Free The Effacing (Book 1.5): Valley's End by T. Anwar Clark Page B

forcefully shoved their clenched fists in the toes of their combat boots, and the bogus mercenaries hauled them between a freshly built concrete laundry mat and a two-story brick bodega.
       “I’m guessing this is what happened to the others?” Ann queried, as the children and mothers, along with the new versions of Baker and Itchy, filled the vans.
       Rebekah didn’t smirk. As a fact, she refused to amuse her sass, even though that was what happened to the new guys – only the new guys tied up each other until one was left. Rebekah knocked that one out with the butt of the MTAR, finished the job herself and stepped off.
       “Where the guys,” Maria asked, catching up.
       Rebekah paused, shifted her head away from Maria and looked around. Near the vans, the survivors scavenged through the soldiers uniforms and confiscated their firearms. The girl in the parka swapped out her get-up for a uniform, the trendy kid in the striped shirt and tight jeans grabbed the other outfit. The lucky owners of new BPVs were just a couple random college school kids with fully loaded .45s.
       Rebekah focused in the direction of the debris-encrusted sidewalk. The other survivors, still anxiously waited on their next commands. Four separated groups, one on each street corner, huddled together in the dark, a block over. “They blew up the road. Like… 4 of them… searching around… coming out a—”
       “What—” Maria loudened.
       Ann briskly reacted, slammed her hand over Maria’s mouth without a second to spare, looked to Rebekah and frowned. “Where are the fellas?” she said, lowered her hand from Maria’s hot spot.
       “No sign of them in the wrea—.” Rebekah answered.
       “You could have said something earlier.” Maria said, calmed.
       “There was no need.”
       Neshia approached the argument.
       Ann jumped back in. “What do you mean,” she stated. “We’re here waiting on them to—”
       Rebekah raised her voice a notch, but continued to speak in the same mannerism. “I heard trucks and gunfire coming up Maison from the west side. It was them. By now they should be on their way across the pit, and we’ll meet them there.” then looked to Neshia.
       Neshia slightly raised her head. Her heart skipped a beat when she’d heard the vital information she needed to know about her father. He was on the way, or already there.
       “Across a pit,” Maria asked.
       “That explosion everyone heard and felt was the ground falling.” Rebekah said, grabbed at the earpiece.
       “What’s happening?” Ann asked.
       “Nothing... just static… ” She lied.
     

CHAPTER 23
     
     
       “We need to keep going.”
       The vans crept behind the survivors, headlights out. Two blocks ahead of the implosion site, Rebekah stopped the group and ordered them off the street and onto the sidewalks, in the shadows. Even though she’d suspected he would be gone by the time they reached their destination, she knew Sworn was tricky, and she needed a strategy to either take him out or move around him if he still lurked the area.
       Already shoulder-to-shoulder with Ann and Maria, Rebekah signaled the lumberjack biker, the mock troops, and the Centre City hoods over. She explained what necessary elements of her approach that needed to be exploited, and how they would execute her devious plot.
       “What about Bleeders and Trackers?” Ann asked.
       “Rebekah responded, “We get everyone off the streets.”
       “And what if we don’t have that option?” asked Maria.
      “We’ll worry about that later.”
       “We don’t even stand have a chance!” the lumberjack biker thought, out loud.
       Side-by-side with her mother and brother, Neshia just happened to be near the discussion, getting an earful, sticking close to her heroine in enemy garments. And it was a damn good thing she was. She spotted Sworn’s men on the east side of Maison, informed her