Chapter 15

Cress and Co run into a new group of enemies.

The long silent road ahead, held us all with less enthusiasm then before. We had many days to go before we would make it to Command. And with many days already behind us, our eagerness to get there grew with every passing step. Abandoned town after abandoned town, we walked with less and less ambition. Suddenly, Will threw himself to the ground,

“That’s it, I am done.” He said, his hands covering his eyes as he lay with his back flat on the dirt. “No more. Tell them that they can come pick up my body. Just leave me here to die.” Kit was not entertained with Will’s theatrics. He walked over to nudged him with his boot.

“Get up.” He said to him, pulling on Will’s arms. Will laid there pretending to be dead. I couldn’t help but smile at their brother-like bond. “William Johnathan Jaeger, get your a*s up.” Kit continued to struggle. I looked around, we were close to another old town, less than a mile in the distance. 

“Will, if we can just get to,” I began but I was suddenly knocked over with such force I blacked out for a brief moment. I tried to regain my composure only to be met with a knee in my back. Will was pressed down by another gunman. I looked over at Kit who was in a full-on brawl with an armed assailant, punching and dodging all of his attacks. Another man run over and attempted to help but Kit was too good, he slammed his elbow into the face of one man, and kicked the feet out from the other. Suddenly the knee on my back pushing down harder and a knife was at my throat. My capture cleared his throat and Kit looked over to see the blade at my neck. He fell to his knees and threw his hands in the air, quickly the men jump and pinned him down and a large group of armed renegades came trotting out of the bushes. 

“Well, well, well,” one of the men started, “what d’we have here?” he walked over to each of us. “Looks like a group’a radicals.” he laughed, as the others joined in. He walked over to Kit who was being held on his knees at gunpoint. “Tough one here. Where’d you learn to fight like tha’?” Kit just glared at him and did not answer. The man knelt down and aggressively grabbed his face, Kit pulled away but the man still held tightly, “I bet we’ll get’a nice bounty fer’you.” He stood up and turned around to face the rest of us when his face suddenly shifted as his eyes fell on me, my face partially buried in the dirt the blade still sharp at my throat. He walked over and pulled on my jacket; a menacing smile creeped up on his face. “Well would ya look at’tha. We got an Anifa baby.” He looked over at his crew and said “Bag ‘em up boys. Marshall’s gunna wanna take a look at this lot.” He said keeping his eyes on me. Abruptly a bag was thrust over our heads, our hands were bound, and we were shoved in front of the group to walk blindly. 

We continued walking for a short time, until I realized they were most likely taking us to the abandoned town I saw in the distance. When we finally reached the town, we were forced to our knees and the bags that covered our heads were yanked off, leaving my eyes burning in the sun. I blinked off the brightness, a line of cement barriers lay in front of us, covered in barbed wire. I looked around to see a neighborhood of abandoned homes and vehicles but finally my gaze landed on a young man who was talking with our capture. His eyes were fixed on me. Loose dark curls hung slightly off his head, his eyes were narrow, and his jaw was chiseled. He walked over to me and knelt down to my level. His green eyes locked on mine, and a slight smile formed on his lips.

“So, you’re the escapee,” He said, my eyes widened. “There’s an awfully big bounty on your head right now.” 

“So then chop it off and collect your prize.” I snapped. He laughed,

“You’ve got spunk. I like that.” He stood up, “Luckily for you lot,  you might just be worth more to me, where I can keep an eye on you.” The armed rebels looked at each other with confusion.

“Marshall,” said one of the renegades, “Her bounty is three times what we normally get off’a non-part. We’d be set for years handing all of them over.” In an instant, Marshall sent the man into the side of the cement barricade, his hand strapped to his throat. 

“Did I ask for your opinion, Daniel?” Marshall said, squeezing Daniel’s neck even more, as he struggled to breath. He released his grip on Daniel, and he fell to the ground coughing. Turning back to the rest of us, Marshall dusted off his shirt and addressed the three of us. “You three will be staying in one of our newly repaired homes.” I swallowed the nervousness in my throat, and looked over to Kit, who’s eyes were locked on Marshall. I had never seen such distrust pulsating off him before. Marshall turned back to one of the gunman and gestured for them to take us. As I was lifted up by the man, Marshall walked over to me, “Cress,” he said placing his hand on my shoulder. My heart pounded at the sound of my name coming out of this strangers mouth, “Welcome to Lafayette.”  

Reviews

[Ballpark Frank]

You have an impressive imagination Amy. I like how you are weaving this story. Well done!

Will there be some romance in this story for Cress? I get that feeling .

[Amy Skye]

Thank you Frankie :)