Even when she finally falls still, I don’t stop squeezing. I need to be sure that she’s dead, so I continue to squeeze until I’m sure that I’ve throttled the life out of her. Her dead, bloodshot eyes are staring up at me, and I swear they seem to be bulging out of their sockets just a little. When I slowly start to let go of her throat, I feel a flash of pain in my hands, as if I almost broke my fingers while I was strangling her.
In the distance, there’s a flash of light as more gunshots blast through the forest, and a moment later I hear a loud, agonized scream. Whoever Harold and Ben were after, they clearly caught up to him.
Scrambling to my feet, I hurry around Leanne’s lifeless body and start heading toward the fence. Stopping suddenly, however, I realize that instead of running away and coming up with a plan, I have to take this opportunity to free as many people as possible from the huts. Turning, I make my way past the inferno at the center of the clearing and I head to the first hut. When I reach the doorway, I see several screaming people tied together on the floor. I want to tell them that everything will be okay, but as I take a step forward I see that they’re staring at me with fear in their eyes.
“Behind you!” one of them shouts suddenly.
“Impressive,” I hear Harold’s voice say.
Turning, I see him smiling at me. Before I can react, his gun lights up and an energy blast slams into my chest.
Chapter Forty-three
“No, wait!” Deckard shouts, grabbing my arm and pulling me back as I make my way through the dark forest. “Asher, think about it for a moment! You can’t just go storming in there!”
Up ahead, screams are still rising from the burning town. Flames are filling the night sky, casting vast, constantly-shifting shadows through the forest. Staring in horror at what’s left of Steadfall, I can’t even imagine what must be happening there right now, but I know I have to help.
“Asher, I’m serious,” Deckard continues breathlessly. “You have to be smart! You have to do this the right way!”
“People are dying,” I stammer, with tears in my eyes as I watch the flames up ahead, lighting the darkness beyond the tree-line. “Steadfall’s dying…”
“Throwing your life away won’t change anything,” he points out, still holding my arm tight. “The fact that they’re screaming means they’re still alive, which at least gives us hope. Asher, we can help them, but not by running straight into Harold’s open arms. Don’t sacrifice yourself needlessly! We need a plan!”
Still watching the flames, I suddenly realize that I’ve been in a situation like this before. Long-buried memories are bubbling to the surface, and I start to remember a burning forest with the sound of vast, heavy machinery in the distance. There were soldiers all around and… No, I was one of the soldiers, and we were moving through the darkness, firing at the enemy. Up ahead, waiting for us, there were…
I almost remember who we were fighting in the war. In my mind’s eye, I see figures darting between the trees, heading this way.
“Asher!”
Turning, I’m startled as Deckard slaps the side of my face hard.
“By God,” he sneers, “you will keep your head together, do you understand?”
“I know,” I stammer, even though that brief memory has sent a flash of fear through my chest. “But what do we—”
“Down!” he hisses, dropping to the forest floor and pulling me with him.
“What it is?” I whisper, but a moment later I realize I can see a dark figure making its way through the forest, heading back toward the burning town. After a few seconds, I’m just about able to see the figure’s face and I realize with a shiver that it’s Ben. I instinctively move to go after him, but Deckard holds me back.
“He must have been sent to mop up anyone who escaped,” Deckard replies, keeping his voice low.
Again I try to get up, and again he holds me down.
“He’s got a gun,” he whispers. “He’s twenty feet away, Asher, what exactly do you think will happen if you try to rush him?”
“He has to die,” I reply, keeping my eyes fixed on Ben up ahead. “I want to kill all three of them personally.”
“He’d cut you down before you got halfway toward him,” he continues. “Asher, be smart!”
I know he’s right, but at the same time I feel physically sick as I see Ben heading toward the town. After a moment, however, he stops suddenly, silhouetted against the flames of the huts, and slowly he turns to look this way.
“Do you think he heard us?” I whisper.
We wait in silence, as Ben takes a few cautious steps in our direction with his gun raised. He’s not looking directly at us, but it’s clear that he’s got an inkling that someone is hiding out here.
“Show yourself!” he shouts. “I know you’re there, but hiding just means you’ll die when I find you! If you come out with your hands up, you still have a chance to survive!”
“Liar,” I mutter under my breath.
“I’m warning you!” he continues, taking a few more steps in this direction. He’s barely ten, maybe fifteen feet away now. “Don’t make me angry!”
“He’s not going to give up,” Deckard whispers. “He knows someone’s here.”
“What’s the plan?” Ben calls out. “Do you think you can hide and I’ll leave you alone? No chance. Do you think you can fight back? You’re all by yourself and I will root you out!”
“He thinks there’s only one of us,” Deckard mutters.
“But how—”
“When you see your chance,” he continues, turning to me, “take it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Be smart, Asher,” he whispers, reaching out and putting a hand on my shoulder. “You’re strong and you’re tough and you can do this, but you have to remember to be smart. If you can overpower him, we’ll be able to take his gun and use it against the other two.”
“Where are you—”
Before I can finish, he gets to his feet and puts his hands up in surrender. I open my mouth to tell him to stop, but a moment later I realize that he’s already been seen.
“Freeze!” Ben shouts, hurrying closer with his gun raised.
“It’s me!” Deckard tells him, stepping slowly between the trees with his hands still in the air. “Don’t shoot! It’s me!”
“Deckard?” Ben replies, clearly shocked. “How the hell did you get out from those caves?”
“I had a little luck,” Deckard explains, still stepping further and further away from me. “I couldn’t save Asher, but I managed to find a way out.”
I watch as he keeps limping away, and after a moment I realize that he’s not heading toward Ben. Instead, he’s trying to slowly draw his attention away from where I’m hiding, and it seems to be working.
“Some people just don’t know when to die,” Ben sneers, keeping his gun trained on Deckard and, in the process, starting to turn his back toward me. “What’s wrong? Too scared?”
“Kinda,” Deckard replies, edging further and further away from me. Screams are still ringing out from Steadfall in the distance. “I was thinking, maybe you could take me to your boss and we can see about cutting a deal.”
“What boss?” Ben asks, still turning to keep his gun aimed at Deckard. “Harold isn’t my boss. We work together, but he’s not in charge.”
“Doesn’t seem that way to me,” Deckard replies. “He’s the one giving orders. You and Leanne are just his little helpers, right? You do what he tells you to do?”