Page 4 of Stand: Part One

Noticing there was a folded up note inside one of them, I pulled it out and unfolded it.

Let’s see you hop your way out of this one.

—C & O

I rolled my eyes. “Well, aren’t you both just a bunch of chuckle-fucks today,” I muttered to myself.

I couldn’t believe this was the footwear they wanted me to wear while I fought my way out of here. With a short laugh, I slipped them on, the material hugging my feet like a snuggly mitten. The stupid rabbit ears dragged against the floor as I walked, the largeness of them making Camaro growl as if they were real rabbits. They were hella soft though, so it was better than being barefoot until I found something more acceptable.

Noticing a set of keys on a nearby shelf, I snatched them up and moved over to the cage, crouching down to insert the smallest key on the ring. Thankfully it turned out to be the right one and the lock disengaged. Camaro practically rushed me the second I opened the door, knocking me to the floor as she sniffed and licked at my face.

“Okay, okay, I’m good, girl. Come on, get off.”

Giving her a few more pats and ruffling her ears, I stood and headed for the door with my dog at my side back into the main room.

Grabbing the crowbar from the floor, I headed for the main door and placed my ear against the wood, listening for any sounds that might indicate any potential threats outside. When I heard nothing, I slowly turned the handle and opened the door an inch to peer through. That was when I noticed a single guard passing through the trees, his back to the door.

“Fuck,” I whispered under my breath.

I waited until the guard was completely out of sight before opening the door so Camaro and I could slip through. Quietly closing it behind me, we quickly scaled the wall of the building until we made it to the corner and came face-to-face with a guard.

My heart dropped into my stomach as adrenaline burst through my system. The guard instantly raised his rifle, but my feet were too fast as I kicked the gun to the side, and swung the crowbar against his head, knocking him out instantly.

My foot immediately swelled in pain from the contact, the stupid bunny slippers providing zero protection.

Holy fuck! Okay, no more kicking for now.

Camaro growled at the unconscious guard as I fought to ignore my pulsing foot and rummaged through his vests for any other weapons he might have on him. I would have taken his damn shoes if I’d thought I wouldn’t just trip all over the place in them.

Removing his utility belt, I strapped it around my waist, taking notice of the two Glocks and extra magazines attached to it. I then grabbed his M16 rifle, pressed it against my shoulder and stood, aiming it forward as Camaro and I swiftly moved through the property. My biggest issue was figuring out where the fuck I was and where I needed to go to get the fuck out of the danger zone. Which meant I needed to find higher ground.

Moving along the building, I came up to the other corner and peered around the edge, thankfully finding no one around. And then I noticed the dirt road leading through the trees.

Sprinting forward into the trees, Camaro kept at my pace until we were under the cover of the brush. The damn bunny slippers did not help with my mobility and made way too much noise, but it was the challenge I was given, so I’d have to work with it. Following the road, we stayed out of sight, carefully making our way through the trees until we came to another developed portion of the property.

Ducking behind a thick tree trunk, I crouched low to assess my potential threats. There were several buildings off in the distance, looking like small cabins, with at least five guards patrolling the area. If I had to take a guess, I’d say this was their training camp. If I was going to get out of here, I would have to steal a vehicle somehow.

Carefully moving from tree to tree, I scaled the landscape until I finally found the garage, two SUVs visible inside with the garage door wide open.

And then I heard a twig snap behind me. Dropping to the ground, I just narrowly dodged the fake bullet that exploded into a cloud of powder blue against the tree. I then quickly rolled over and sprayed the fucker with my own until he was covered in specs of dark red.

“Fuck!” he shouted, angrily tossing his gun to the ground. He should have been tossing his own ass to the ground instead.

That was when a snarling Rottweiler charged at him, leaping into the air and knocking him flat on his back. Camaro then jumped on top of his chest and growled into his face. If the players didn’t fall to the ground like a person getting shot would naturally do, she was trained to finish them off herself.

“What was that?” I heard a guard question.

“Did you guys hear that?”

“Are we starting? I didn’t know we were starting!”

“Move out!” another shouted.

Groaning aloud, I glared at the noisy fucker. “Hey asshat, dead men don’t fucking shout,” I critiqued. “Camaro, come.”

Camaro growled one more time before retreating back to my side, her body still tense. Turning back over, I looked on to see two more guards approaching my way. Staying flat to the ground, I aimed my rifle and fired twice, catching both of them in the chest.

“Shit,” they both cursed and immediately fell to the ground. Like they were fucking supposed to.