Chapter 41
Special Forces
Calvin
“Penny, go home,” I yell.
She looks at me with mournful eyes. Eyes that seem to saylet me bite him. But then she turns and takes off. I just hope she doesn’t run into any other pirates. I’m hoping to hell that Haley gets my signal. The asswipe doesn’t, so I don’t move.
He screams, “Go.”
I watch as Penny runs through the jungle away from me. Thank fuck she doesn’t turn back around and look at Haley behind the tree. I’m holding my breath, hoping that Haley understands I would never yell. But the one command that damn dog knows certainly is helpful right now. I can only see the fluff of her tail.
The pirate follows my eyes; he has the gun pointed directly at my chest. I see him flick his eyes to the dog. It’s a momentary decision he makes. He fires into the jungle.
I scream “No!” as loud as I can, not necessarily because I think he’s going to hit the dog—there are too many things in theway—but because I’m afraid that Haley is going to scream as well behind the tree, or worse yet, show her face. I need Haley to know that I’m not hit.
But neither thing happens. She’s a fucking brilliant woman. We’re lucky to have her in our lives.
Now I’m just hoping she doesn’t try anything stupid, like taking the gun out of the pack and coming after us. Not looking back where I know she’s hiding is killing me.
“Go,” the pirate says again.
I’m grateful for his command. I’m more than willing to get out of here, to put some distance between me and Haley. I have no idea how many of them are on the island; I can only hope they don’t find her.
He’s got the barrel pushed into the middle of my back, and he seems to know where he’s going. I do too. He’s leading me right back to camp. It’s not the easiest way—there’s a stream to cross—and I’m hoping that at some point he gets distracted and I can overpower him.
He’s not much of a man—scratch that. He’s a good foot shorter than I am, but he’s got some muscle to him, so I have a feeling it would be a fair fight, but he won’t go down without trying. What I really need to do is get far enough away from Haley that he doesn’t realize she was with me. Because right now, I don’t think he does. I’m just a castaway lost in the woods with his dog.
He cuts a sharp right, heading north. The stream’s pretty wide right here, but he pushes me in. “Go,” he barks.
This is the spot. This is where I’m going to overpower him. I walk through the water, hands still in the air. He’s got the gun on my back. The rock under my foot wobbles but steadies under the weight of my second foot. The balance changes as the pirate steps onto it. I step off it with my left foot, and with my right heel I push it downstream. It knocks him off-balance, and with theforce of the rushing water, he stumbles. His gun disappears into the stream, his eyes flare, and I smile. It’s not nice to smile.
He comes straight at my core. I don’t know what he thinks he’s doing. He pushes me back, but I’m braced for him, like he’s a linebacker blitzing at me in a game. I wrap him up, throw him over, and drop him under the water.
I hold him there, my frustration at this whole island playing out in front of me. I hold him down for Haley. I hold him down for Emily and the crew on the other raft. I fucking hold him down for the murdered villagers on the other side of the island.
I’m going to hell for sure. Because his squirming and gasping open mouth are bringing me a rush of fucking joy. He pulls at my arms as bubbles leak out his mouth... until they don’t anymore. I hold him there for another second until I’m sure he’s not going to be able to come back from this. I’m definitely not coming back from this, but one thing is clear as day: he won’t shoot at another dog.
I should have just let him go, because then I hear it—the cock of a gun behind me.
“Hands in the air,” another pirate says.
I clench my eyes shut and turn around, one hand still on the drowned man, the other in the air. But it’s not just one man, one pirate—it’s three. The one who gave the command waves with his gun.
I come out on the other bank. These fuckers must really want us alive. He watched me finish off one of his men and didn’t shoot. I crawl up onto the bank. One of them kicks me in the ass, and I go sputtering to the ground, ferns in my face, but I jump up as quickly as I went down.
There’s no running, not with three of them.
“Move.”
One of them picks up his radio. They’re talking, but I don’t understand anything. It’s fast, but it almost feels like hedoesn’t understand what the other guy is saying either—there’s confusion on his face.
One of the others jumps into the stream, pulls the guy out of the water, but not a second later, the one who seems to be in command has all four of us marching away from the water, away from Penny, away from Haley and the body on the bank. And I’m hoping they don’t have anybody else. But there’s nothing I can do. I’m outmanned, outgunned.
Easton
I’m sitting in the thicket. I have been for a while, my arms sore and stiff from not moving. I fucking hate this. I fucking hate hiding—hiding because of my family, hiding because of who I am. We’re here because some crazy person needed to off my family, wanted us all dead, and here I am again, hiding. It’s fucking wrong. I don’t know why I ever let them talk me into it, but I’m not gonna go bursting out of here now.
