In The Shadows

Chapter Twenty Six

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I held my breath, and beside me, Crystal held hers. There was a pressure on my bicep as Crystal's hand gripped the skin, pulling me closer to her and farther into the shadows. She held on for dear life, so hard that my skin began to pinch under her tight hold. But I didn't dare move or say anything for fear of making too much sound. Crystal was as nervous as I was, I could practically feel her racing pulse from the pads of her fingers on my hypersensitive skin.

Muffled shouts came from the direction of the truck. While I couldn't make out what they were saying, their flying flashlight beams weren't too encouraging. Dry leaves crunched near the edge of the woods, pausing a moment as the beams swept the area. I squeezed my eyes shut when one circle of light hesitated one foot away from our hiding position. But before I knew it, it retreated and we were safe. The leaves crunched again and there were more shouts as the men scrambled back into their truck.

We were safe.

Their truck rumbled away on the dirt path, and Crystal and I both relaxed. Our bodies seemed to sink as our muscles became less tense and we began to breathe again.

"What was that?" Noah asked, his voice rising up at the end from the fear.

It was silent for a moment before Jax answered, "Those were the men we saw at the warehouse. They were the ones chasing us when we escaped."

Crystal let out a fiery puff beside me. "Are you kidding me, Jax?"

"Er," Jax hesitated. "No."

"We'll deal with you later," came her heated response.

"I could actually kill him," She confessed to me. Her lips pinched up as she refrained herself from spitting out any more fire.

"T-minus three minutes until Davis is here," Chase reported. "Get ready."

Crystal and I shifted so that we rolled up onto the balls of our feet, but were still in full coverage underneath the foliage. We watched the treeline, waiting for the headlights to pull up.

A few minutes later, and there they were, beams bouncing along from the uneven road. It slowed down, gravel crunching under the truck's tires. It pulled into the driveway of the rundown shack, sitting idly before clicking off the headlights.

Chase's confirmation gave us the go ahead that this was Davis and we were free to silently, yet swiftly, get into the vehicle.

"Stay low," Crystal warned as we half stood, crouching as we watched Noah and Chase, then Jax and Mason run to the back of the truck and hop in.

"Let's go." Crystal led the way, her footsteps like the wind, whispering over the ground. I followed like a bear, seeming to pick all of the wrong spots and only stepping on old, dry leaves and little twigs that snapped like a chopstick.

We rolled into the truck, and Crystal dropped the door before we made our way over to the rest of the group.

"Crystal, I-" Jax started, his face crumbling. It was like seeing a completely different person from early, the rough and mean kid who couldn't be bothered.

Crystal flipped up a hand, stopping him mid sentence. "Not now, Jax. We can discuss this later. I need to go get some rest." She got up and walked to the opposite end of the truck.

One by one, we all found little places, with solid coverage behind boxes, to rest. I hugged my knees to my chest, my back pressed up against the wall. I couldn't wrap my head around Crystal's behavior. At first it was clean and organized, she was ready for this mission. But as things slowly started to go wrong, she began to unravel. What had happened to her? What had happened to this team?