Free Waterproof by Amber Garr Page B

gun, I thought it was over. I smiled, thankful for the time Vee and I spent together not long ago and knowing I’d die a happy man.
    He pulled the trigger.
    A loud click echoed between us and we both froze. Of all the odds in the world, his gun jammed and I had a second chance at life. Without hesitation, I ran at the man with the knife raised high above my head. The mercenary screamed and threw his gun at me just before I thrust down and pushed the knife into his neck. The signature feel of flesh parting around my blade sent a roll of satisfaction through me that I never would’ve believed I’d been capable of. I was no longer the popular football player with friends and girls hanging on my every word. No, I was a killer.
    “Zach!” Sasha’s voice slipped out of the darkness . “Zach? Are you okay?”
    I pulled my knife out of the dead man’s throat and wiped the remains of his life on my pants. “Where’s Max?” I rarely saw the two of them apart during a fight.
    “We have to go,” she replied, ignoring my question.
    “No. I need to find Vee and the others an d — ”
    A sharp crack in the tree closest to us shattered my thoughts. Pieces of bark rained down over our heads when we cowered to the ground. Another blast just missed my legs. A dark form barreled toward Sasha and me, gun in hand and a grin on his face.
    “Time for your punishment.” His voice sounded different. This was not the man who’d initially spoken to us with control. This guy pretended to have more power than he did, although his threats weren’t empty when he held a gun in his hands.
    “I d on’t think so,” Sasha said and aimed her pistol with both arms stretched in front of her. I felt thankful she still had her weapon and even more appreciative when the shot hit our attacker in the middle of the forehead.
    “No!” A girl following closely behind the man shrieked in rage. She fell to the ground and flipped the mercenary over in disbelief. “No, no, no,” she continued to say, seemingly unaware that Sasha and I now hovered over her.
    With the gun aimed at her head, Sasha kicked the girl in the ribs. “Get off of him.”
    It surprised me when the girl looked up at us and smiled. “You’re dead, deserter scum.” She spit on Sasha which earned her another kick in the gut. This time she yelled out in pain.
    “Zach, knock her out. We might need her,” Sasha commanded.
    “No, we have to help the others.”
    “It’s too late.” Sasha’s voice quivered and dread filled my pores. Too late meant everyone was dead. “Come on, this is our only chance.”
    “Our chance? For what?”
    “To run.”
    “Zach!” Vee’s scream sent me into a frenzy. I tried to move toward the sound of her voice, but Sasha continued to hold me back.
    “ No, Zach. They already have them. Look!” She forced my face to turn to the left where I could just make out the retreating headlights. Vee continued to call my name, but the intensity faded as they drove her away into the night.
    “They’ll kill them,” I cried, but stopped fighting with Sasha.
    “They’ll kill you too,” the girl on the ground spat at me.
    Without a second thought, I jumped on top of her and wrapped my hands around her throat. “Where are they taking them?” I yelled as I squeezed. Her smug smile deepened my frenzied efforts.
    “Zach, don’t kill her.” Sasha stepped in front of us and pulled the trigger on her gun, hitting an attacker I never saw coming after us. “Come on, we have to go.”
    Sasha bent down and slammed the gun against the side of the mercenary’s skull. Her eyes closed and her head lolled to the side. I let go of her throat in time to notice someone crashing through the woods to my right.
    In a split second, I sent a knife flying through the air, aimed only at the immense amount of noise this attacker made.
    “Ahh,” a man screamed. “Shit, Zach. You hit me.” Trevor stepped into the limited light and pulled the knife from his shoulder.