Waterproof (7 page)

Determined not to le
t anyone bring me down, I jogged around the cabin to join the others at the fire. Max looked at me and smiled, but never stopped playing. A second later, Hunter grabbed my hand and pulled me into a dance. During our most memorable moments inside, the world hadn’t changed out here.

And I
suppose I was thankful for that.

SEVEN

Zach

Nothing could wipe the smile off my face. Even when Trevor made some snide remark about me digging holes my entire life, I let it roll off my back. Instead I watched Vee. Her hair, her body, her movements while she danced in the light of the fire. Everything seemed more alive. Why had we waited so long?

“What’s going on with you?” Max’s voice interrupted
my assessment of Vee’s tight black outfit.

“Nothing.”

“Really? Because you’re smiling like a schoolgirl.”

I looked more closely at Max
who had taken a break from the fiddle. His forehead glistened with sweat and his eyes sparkled in amusement. If not for the dark night and orange glow surrounding our camp, Max would have seen me blush. It’s not that I was ashamed or embarrassed, just afraid to admit what happened for fear it was all a dream.

“You two were gone for quite a while.” Sasha swung her leg over Max’s lap in a rare show of affection and continued talking to me. “Are you finished in the cabin?”

My cheeks definitely flushed now. “What?” I asked with a squeaky voice.

The couple laughed at my di
scomfort. “I just hope you cleaned up in there,” Sasha teased as Max began to play again.

I shrugged
. No need to admit or deny anything. Let them believe what they want. All that mattered to me now danced her way freely around the bonfire. Hunter positioned himself closer to Vee while she showed him how to waltz. I don’t think she really knew what to do. Still, it amused me to watch the boy repeatedly trip over his feet.

“Drink?”
Jackson sat down next to me and pushed a bottle toward me.

“What is it?”

Jackson laughed. “Nothing as nice as that moonshine. Just a little something I’ve been working on.”

I looked at my friend with curiosity. When did Jackson have time to create a drink?

“I brewed it last week,” Jackson answered my unspoken question, “but have been letting it ferment. Go ahead, try it.”

Feeling as though nothing in this world could hurt me, I swung back my head and took a sip. At first it tasted
like a strong tea, but then flavors of smoked wood, fresh cut grass, and blueberries filled my mouth. The bite didn’t kick in until after I swallowed.

“Whoa. What’s in this?” I coughed several times, trying to get the question out.

“I call it ‘Jacksonjuana’. It’s my own version of Mamajuana.”

I raised my eyebrows, unable to speak yet
, and not knowing what the hell he was talking about.

“
It’s an island drink made of bark and leaves and other things. My grandmother used to brew it. I had to make do with what I could find that wouldn’t poison us.” He pulled the bottle out of my hand. “Perhaps it needs a little more time to age.”

“Maybe,” I said, not knowing if that would make any kind of difference at all. Jackson took another sip and began bouncing along to the music Max played again.

I watched the smiling faces and awkward gyrating bodies of my friends, no my family, and smiled. The memory of Daric and Alicia hung over the group like a lurking shadow, but somehow our celebration seemed like a tribute to their lives. It had been quite a while since we were able to let go like this.

Just as that thought crossed my mind, the w
orld changed. Lights shot through the camp in synchronization, coming from all different directions and blinding my sight. Max’s bow screeched across the strings, bringing the music to a crushing halt. Laughter ceased, panic ensued, and our group became the hunted once again.

Mercenaries surrounded us on all sides in
four wheelers and off road vehicles that now seemed as loud as a race track. Their engines hummed in the night, daring us to run. The distinct sound of semiautomatic weapons being cocked sent my fear into overdrive. I jumped forward to reach Vee on the other side of the fire just as one of the mercenaries stepped into view.

“Don’t move,” he said.

I held up my hand to shield my eyes from the headlights but continued to walk forward. Without another warning, something hit the side of my head and sent me flailing to the ground. Apparently, a second mercenary hadn’t been too far away and decided to take a cheap shot.

“Stop!”
Sasha commanded more than yelled. “You didn’t need to do that.”

The giant
man looked down at me and smirked. “He didn’t listen.” Raising his head to meet Sasha’s fierce glare, he pointed the gun at her chest. “And when you don’t listen, you get punished.”

I saw Max grab Sasha’s hand in an attempt to hold her back.
This mercenary would kill our leader in a second, and it seemed like Max understood that better than she right now.

“Let’s go,” the mercenary said.

With his words, the camp became a flurry of activity. Armed men and women ran forward from every direction of the forest, collecting each one of us. Two pairs of hands yanked me up off the ground and dragged me into the darkness. Vee screamed for Hunter, Trevor spat insults, and Carrie tried to run.

That sealed our fate.

The second Carrie got free, all hell broke loose. Although outnumbered and unarmed, each one of us decided to fight to the bitter end. I heard Vee throwing punches and saw the vague outline of Hunter jumping on the back of one of her attackers. A gunshot rang out through the night, but I didn’t have time to assess its target before fists began pummeling my body.

Due to arrogance or just plain laziness, my captors forgot to check for weapons. Pushing through the pain of the punches aimed at my face, I reached for my knives.
In my awkward position on the ground, I still managed to grab one of them. I rolled to the side, and as the first mercenary jumped out at me, I threw the knife straight into his chest.

His forward momentum sent him flying
by, giving me an opportunity to retrieve my knife seconds before his partner realized what had happened. When he snarled at me and lifted his gun, I thought it was over. I smiled, thankful for the time Vee and I spent together not long ago and knowing I’d die a happy man.

He pulled the trigger.

A loud click echoed between us and we both froze. Of all the odds in the world, his gun jammed and I had a second chance at life. Without hesitation, I ran at the man with the knife raised high above my head. The mercenary screamed and threw his gun at me just before I thrust down and pushed the knife into his neck. The signature feel of flesh parting around my blade sent a roll of satisfaction through me that I never would’ve believed I’d been capable of. I was no longer the popular football player with friends and girls hanging on my every word. No, I was a killer.

“Zach!” Sasha’s voice slipped out of the darkness
. “Zach? Are you okay?”

I pulled my knife out of the dead man’s throat
and wiped the remains of his life on my pants. “Where’s Max?” I rarely saw the two of them apart during a fight.

“We have to go,” she replied, ignoring my question.

“No. I need to find Vee and the others an
d
—
”

A sharp crack in the tree closest to
us shattered my thoughts. Pieces of bark rained down over our heads when we cowered to the ground. Another blast just missed my legs. A dark form barreled toward Sasha and me, gun in hand and a grin on his face.

“Time for your punishment.”
His voice sounded different. This was not the man who’d initially spoken to us with control. This guy pretended to have more power than he did, although his threats weren’t empty when he held a gun in his hands.

“I d
on’t think so,” Sasha said and aimed her pistol with both arms stretched in front of her. I felt thankful she still had her weapon and even more appreciative when the shot hit our attacker in the middle of the forehead.

“No!” A girl following closely behind the man shrieked in rage. She fell to the ground and flipped the mercenary over in disbelief. “No, no, no,” she continued to say, seemingly unaware that Sasha and I now hovered over her.

With the gun aimed at her head, Sasha kicked the girl in the ribs. “Get off of him.”

It surprised me when the girl looked up at us and smiled. “You’re dead, deserter
scum.” She spit on Sasha which earned her another kick in the gut. This time she yelled out in pain.

“Zach, knock her out. We might need her,” Sasha commanded.

“No, we have to help the others.”

“It’s too late.” Sasha’s voice quivered and dread filled my pores. Too late meant everyone was dead. “Come on, this is our only chance.”

“Our chance? For what?”

“To run.”

“Zach!” Vee’s scream sent me into a frenzy. I tried to move toward the sound of her voice, but Sasha continued to hold me back.

“
No, Zach. They already have them. Look!” She forced my face to turn to the left where I could just make out the retreating headlights. Vee continued to call my name, but the intensity faded as they drove her away into the night.

“They’ll kill them,” I cried, but stopped fighting with Sasha.

“They’ll kill you too,” the girl on the ground spat at me.

Without a second thought,
I jumped on top of her and wrapped my hands around her throat. “Where are they taking them?” I yelled as I squeezed. Her smug smile deepened my frenzied efforts.

“Zach, don’t kill her.” Sasha stepped in front of us and pulled the trigger on her gun, hitting an attacker I never saw coming after us. “Come on, we have to go.”

Sasha bent down and slammed the gun against the side of the mercenary’s skull. Her eyes closed and her head lolled to the side. I let go of her throat in time to notice someone crashing through the woods to my right.

In a split second, I sent a knife flying through the air, aimed only at the immense amount of noise this attacker made.

“Ahh,” a man screamed. “Shit, Zach. You hit me.” Trevor stepped into the limited light and pulled the knife from his shoulder. “You’re lucky I have this thick jacket on.”

“You’re lucky I didn’t hit
you in the head,” I grumbled. “What are you doing?”

“They killed her.”

“Who?” My stomach plummeted.

“Carrie.” Trevor
leaned forward with hands on his knees trying to catch his breath. “They took the rest.”

“Max?” Sasha asked.

“Yes.”

“Jackson?”

Trevor shook his head. “I don’t think so, but I haven’t seen him since the fighting started.” He turned and looked at me. “They took Vee and Hunter.”

I swallowed hard, knowing we
had to regroup despite my urge to chase after them. Nodding, I focused on the mercenary on the ground. “How many more are there?”

Sasha answered. “I think most have left
or are dead.”

“Why aren’t they coming after us?” I asked.

“They probably think we’re dead. They divided us into two groups. I think we had the upper hand on this side of camp.” Sasha walked a few steps away and pointed her gun in several different directions, searching for a target.

“Then we should get out of here,” Trevor said. “Is the girl coming?”

“Yes,” I replied. “She might help us find out where they’re taking them.”

“We know where they’re going.
The factory. With this number of mercenaries we must not be too far away,” Trevor said.

I loo
ked at Sasha. All of this traveling the last few days was supposed to put us further away, not closer to the government run facility.

“I thought we’
d be safe,” she said, thoughts drifting to the same question I’d just had.

I couldn’t blame her, even though I wanted to. She’d always taken control of the group and did the best she could for us. Now three were dead, one was missing, and the love
s of her life and mine had been taken to a place no one ever returns from.

“Come on,” Sasha continued. “We have to get away from her
e in case they send more.”

“I saw a
Ranger not far from here. Looks like we killed the drivers,” Trevor said.

“You didn’t kill anyone,” I mumbled, knowing exactly how childish I sounded, but not caring.

“Go get the vehicle and pick us up,” Sasha said. Trevor sprinted off into the woods, running faster than I ever knew he could move. “Get their guns.”

Sasha and I spent the next several minutes collecting weapons from the dead mercenaries, taking anything that still functioned. As part of the government, our enemies were very well supplied. I found a pair of
zipcuffs hooked to the female mercenary’s belt and proceeded to wrap her hands tightly behind her back. Whether she wanted to or not, she would lead us to our friends. I couldn’t bear the thought of Vee, Hunter, and Max working in a factory and never returning to us.