We park the cars near a giant warehouse in the outskirts of Crescent Vale City. Everyone jumps out and hides behind our vehicles while Alistair removes all the weapons.
“So how do you know this is the place?” Milo asks Penelope.
“My dad hunts these fuckers,” she says casually like it means nothing.
“Hunt?” I parrot.
“He has a thing for punishing criminals,” she muses. “Though, normally, he’d take them out one by one in secret. Not a big-scale operation like this.” She fishes a gun from the bag and fills it with a full magazine. “Grab your weapons of choice, boys. We’re going hunting.”
We all pull out our guns and knives, tucking plenty of them into the belts Felix brought. I don’t like using his equipment, but it’s worth the annoyance if I can use it to save Lana.
“You go first,” Felix barks as he inspects the back door. “We’ll guard the back.”
“So you can shoot us?” I grit.
Felix narrows his eyes at me. “I might if you keep complaining.”
Penelope shoves her elbow into his side, and he coughs from the sheer force. “Stop fighting. We’ll need everyone alive to get her out of there.”
Felix pushes a magazine into his gun and preps it so he’s ready to shoot. “You want to stay alive? Stay out of my way.”
He gets up and walks away from the car, then signals for us to move.
“Okay, guess it’s time for our little showdown,” Caleb muses, following suit.
Dylan holds out two canisters with a mystery liquid along with a lighter.
“What the fuck is that?” Kai asks him.
“You’ll find out soon enough,” he muses, grinning like a motherfucker before following Felix as they head toward the building in the darkness.
“Let’s go,” I say, pulling Milo up from the ground just as he’s tucking his weapons into the belt.
“Are we just gonna attack them? Or are we going to sneak inside?” Milo asks as we reach the back door to the building.
BANG!
Felix kicks the door in with his foot, causing it to fall over.
“Okay … guess that’s an answer,” I say.
“Go,” he growls at us.
Kai nods and heads inside with Nathan and Caleb, so I follow them into the grimy building.
There are rows and rows of halls, each leading to more halls, all filled with doors. In the back is a giant hall, where half the floor is lined with chairs, and in the far back is a stage.
“What the fuck is that for?” Milo asks.
“Auctions,” Penelope answers.
“I don’t see the valuables.”
Felix knocks on the doors, and one girl screams.
“They don’t sell things,” Alistair says. “They sell people.”
A chill runs up and down my spine.
What if they’ve sold her already? I’ll never forgive myself.
“We should hurry,” Kai grits.
“Who’s there?” a voice in the back yells.
BANG!
“Fuck,” I hiss as the bullet narrowly misses me and lodges into the wall.
“They found us,” Kai says.
I pull out my gun as adrenaline rushes through my body.
I’m fucking ready to murder these sons of bitches for daring to take her.
“Lana!” I scream. “We’re coming!”
Lana
I’m still so woozy from the drugs I can’t see straight, and I don’t know where I am or what I’m supposed to feel like. All I know is that I can barely stay awake.
How long have I been here?
It feels like ages.
I blink a couple of times, trying to focus, but my vision is blurry. My wrists and ankles burn into the metal, the upright position straining my body to its limit. I don’t know if I can hold on much longer.
Tears well up in my eyes, but I push them away.
Don’t let those fuckers see you cry.
I know they’re watching. There must be cameras everywhere, even in this tiny cell.
My lungs drag in a breath, but it doesn’t help calm my raging soul.
I’m here because they came looking for me. They knew what I looked like, who I was, where I’d be.
And now the only ones who could ever have the balls to come in here to rescue me hate me because I accused them of something they didn’t do.
I sigh out loud.
They won’t come for me. I made it very clear I never wanted to see them again.
Do they even know I’m missing?
I swallow back the fear and focus on the metal keeping me in place, but no matter how much strength I put into it, I can’t free myself.
It’s hopeless.
Completely and utterly hopeless.
What the fuck do I do?
Milo
BANG!
More bullets ricochet against the wall behind us.
“Look who’s come into our den,” some guy in the back growls. “Boys, get them!”
A bunch of men pour into the hallways from all sides, sporting all sorts of guns and rifles, and my heart rate picks up while my body remembers what it felt like to be sieved with bullets.
Nathan shoves me aside and shoots at the people near the auction area while Felix flanks us and shoots at the men in the back.
“They’ve got us cornered,” Penelope grits, shooting at them too.
“We’ll fight our way through,” Kai replies.
“I’ll take the side. Caleb, you come with me,” Nathan growls. “Fuck all of them up.”
“Don’t forget why we’re here,” Penelope says. “Find Lana and get out.”
“Yeah, yeah, we got it,” Dylan replies, waving his gun around before he shoots a bunch of shots at the guys in the back.
When only one of them goes down, he throws the gun to the side. “Fuck it. It’s time for the big stuff.”
He pulls out his canister along with his lighter and sprays it all over his knives before he runs at them and lights them at the last second, setting the knives on fire.
“Yee-haw! Taste my flames, bitches!” he screams like a madman before stabbing some guy in the eye.
Alistair is behind him, jumping the victims so they can’t move while Dylan guts them.
To my left, Kai tries to fight off a Bonesmen who got too close and grabbed his arm, stopping him from shooting.
But no matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to raise my gun and shoot.
My whole body shakes, and I can’t shrug off this fear I’m going to die.
Because I almost did.
And the guy who shot me stands in the hallway, staring me down with a challenging gaze.
“Milo!” Nathan’s voice pulls me from my thoughts. “Fight!”
Fight. That’s right. I came here to fight. To protect my friends.
“If you won’t fucking do it for yourself, do it for your fucking queen!” he yells.
My eyes open wide.
Lana. She’s in here somewhere.
“Queen?” Felix repeats, his face looking like he just got struck by lightning.
He chucks a knife at a guy in front of him and turns to face Nathan. “You’d better not be referring to Lana as a goddamn queen.”
“You don’t fucking know what she’s capable of,” Nathan growls back. “Milo, focus on saving her. Lana needs you.”
That’s right. She needs me.
My body stops shaking as my muscles tighten while I take a deep breath. And I push the gun back into my holster and grip my nunchucks instead. I storm at that fucking Bonesman who’s aiming to shoot and knock his gun from his hand, then hit him in the balls and the face in a triple knockout.
I steal his gun from him and tuck that into my holster too.
With a smirk, I tell Nathan, “Ready to kill some sons of bitches?”
He grins back and yells from across the hall, “Glad you’re back. Let’s fuck some Bonesmen up.”
