Book Two: The Legends

Chapter Five - Dick Move

"I saw you run this way," The voice continued, "Across the street. Pretty risky. I like that. Come out and I promise not to hurt you."

I shook my head at the obvious lie and quietly picked up my gun. Oliver lifted a dangerous looking crossbow and started creeping away from the gate, deeper into the house's backyard. I followed, still hearing that voice calling for me. I shuddered realising how close he was.

Oliver was sneaking around to the back of the house, where the door to the house lay. I paused at the edge of the house and I heard the door to the house open and slide shut. I was about to go after until I heard the gate for the backyard creak open and that voice called out for me.

"Sweetheart, I'm not going to hurt you."

I swore under my breath, knowing that if I tried to go inside, he'd hear. I aimed my gun at where he would step around the corner and froze when he came into view. The man used my distraction and leapt towards me, knocking my gun to the floor with a loud noise. Frantically, I reached for my knife and managed to get a hold of the tip of the handle as the man grabbed me and slammed me against the brick wall of the house. With a tiny bit of my strength I succeeded in cutting the man across his stomach and he let out a hiss of pain. In a second, he knocked away my knife as well and restrained my hands by my wrists.

The man leaned over my shoulder and whispered in my ear, "You should have come out when I asked."

"You shouldn't underestimate me," I murmured back in the same tone. I felt his grip tighten but with a swift movement, I kicked the inside of his leg and he let out a groan. In a childishly similar move, he kicked back, knocking me to my knees.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw the door to the house opening again and in a second the man held both my wrists in one hand and had a knife to my throat.

"Tsk tsk," The man said, glaring at Oliver who had a gun aimed at his head, "Protecting her?"

"Let her go, Alex," Oliver growled.

The man, Alex, pretended to think about that for a second. "No."

Oliver narrowed his eyes and took a step forward. Alex pressed the knife harder against my throat and I let out an involuntary whimper. Oliver glanced down at me and stopped moving.

"Just, let her go, man," Oliver said in a less threatening voice. With as much movement I could manage I glanced up at Alex and realised he was a lot younger than I had originally figured. He actually seemed about my age, same as Oliver.

"As I said, no."

"She's not going to be helpful to your plans," Oliver reasoned.

"She seems pretty capable," Alex argued.

"Alright Alex, I'm going to put down my crossbow. You put away your knife and let's discuss this like men," Oliver said, already leaning down, lowering his weapon.

"The manly way it to fight it out, not talk about it," Alex mused.

"Keep her out of it then."

Alex grinned menacingly. "No."

"Fuck you," Oliver snarled, shooting his crossbow with a fluid motion as the bolt buried itself in in Alex's knee. The pain made Alex loosen his grip and I spun away from him, picking my knife up from the floor and throwing it directly at Alex. He managed to dodge the worst of it and it struck him in the shoulder. I paused to rub my hand across my neck and when I took it away, I realised there was blood there. Oliver had taken my distraction as an opportunity to advance on Alex and rip the knife out of his shoulder. I watched as I realised he was going to make the final move until a sharp blow from behind struck me and I collapsed to the ground, fading into darkness.

***

Before I even opened my eyes, my hand found its way to a sore spot on the back of my head where I had been hit. I winced at the touch and slowly opened my eyes to view my surroundings. Across from me, Oliver was lying on the ground, black hair falling over his eyes. I figured he would have an identical sore spot to mine when he woke.

I swore loudly when I realised Alex had vanished. This seemed to wake Oliver who jerked and sat upright in a second. Then Oliver spun around, looking for his crossbow. He picked it up in relief and almost hugged it.

"Come on," He ordered sharply, "They would have cleared out by now." He stood up quickly and hesitated before reaching his hand down to me. I took it cautiously and let Oliver pull me to my feet. He held onto my hand for a second too long before releasing it and walking out the way we had come.

"Where are we going?" I said, stumbling along after him, rubbing the back of my head.

"To find Alex," Oliver said, venom seeping into his tone. I had to jog after Oliver to keep up with his quick pace.

"Hey!" I cried, gripping his upper arm, stopping him in his tracks, "I'll come with you, but I need to make sure Ava and Zoey are okay."

Oliver gritted his teeth and sighed. "Whatever," He muttered.

I quickly jogged across the street and heard Oliver following behind me. I reached the records building and tried to open the door. When nothing happened, I started to knock loudly, frantically. From inside I heard a groan of pain and I immediately started kicking in the door.

"Ava?!" I cried, in between two kicks. I heard Oliver give a sigh and I felt myself get pulled away from the door. Oliver then steadied himself and kicked the door which flew open. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and then bolted into the room.

"Oh no," I murmured when I saw the damage. The bandits had obviously been through here. Behind the overturned desk I could see two pale legs poking out. I leapt over the table to see Gwen, bleeding from a bullet hole in the left side of her stomach. Her eyes were closed but when I laid my fingers on the side of her neck to feel her pulse, her eyes flew open and her hand closed around my wrist.

"You," She started weakly, "Your friends. That little girl." Gwen paused to cough and I ended up gripped her limp hand.

"What happened?!" I urged, squeezing her hand.

"The bandits," Gwen tried again, wincing as the words caused her pain. I felt Oliver's presence next to me and I watched as he took her other hand in his.

"Yes?!" I murmured desperately.

"They took them," Gwen managed to choke out. I let out a strangled cry. Gwen looked at me sadly and I could see tears forming in her eyes. "Sorry."

I gave her a nod and Oliver and I stayed by her side until she drifted away.

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YAY! This chapter is a bit longer than usual! :3 But I enjoyed finally putting in some action and I guess, a cliffhanger! YAY :D! Hope you're enjoyingg! <3

Much love,

Lucie

xo