We The Forlorn (Book #2) (Completed)

34. Take Us

Helga immediately kicked the door closed behind her, stopping Bo, Esme, and Khan in their tracks. It didn't shut all the way, however, and Bo peered through the crack between the doors at Helga's tense back.

So far, the soldiers hadn't noticed her. They were still talking, some smoking, and failed to realize a girl had appeared at their backs. There was no way Helga could do much on her own, though. She'd need Bo.

Bo started forward, her hand on the door, when Helga's entire demeanor changed. Her tense shoulders relaxed, and she dropped one hip. She flicked her braid over her shoulder and slid forward like a fox to tap one of the nearest soldiers on the shoulder.

"Hey, boys," she said, voice husky and filled with a smile.

Bo's mouth hung open. What was she doing? It seemed almost comical to see her smiling at the soldiers and biting her lip. As if she had completely lost her mind.

"What?" one of the soldiers stammered, spinning around to take in Helga with his eyes widened. "Who are you?"

She shrugged. "I was told you all might like some... company." She trailed her fingers along his exposed forearm, and Bo practically saw his knees give out as he stared at her in astonishment.

"But you came from the cells..." one managed to get out, but his companions quickly began talking over him as they enquired Helga's name and age and where she was from because they didn't recognize her accent. Helga lapped it all up, making sure they saw each time she stretched or moved. She was covered in grime and even some of Khan's blood, but somehow all the soldiers saw was a beautiful woman talking to them.

They didn't even see her silently signaling to Bo behind her back, or the way she steered them so that they faced away from the door. She looked over their shoulders Bo, flashing her eyes briefly to the left, to signal that she'd like backup. Bo nodded, and slid out from behind the doors. She held the rifle securely in front of her, though she knew she couldn't afford to shoot it. That didn't mean she couldn't bludgeon a few men with it, though.

Bo waited, and soon was rewarded with a signal from Helga who had bent down to give the soldiers a view of her exposed neckline. Their eyes firmly and entirely occupied, Helga quickly motion to Bo. A point at one of the soldiers, and a slashing motion. And then she was standing back up again, leaning against the wall and puffing out her chest.

At first, Bo thought she meant to attack the indicated soldier first. But then she saw the way he was so much smaller than the others, and how he nervously held his gun in a loose and easily-broken grasp. He was the weak link, and someone that wouldn't give them too much trouble if left conscious.

Helga moved forward, slinky and lithe, toward the soldiers. Her eyes were trained on Bo, though the soldiers were still too shell-shocked to realize that her attention wasn't on them as much as theirs was on her. She reached out, wrapping her arm around the biggest soldier's shoulders and neck. He grinned, glancing at his comrades, smug in self-assurance that Helga had chosen him from amongst the rest. And he wasn't wrong, but he wasn't right in the way he thought he was.

Helga moved in close, her lips inches away from his neck. She looked at him, and he laughed shakily as she pressed against his chest. "Well, boys," she purred, her hand tightening in the hair at the nape of his neck. He exhaled, his hands loosening from his gun as they reached for her waist. "Can't say it was a pleasure," she continued. "But THIS certainly will be."

Before she'd even finished the sentence, she jerked her knee upward and firmly between the large soldier's legs. He exhaled in pain, crumbling as she drove her knee into his stomach and snapped his head back to deliver a chop to his throat. His eyes bulged as he collapsed to the ground and she gave him a swift kick to the head that knocked him out. The soldier nearest to him jumped to action, but not fast enough. Bo slammed open the door, catching his shoulder with the impact. He staggered forward, cursing as his arm hung useless and at an odd angle from its joint. He spun around, trying to fumble with his gun, but Bo swung her own rifle at his head, connecting with his temple. He dropped as easily as the first soldier, which left only two.