Page 106 of The Last True Hero

"Let's cover their tracks," Mia said, and started shooting toward the reivers with her pistol. She'd run out of ammunition pretty quickly, so she took shots every few seconds, trying to keep the reivers pinned down behind the crates they hid behind.

Jake caught on and every time she paused, he filled the void with his own bullet, until he clicked empty. He'd lost accuracy, however. Blood soaked his sleeve.

She had to be getting close to running out herself. No time to reload the shotgun. "Sage!"

"Get in here," Sage yelled.

Then Zarina was there. "Reload," she commanded and lifted two pistols, just as the reivers started to creep around the crates in the center of the room.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Two went down. Mia dragged Jake through the open doorway as Zarina followed them, steadily walking backwards. All of the reivers hit the floor. Mia sighed a breath of relief.

Jake panted, leaning against the wall with his hand clapped to his shoulder. Sage tried to peer at his wound, but he shook his head.

"Get what you need," Mia told everyone. Most of them were staring at her, as if a little shell-shocked. "We have to make a run for the vehicle lot, which means taking out the gun turrets on the main gate. Can anyone shoot?"

"Aye," a big man she'd never seen before said. "I know what I'm doing. Name's Trick."

"Think you can get everyone organized?"

"Will do," he rumbled, and turned to those they'd rescued from the slave pens. Ellie smiled at her and gave her a thumbs up. She'd help.

Screams echoed through the distant air. Mia, Zarina, Sage, and Jake all looked up. Light streamed through the open windows above. They were covered with wire and too narrow to squeeze through, but she could hear everything outside near the arena. Sounded like a bloody riot out there.

"Is that normal?" Mia whispered as everyone started ransacking the ammunition.

"No." Zarina stared at the windows, her body taut with tension. "Something's going on."

"McClain," Mia whispered. She just knew he had something to do with the riot.

As if in answer, the huge flare lights overlooking the arena flickered... and went dark. The room plunged into blackness.

"The generator's down," Zarina whispered, "which means the fence won't hold whatever's in that arena."

Shots hammered through the air outside. It sounded like a repeating rifle. Mia couldn't stop her feet from moving. What was going on in that arena? She had to go and see. Even if the glimmer of hope in her heart was but a spark.

Zarina hauled her back.

"Get your hands off me!" Mia hissed.

"You've got no weapons and barely any ammunition. What are you going to do? Head-butt reivers? You're a liability to him right now."

Good point. Mia dragged a couple of belt loops full of shotgun shells over her shoulders, and reloaded the shotgun.

"Ammo up," she told Zarina. "You're with me. That was the deal."

"If Vex sees me, then I'm a dead woman. This is my ticket out, Mia. You're asking me to throw that away."

Mia opened the clip on her pistol. She paused. "I need you. I can't navigate these streets without you. Please."

Zarina looked away, her shoulders tense. "This is a bad idea."

"You said your mother killed the man you loved. If you had a chance to go back to that moment and stop her, you'd do anything to save him, wouldn't you?"

Zarina cursed under her breath. "He's probably already dead."

"Then why are they still shooting?"