiting for us all to get down safely.

Bow and arrow in my hand, I took off sprinting down the rounded concrete hallway. As soon as they had all made it underground, they followed. Did I hear Holland’s voice? He’d found us. I slid to a stop where the tunnels split in two directions.

Holland and Peter had trapped the bumpkins in the tunnel, with Darren between them. Amanda had a knife pressed to his throat. While Darren didn’t look frightened for even a second, I flew into a fury. That bitch had the same knife pressed to the throat of someone else I loved. Peter noticed me standing behind Holland now, and his eyes grew wide. Hol seemed to be waiting for a perfect moment to strike, but Peter waved him off.

I knew I looked like a bat out of hell. Hair matted to my face, blood caked to my skin. I felt a rage of fire in my eyes that I knew Peter could see.

“It’s too bad,” Tana said with a smile, and a wave of a hand. “Your friends were so entertaining. Of course, they’re dead now.”

“Bullshit!” Holland’s voice gave away his panic. Tana and Amanda laughed, thrilled to have pushed his buttons.

“No bullshit here, honey,” Tana said with a smile. “That leader of yours sure was a fireball. It’s really too bad she was so fucking weak. She could have been an asset.” Oh, she was about to see who was weak. She stepped closer to Holland, as if begging him to pull the trigger. “You won’t shoot me,” she said. “And there’s no one left to call for help.” She turned, laughing. “Kill him, Amanda,” she ordered.

Now. I mouthed to Peter. He nodded at Holland, who immediately shot Tana. In that same second, Peter shot the man holding Darren’s arm, and I released my arrow into Amanda’s shoulder. All three buckled to the ground. The man was dead, and Tana wasn’t making a sound, but Amanda was yelling a string of curse words. Holland whirled around, mouth falling open momentarily when he realized I had been standing there for a minute or two.

I marched past him till I was beside Amanda. Kneeling, I pulled a knife from my belt. “You really shouldn’t have killed my friend.” Her face was quickly going pale as blood spilled from the arrow in her shoulder. She continued cursing me, calling me names with colorful adjectives. She fought against me as I rested the knife on her throat, shutting up as the cool metal pressed to her skin. “Not so fun when it’s your neck on the line, is it?”

Her eyes darted to Tana’s body as she started to move. Her head turned, and upon seeing a knife to Amanda’s throat, Tana’s face contorted in rage. “Get your hands off my sister, you bitch!” Despite the bullet wound, she had enough energy to grab a shard of glass off the dirty ground, and lunge at me.

My knife left Amanda’s throat, and found itself at home in Tana’s gut. Tana froze, and Amanda screamed. Tana stared at me, mouth open. “Go back to hell.” I muttered, as Tana’s eyes glazed over, and she slumped onto the ground.

Amanda was still screaming. “Tana! You killed my sister!”

I whirled on her. “And the two of you killed mine!” I was an inch from her face as I screamed back at her. She pulled away, crawling to Tana and holding her while she sobbed.

I left her there, clutching Tana, and stood up. Before I could get a syllable out of my mouth to Holland, I felt the adrenaline leave me, and fell to the floor.