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"Who's with you?"
"Maddie Fields," he called back. "She has family in here, but she got separated from our group when we were attacked. She's James and Erin’s daughter."
This time there was a much longer pause and silence. She shifted nervously on her feet.
Then finally the electronic voice answered. "Who else?"
Maddie swallowed, her grip on Saff’s arm subconsciously tightening. Saff didn't move an inch. She wanted Carter to lie. She wanted him to say that Saff had also been a part of their group, at least until they were all safely inside and could explain more.
"She wasn't with us before," he replied, and Maddie cringed. "But she's been traveling with Maddie. She traveled with us the last two days."
This time, the silence dragged on and on. Maddie almost wondered if maybe they would just keep them out and never answer.
Then suddenly it did. "All of you, drop all of your weapons on the ground and take ten steps forward. Slowly."
She waited a second, but Saff didn’t move an inch. Maddie knew what must have been going through her head. She knew how on edge she probably felt, and that the absolute last thing she would want to do was give up her weapons.
Maddie reluctantly dropped her hand from her arm and pulled her shotgun strap off her shoulder, gently setting it on the ground.
"That means knives too," the voice added.
She pulled her knife, the knife Saff had given her, from its spot on her belt. Then she bent down, placing it on the ground beside her before returning her hand to Saff’s arm.
After another few seconds, Saff finally, very slowly, began to move. Then Maddie could hear the click of items being set down beside her. She felt a tiny release of the tension that had built up in her shoulders.
Item after item clicked on the ground, and then she understood what Dean had said earlier. She wondered what Saff had brought back with her from the bunker.
"Walk forward," the voice said.
Saff took a step, and Maddie followed, her hand still wrapped around her arm, while the other one held tightly onto her cane, moving it back and forth in front of her.
"Carter. Dean. Walk to the gate."
Boots scraped against the pavement as they stepped forward. Then, a few moments later, the loud, low groan of metal echoed in the air.
Maddie swallowed. She didn't like that they were now isolated and on their own. She wondered what Saff was seeing, what she was thinking.
It went quiet again after that, and she waited anxiously for the voice to give the next command. They waited for at least a minute in silence. Then finally, when she was about to turn toSaff and ask what was happening, the noise of the gate sounded again.
Footsteps, multiple pairs of them, plodded toward them.
She felt Saff shift slightly, her body going tense. Maddie tightened her grip on her arm.
"What's—what's happening?" she asked.
Then she felt Saff lunge in front of her protectively. And right as she did, the arm that Maddie was holding onto was suddenly ripped away.
"Saff!" she yelled, hand fumbling in the air for her.
"Maddie," a woman said from somewhere in front of her, "we're going to take you inside to your family."
"Saff!" she called again, barely processing any of the woman's words. Then a hand grabbed onto her arm, urging her forward. She stumbled slightly and had to adjust her cane quickly, feeling for the path in front of her.
"What are you going to—"
"Don't worry," the woman said, "you're safe now."
Chapter seventeen