Surviving Passion (12 page)

When they reached their destination on foot, Selena saw that it was close to the town, but on the far south-eastern edge where the tree line came all the way down amongst the buildings. Cal walked up to meet them and Selena blinked. She hadn’t noticed when he was sent out ahead, and wondered how many other details she was missing while she’d been lost in her thoughts. Until Gina returned, there would be no briefing. They took the opportunity to eat however much they could stomach. Some, including Selena, couldn’t manage so much as a bite in the face of all the tension.

The group was vigilant, and everyone silently watched and listened for any sign of another human being.

When Gina arrived, the evening’s instruction began with Shane educating everyone thoroughly on his traps in a low, calm voice. There were three set in different parts of one central corridor in the trees. By the time they were finished, they all knew where each one was and how they worked. Two of the traps were pits they had filled with wooden stakes and sharpened branches. It was an old method, but effective. One of Shane’s more inventive devices was a willowy sapling that had been bent over in an arc with the end anchored to the ground. Its vegetation had been shorn off and replaced by whips that were tipped with fist-sized sharpened stones. When triggered, the sapling would snap off the ground and bring those stones down with a force that could bury them inches into the dirt or anyone standing nearby.

Finally, the women were shown to the stations where they were to cover their retreating men. They would all be close enough that they could see each other if they came out of hiding. To Selena’s pleasant surprise, each station was marked by a pile of smooth river stones, all good sizes to fit their slings. When the women were clear on their positions, everyone came together to discuss the final details.

“We have six men now,” Cal explained. “So we’re pairing up. Dan and Bear. Myself and Clint. Jimmy and Shane. Any of us wind up running back this way with men on our tail, all you girls fire at will but for the love of God, don’t hit us by mistake. It’s gonna be dark.”

“If all goes well, you won’t see us until the night is over,” Dan informed them.

A sideways look at Gina revealed an unhappy expression, but she wasn’t complaining.

“Now luckily for us, these boys have been sleeping in a few old houses real close by,” Cal continued. “That means we can do this on foot without their horses being a problem. We’re not going into any buildings. It’s going to be the quick and dirty way. They come outside alone. We’re waiting for them. We don’t want any noise. If we can’t keep it quiet, this isn’t going to work, so we’re going to try to take them out one at a time. Do not take on any pairs. Tonight’s success depends on how unprepared they are for an attack. From what we’ve seen, they couldn’t look less worried.”

“Don’t forget how many there are,” Dan put in severely. “Things can look easy when most of them are asleep, but if anyone makes a mistake and they sound off, we could be overrun.”

The daylight was fading, Selena realized with growing apprehension. Just as this occurred to her, the men broke off to prepare their ambush.

“You girls get to your places,” Cal said. “And don’t fall asleep!”

The four of them tried to make themselves comfortable as the men disappeared. They had a long night ahead of them, and it would probably be a while before they were needed, if they were needed at all. Selena grabbed one of the stones from her pile of ammunition, anxiously rubbing its smooth curves with her hand. There was no talk amongst them. The more Selena sat thinking about the possibilities of the night ahead, the more the situation rankled her. She was a mean shot. She’d been killing animals with this sling since she was a child, and hardly ever missed. She should be out there with them. What if they couldn’t make it all the way back? A silent war in her mind began. Had they made the wiser decision, or would they be better off with Selena nearby in case things got out of hand before they could get to the trees? All her instincts urged her to sneak down to the tree line so she could at least see what was happening and judge the situation for herself. What if that was a mistake, she wondered. What if she ruined everything because she wouldn’t listen?

It finally occurred to her that Dan’s judgment in this situation was probably the best. Maybe for once she should just do as he said. If his plan failed, she would not be responsible.

Selena ground her teeth as the time ticked by. She wasn’t happy. She wasn’t happy at all, and she was damn sick of being treated as if she had little more power than a child.
Is it because I’m short?I’ll bet it’s because I’m short,
she concluded.
But Dan had argued with Gina, who was taller than a lot of the men. Still, Selena was sure Gina got more respect than she did.
Maybe it’s because Gina demands it… and my sitting here is a ridiculous waste.

Selena stood.

“I’ll be back,” she said in a hushed voice, and after filling her pack with ammo, she crept towards the tree line.

“Selena! Where are you going?” Sara demanded hoarsely.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be right back,” Selena said over her shoulder. They didn’t follow her.

When she reached the forest’s edge, she hid in some low bushes and scanned the derelict houses.

After a minute of careful inspection, she discerned the faint outlines of Jimmy and Shane crouched behind opposite corners of a house in the growing darkness. There was no obvious sign of the others and she wondered if any of the enemy had been dispatched yet. At that moment, a man came walking out of one of the nearest houses. A shed partially blocked her view, but from somewhere beyond it, Cal crept up behind him like a phantom, quickly reaching his knife hand up to the man’s throat. He crumpled silently. Selena winced. Then Clint quickly came out and the two of them hurriedly carried the man behind the shed toward Selena. She kept quiet and low as they dumped the body. When they moved back toward their original locations, she saw Cal hold up three fingers toward the shadow of another house off to her right. She stared into the darkness there. Selena couldn’t see Dan, but she knew he was there. Good. She assumed three fingers meant three kills. Impressively, no one had made any sort of distinguishable sound since Selena had settled into her new spot.

There were voices. The door of the house on Shane and Jimmy’s watch swung open and a pair of men emerged.
No pairs
, Selena remembered. But to everyone’s surprise, especially Shane’s, Jimmy slunk out of the shadows toward the man in the rear. Shane scrambled silently after him.

“Idiot,” Selena hissed silently, hefting her sling.

As Jimmy performed a perfect repeat of Cal’s earlier maneuver, the man in front of them spun. In that instant, a soft crack was heard and he fell. Anyone with eyes knew that Shane hadn’t been able to reach him before the man went down. He had no warning, no reason to think Jimmy would attack two people when he had express orders against it.
At least Jimmy knows how to kill
, she mused grimly.

Selena knew she was in trouble, but didn’t give a rat’s ass. If she hadn’t brought him down that very second, he would have made noise and maybe even called out, risking all their lives.
Why would Jimmy do something like that?
she wondered with exasperation. Taking deep breaths, she tried to calm her quickened pulse. Adrenaline was a beast easily awakened. They may be angry with her for disobeying orders, but they couldn’t prove it was her and not one of the other girls. Maybe they would cover for her.

Fortunately, the men were distracted by the effort of trying to get the two bodies out of sight. Clint had gone over to help, which was a good thing because he could certainly lift more weight than Shane or Jimmy.

Selena’s skin began to prickle as she observed them.
So much for anonymity
, she thought with resignation. She glanced into the shadows where she knew he was watching. It was dark and Selena was perfectly hidden, but she knew that he knew she was there. When Clint was finished, he quietly returned to his position beyond the shed. She wished her view of that area wasn’t blocked. Eventually the sensation of Dan’s stare faded. Feeling relieved that no one was sent over to reprimand her and shoo her back to her station, she settled in more comfortably.

Selena wondered if Dan had actually seen her peek up from her bushes to fire on the man, and then ruled it out. He had surely been focused on the fight. If they had killed three already, they were up to five. In one night, they had removed a fifth of the enemy count.

Hours went by before anyone stirred again. A stoutly built man of middle height came out the front door of the house where Dan was stationed. In front of him were a porch and a few short steps down to the dusty ground. He stretched and yawned loudly outside the door. Grabbing the railing in the darkness, he took a step down and paused, staring out at the tan earth before him. Selena froze. There was a long, shiny, dark streak where Cal had made his kill about fifteen feet in front of the man.

“Hey, Jake! Ted!” He called, not moving from the porch. Selena’s mind raced. Jake? Was it the same Jake who had killed Bear’s brother? As she prayed it wasn’t so, the man on the porch called them again. So far there was no hint of alarm in his voice. Eventually the other two stumbled out the door languidly.

“What the fuck is it, man? Jesus, I was fucking sleeping. This better be god-damned important,” one of them complained acidly. He was tall and impressively built, but the other was too skinny to look threatening.

The stout one pointed at the streak, finally going down the steps. “What’s that look like to you?”

“Sheeit Dave, that ain’t nothin’. You woke our asses up for that?” the skinny one complained.

“Shut up Ted,” said the tall one, who had to be Jake. He followed Dave and the three walked over to the bloodstain. Selena blinked. Shane was gone from his place. Then everything seemed to happen at once. In a flash, Shane slammed a rock into Ted’s head while simultaneously plunging his knife into the man’s lower back, probably slicing open a kidney. As quick as he was there, he was gone, darting into the shadows only to come flying out of them in the direction of the woods a half second later. Selena hadn’t known anyone could move that fast. She was almost as disoriented as Jake and Dave were.

Jake let out a screaming whistle as soon as Shane started running. Dave pulled out a knife and took aim. Selena let fly, cracking the man’s throat just as the knife went through into the air. He fell but the knife flew fast and lodged deeply into Shane’s shoulder.

Shit!
Selena cursed her slowness and silently urged him to run for cover. Jake had darted into one of the houses as men started to filter out of their doors, knives in hand. There were so many! Her friends had already begun to scatter, all running for the trees after Shane. The coming morning light was barely a suggestion in the eastern sky. They still had darkness on their side.

She counted them all, Cal, Clint, Jimmy, and Bear. She didn’t know where Dan was, but that probably meant he had the advantage.

In the split second she had to decide, she considered running back to where the women and traps were waiting, but someone had to cover their retreat. She stayed put just as she saw the archer they had been warned about by Cal. He zipped toward her friends and knocked an arrow. Selena had learned from her last mistake. Her rock took the man full in the face and he let out a horrible scream as he fell. He never got the arrow off. As her men passed her, reaching the tree line, Selena realized that their pursuers were too close behind them for her to follow. Her moment of escape had passed; and soon over a dozen men were between her and her friends. Well that was fine, she decided with a surge of determination. She would harry their rear when they met the barrage that was waiting ahead of them.

Darting quietly from her hiding place, Selena ran. She kept her distance from the slowest of the pursuers, and wove her way through the trees far to their left. She saw Jake towards the rear center of his men, deliberately taking his time. Selena considered trying to take him out, but there was always too much undergrowth in the way.

In moments, the enemies were in range of the women. A scream tore through the night as someone met one of Shane’s painful creations. Selena caught a glimpse of someone falling into a pit.

Just as she drew close, the level of chaos multiplied. The air was alive at once with flying missiles. Gina cracked one in the shoulder and he staggered back, wounded but not beaten. Blaire’s shot flew high, almost hitting another man on accident. Sara hit one in the knee and he yelled out in anger. If the women weren’t killing their enemies, they were at least confusing them. The men began to duck low and try to creep toward the source of the barrage, but by this time, Cal, Bear, Jimmy and Clint turned to rejoin the fight.

Selena hurled another shot, dispatching her fourth victim that night. Her heart stopped as she dimly saw one of the men leap at Gina but Cal had his throat open in a heartbeat; and the woman was back up in a second, letting fly again and again.

Blaire had abandoned her sling to smash a man’s head with a chunk of wood. Someone came after Jimmy, savagely slicing out with a large blade, but he jumped back from each wild cut and darted in at just the right moment, catching the other man’s hand in time to plunge his own blade in.

Shane’s sapling whistled through the air when someone tripped it. A tied spike spun around the arm of one of their enemies, embedding itself forcefully in the flesh of his bicep. The man yelled in anger and violently freed himself before rejoining the fray.

Through the battle chaos, Selena saw a number of men reach Sara at once and dread welled in the pit of her stomach.

She readied her arm to fire when Dan came out of nowhere, intercepting Sara’s attackers. Selena could make out the blur of his form darting and spinning amongst the trees, engaging three enemies at once. One man attempted a lightning quick slash at his chest, but Dan bent backwards in the air, ducked forward under the second slash and slammed the man’s legs out from under him with a low, sweeping kick. Another sprang at him with twin daggers gleaming. Dan rolled back, smashing his dagger into the downed man’s throat to stop the momentum before jumping to his feet and circling his attacker. The man came at him slashing recklessly, but Dan stepped easily out of range. Selena blinked and Dan was behind the man, twisting his arm until he dropped his knife and screamed. His throat was open a half a second later. He turned to the next enemy who stumbled back in fear. Dan tossed his dagger effortlessly into the man’s chest. Darting over to retrieve it, he snapped the man’s neck and disappeared. Selena squinted and found that he had emerged from the shadows to flank one of two men Cal fought. Dan was a whirlwind of destruction. Until this moment, Selena hadn’t understood the tiniest fraction of his deathly capabilities. It was perfect and terrible. Another shriek brought her back to the present as she saw Bear cleave a man through the middle with his axe. Their enemies were falling like flies.