Sinners 01 - Branded (30 page)

“Yeah, Zeus and I don’t mind bringing up the rear,” Cole whispers.

Bruno nods, then squats down as a troop of guards runs past the entrance to the alley.
We all hold our breath and pray. Cole pulls Zeus close to his body to keep him from
sounding the alarm. I squeeze my eyes closed and hear the blood rushing through my
ears. My heart pounds with adrenaline.

The guards seem too involved in whatever they’re doing to notice us hiding between
the buildings.
Thank God,
I think.
That counts as two strokes of luck today.
But as soon as we leave the alley, I hear the sound of boots following us. First slow
and then quicker, as if they’re sharks catching the scent of blood.

“Stop!” A voice cuts through the air.

But of course we don’t. Bruno sprints, looking for cover, as we tag along behind him.
My breath comes in short, ragged bursts and I feel like my lungs will explode before
we find somewhere to go.

“By order of the commander, halt!” the voice yells again.

I know it’s only a matter of seconds before they open fire because we have no intentions
of stopping—for anyone.
Come on, Bruno. Come on!
My insides scream in desperation thinking about Cole behind me and our lives hanging
in the balance. I lick my cracked lips, imagining how good water would taste as I
puff along with them. Zeus’s tongue hangs out as he runs without effort. I know he
could outsprint us all if he wanted, but he’s loyal and won’t leave us.

Seeing nowhere else to go, Bruno kicks in the door of a small house and weaves through
it. Just as Cole enters, I hear the automatic
rat, tat, tatting
of guns open up outside. Dirt spits off the ground where bullets hit. A lone man
sits at his table about to eat when we startle him. He jumps under the table with
wide eyes and his dentures clatter to the floor as he yells for us to leave.

“Sorry, sir!” Cole apologizes as he runs through the kitchen. “Just passing through.
Oh Lord, Zeus, put those down!” Cole yells and it’s not hard for me to guess what
Zeus picked up.

We crash through the only other room of the house and barge through the back door
into another shanty.
Where are we going?
The muscles in my legs burn from trying to keep up with Bruno, who’s a physical machine.
Sweat drips down my face and stings my eyes, forcing me to wipe them with my dirty
hands.

“We have to move faster. Try to pick up your pace,” Cole says behind me.

I can’t stop to check him, and as long as he talks, I know he’s there. I don’t want
to lose him. I don’t want to die yet… I’m not ready. Not when I’m this close to being
safe and seeing my brother for the first time in years. I don’t want this all to be
for nothing.

We stumble through three, four, five more shanty houses before spilling into another
street adjacent to the one before.

“Oh, this is great! Now where the hell are we?” Cole says under his breath.

My heart’s in my throat and I gasp for air as my chest heaves up and down. I look
down and one of my slippers is missing. No time to stop though.

Bruno hooks a left and moves along the buildings. As I follow, my fingers touch the
buildings for support, feeling the difference in texture between the brick and cement.
Hoping against all odds we survive or can at least find a place to hide.

Cole’s hands grip his pistol, following along and checking to make sure the guards
didn’t catch up.

Only two more blocks to go.
But two blocks seem like an eternity when fighting for your life. Every breath, every
stride, and every sound is magnified in my mind. The colors are more vivid, the feeling
of suffocation more powerful than ever.

A loud crash lets us know we haven’t escaped them. They come thundering after us,
firing nonstop. I don’t have time to scream or cry, just sprint with all my might
after Bruno, hoping Cole follows with Zeus. The guards outnumber us as they pin us
in another alley.

There’s nowhere left to go. We don’t have the manpower or firepower to take them head-on.
Bruno and Cole take turns shooting back at them, but we know it’s only a matter of
time before the guards figure out we’re at their mercy.

“Maybe I should have a gun,” I say.

Cole glances at me. “Have you ever shot one?”

“No. But it’s not hard to figure out.”

He thinks for a second. “Here goes nothing.” He places his other black pistol in my
right hand. “It’s already loaded. Just aim and pull the trigger.”

Bruno empties a full magazine, hits the slide, and then slams in his spare. Then I
shoot Cole’s other gun and empty it. It’s the first time I’ve ever touched one, and
it feels good to fight back, although I’m sure my shots are nothing more than a deterrent.

The spray of bullets answering us forces us to shoot blind. Zeus barks ferociously
while standing in front and Cole reins him in by pulling his collar. Dirt, dust, and
pieces of debris shower us, leaving flakes of blood behind, but we rotate shooting
until the ammunition is spent. After the last shot, Bruno and Cole lock eyes knowingly.
They press against the wall and communicate with hand motions. I squeeze my eyes closed,
trying to block out the sounds of hell being unleashed around us. Then we wait for
the inevitable onslaught of violence from the guards. Cole pushes me behind him to
protect me, and Zeus growls low and deep in his belly in front of us.

By now, we’ve sweated through every layer of clothing possible. The acrid smell of
hot lead bores through my senses. I swear I feel a raindrop on my cheek as we wait
and wait for the guards to kill us.

The gunfire continues but fades, confusing all of us. Male voices, some yelling and
some moaning, creep across the street like ghosts. I want to look around the corner
and find out what’s happening, but I know Cole would never allow it.

Bruno shrugs his shoulders and Cole furrows his brow and shakes his head in response.
Nothing happens. “They should be here by now,” Bruno says to Cole as he swipes his
forehead with his large hand.

“Stay here—let me look.” Cole ducks his head around the corner slowly to get a better
look. “I see nothing. No eyes.”

Bruno’s jaw tightens as he thinks. “I don’t know, dude. Could be a trap.”

“Why would they trap us if we’re already cornered?” I ask in a whisper.

“Damn if I know… These guys are mentally sick.” Cole’s intense eyes rest on me for
a moment. Despite his glistening face with dirt smeared across the side, he still
looks amazing. The desire reflected in his expression and the way he protects me make
me want him even more. My whole world hinges on how I feel about him. I’d die without
him.
If Alyssa could see us now… Maybe she can.

The building I lean against is full of pockmarks as if it’s seen decades of battles.
The grout crumbles and barely any of the glass windows remain. Another raindrop lands
on my arm, and this time, I know I’m not imagining it.

“Well, what’re you thinking?” Bruno asks Cole.

Just then, a figure looms in the entrance, but it’s not a guard. He’s skinny but muscular
and short with a long beard. Slung over his shoulder is a large strap with long, slender
bullets lining the outside. He carries the largest gun I’ve ever seen a civilian carry.
The black brand around his neck is unmistakable.

“Come with me,” he says with an authoritative voice. He points the gun at us and motions
with it for us to move.

We all stare at him, thinking he’s insane or we’re imagining his presence. Zeus growls
again, baring his sharp canines and poised to attack.

“What about the guards?” I ask.

“They’re dead, so I suggest you follow me now unless you’d like to sit here and wait
for more to show up.” He rounds the corner and disappears.

Cole shrugs his shoulders. “Here we go. After you.” Cole and Zeus follow so close
behind me I can hear their breathing over the footsteps.

With edgy nerves, we follow the anonymous man. He takes us two more blocks, while
avoiding unseen cameras, and around a tall building. Then the sky opens up with a
thunderous clap as the rain pours down in waves. My hair drips and my scrubs soak
through completely. I kick off my last slipper in the mud, hoping I can snag a pair
of shoes soon. Our clothing sticks to us like plaster as we parade around like a funeral
procession—shoulders slumped and feet dragging.

“Hold up. Don’t move,” the man says.

We pause, frozen in place, trying to figure out what he’s talking about. The scenery
here looks much the same as where the driver dropped us off. The small shacks with
their corrugated roofs pile onto each other like an overcrowded bookshelf. The rain
pounds the metal, making it almost impossible to hear his voice.

“Now.” The man motions us past him, through a heavy metal door, and into the building.
“We have to wait for the camera to pan away before entering. We finally know where
they’re hidden so we avoid them at all costs.” He fiddles with his sopping beard while
examining us with vigilant eyes. “Sutton sent you—that I know. But why so early and
who, exactly, are you?”

Bruno sits on the hard floor, rests his head against the wall, and catches his breath.
He pulls off his drenched, sweaty shirt and wipes his face with it.

“Nothing happened,” Cole says. “We just need to see Keegan. We brought his sister
with us.”

The man raises his eyebrow and moves closer to me. “You’re his sister?”

“Yes,” I reply. My whole body wants to collapse from exhaustion. My hands shake and
the pain from my cheekbone resurfaces after the adrenaline stops flowing. All of a
sudden, I want to sleep for days.
No, months.
A feeling of weariness seeps through my muscles and down to the tiniest veins.

Cole wraps his arm around my side to steady me. “She needs rest—lots of rest. And
someone to tend to her injury.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” The man makes up his mind and motions for us to follow…
again.

“Dang, man, can’t we just be there already?” Bruno asks with sarcasm as he stands
up, stretching.

“If we didn’t have all this security, we would’ve been blown away by now. Don’t like
it, then leave,” the man quips back.

Cole drags my weight along with his own down a narrow corridor and says, “He’s not
complaining—just being sarcastic.”

Bruno chuckles under his breath.

The man steps into a room, removes a board from the base of a closet, and a dark opening
appears. He steps in and crawls down. “Hope you’re not claustrophobic. Last person
needs to place the board back on.”
I can never win… Breathe, breathe, just keep breathing.

First, Bruno squeezes down the creaking ladder into the dark tunnel. Then me. And
then Cole carries Zeus on his shoulders. Zeus’s goofy face slobbers all over Cole’s
head and he descends with a look of disgust. I feel either free or delusional enough
to laugh at them. Zeus is over half Cole’s size. After Zeus paws Cole’s back, Cole
crawls back up the ladder to slide the board back in place. It’s a miracle none of
us slipped coming down the tiny ladder.

Then everything is dark. I press my eyelids together, trying to make out my surroundings,
but they haven’t adjusted yet. I feel something sharp jab me in the back.

“Keep moving,” the man says.

“Do you have a name or should we call you bearded dude?” Cole says.

“Steven. My name’s Steven.”

“Thank you for helping us, Steven,” I say as I fumble around.

“Don’t thank me yet… If you’re lying about who you are, Keegan will put a bullet through
your skull. Not once have I heard Keegan talk about a sister—or a family.”

His statement shocks me. Then I begin feeling sick in my stomach. What if Sutton made
the wrong decision sending me here? What if Keegan isn’t happy to see me at all? I
don’t want to be resentful, but if Steven’s words are true, then maybe Keegan doesn’t
want me here at all. I hate the constant unknown. It eats at the pits of my soul while
I wander in the dark.

In the distance, there’s a faint glow from a flame. The walls open into underground
tunnels. They’re wide, laid with metal bars, and tile runs up the sides. The mildew
shows through the cracks, and the tiles are tinged red in places. Body odor mixed
with the humidity makes my stomach churn. Something wet keeps dripping on my head.
If it’s anything other than water, I’m going to vomit.

Cole rests his hand on my shoulder as if reassuring me. I’m so glad he’s here to help
me through this. The warmth of his touch keeps me sane when darkness and fear envelop
my mind.

It feels like hours before we reach the light. The warmth of the fire heats my face
and we stop to wait. A group of people sitting around the fire turn to evaluate us
as we stand there, dripping puddles onto the floor. Their faces aren’t friendly but
aren’t hostile either.

“Who the hell’s that?” a familiar voice shouts from across the fire. I try to move
toward it, but Steven steps in my path. The dark silhouette approaches.

“No
way
! Lexi—is that you?”

My stomach flips hearing him call my name. “It’s really you!”

“Get your ass out of her way!” he commands the man in front of me, pointing his finger.
Keegan pushes his way through the crowd and around Steven and Bruno.

When he reaches me, he grabs my legs and scoops me into his arms. I wrap my arms around
his neck, hugging him so tight I think my arms might break.

I shout, unable to contain my joy. “You’re here! I can’t believe it! I never thought
I’d see you again. I’ve missed you so much!”

His arms tighten around me as he laughs. “I know! I missed the hell out of you. What
happened to you? You look like crap,” he says.

His comment makes me laugh out loud. He always was honest. “Thanks.”

“We’ve gotta talk!”

“Sounds good to me.”

He puts me down and I look up at him. He’s much bigger than I remember. He’s about
three feet taller than me, and his muscles pop out from under his green T-shirt.
My brother’s buff! When did that happen? And where is his brand?