Page 44 of Chained

He slipped from the shadows towards remnants of the fight.

Five bodies were laid out along the ground. He stepped between them and started removing guns and knives, strapping them to himself in any way he could.

The final body wasn't quite dead yet. Blood poured from a wound in the man's chest. He didn't have long. He reached forward to take the man's revolver.

"Help," the dying man gasped.

"Sorry mate, but you're done. Make peace with whatever you believe in." He turned away but the man caught his ankle.

"Finish it." The man coughed as some of the blood found his lungs. It was a nasty way to go. He almost kept going, but there was no reason for the man to suffer.

"I hope you find a better place," he said as he slid his knife home between the man's ribs. He died before he felt the blade.

Footsteps. There were soldiers coming down the trench towards him. He ran and jumped, pulling himself up onto the ridge. Most of the soldiers weren't strong enough to climb out of the deep trenches which made the ridges safer. But he would also be more exposed.

A large piece of corrugated metal jutted up from another trench, creating a shadow. He moved into its cool embrace and waited for the soldiers to move away.

The boy and girl hadn't gone far. They were having trouble jumping the trenches. Idiots.

The soldiers were sneaking along in the trench to his right, a group of opposition were heading towards them from the other end. It was about to get messy.

The girl stopped and looked around. There was blood smeared across her cheek and he wondered if she was injured. She turned to face him and his breath caught in his throat. She must have seen him. He shrank back into the shadows and her gaze moved on. He couldn't take his eyes from her.

The boy was waving and shouting something.

Gunshots started up in the trench.

The girl's hair was whipped backwards in the wind. And he was running.

Chapter Fifteen

"Laurie!" Taylor called out, waving a hand above his head again as we neared her position. She turned to us and raised a hand, relief flooding her face.

A sudden outbreak of gunshots erupted below us. We had been so preoccupied with finding Laurie that we hadn't even noticed the units closing in on each other. We were exposed on the bank and Taylor's shout had alerted them to our presence.

"Up there!" someone shouted in the trench below.

The wind whipped around us ferociously, sending my hair flying out behind me and drying the mix of blood and tears to my face.

My eyes locked with Taylor's and he grabbed for my hand. Our fingers brushed against each other but my fist closed on empty air as something big hit me from the side and threw me off of my feet.

I tumbled across the ground and rolled in the dirt over the lip of another trench several feet to my left. Someone had a hold of me, pinning my arms to my side. We skidded across the mud and I felt the cold wetness of it splattering over my clothes and into my hair. We rolled over and over, my eyes clenched shut.

I slammed to a stop as my back hit the bottom of the trench, knocking the air from my lungs.

Someone was lying on top of me, holding their weight off of me with their arms on either side of my head. I blinked my eyes open, and my breath caught in my throat.

The man was gazing down at me, looking straight into my eyes. His eyes were black, like his hair which was falling down over his forehead towards me. He had stubble covering his jaw which was set in a firm line.

My mind went blank, I couldn't remember where I was or what I was supposed to be doing. All I could think about was his face inches from mine, his body crushing me into the dirt.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Erm." I'd forgotten how words worked. Great.

"Did you hit your head?" He pulled back, running a hand along my scalp as he checked for injuries. My skin tingled where he touched it.

"No," I managed.