Estranged [Completed]

On the Road Again

Kalei looked to Josh. "Which way?"

"We have to go through the hall and back down the stairs," he said, pointing.

"Dammit. Jenna, get over here." At Kalei's request, Jenna joined her sister, standing on the opposite side of the door from Kalei.

"How many?" Jenna asked.

"Just the two."

Jenna nodded. "Got it. I'll take left." They swung out into the open doorway and shot at the Wardens. Jenna caught hers cleanly in the shoulder, and as the force knocked him back, she sent her second bullet through his now-exposed heart.

Kalei's bullets mostly found the plaster wall her Warden was hiding behind, but that didn't seem to matter, since one of those bullets made her target cry out and fall to the floor.

Kalei turned back to Josh. "Come on!" She pushed him out in front of her and ran after him.

Jenna caught up and commented, "Your firs' guy is gettin' up. That leg don' look like it's buggin' him no more."

Kalei replied, "Then take care of it."

As Kalei and Josh started to descend the stairs, Jenna spun around and took out the Warden's right knee, but not before a bullet grazed the side of her face. "Dammit!"

"You all right?"

"Yeah." Jenna wiped at the blood that began to spill above her right eye.

Josh's voice echoed in the stairwell as he called back, "Why didn't you just shoot them in the head?"

Jenna plodded down the stairs after them and said, "They're wearing bullet-resistant helmets, you dumbass!"

Josh nodded to himself. "Oh. Right."

They took an exit on the right, crossed another abandoned floor, down the stairs, to the left, another right...

Several flights later, they finally arrived at the first floor and ran for the exit. Kalei and Jenna kept low and headed for the walls at either side. Kalei thought Josh was following her. She had overtaken him in the sprint, but when she looked for him, she saw that he was standing in front of the open door, watching her with confusion as he said, "Why are you—?"

His head snapped forward and the blast of a gunshot ripped through the air. He crumpled to the floor.

"Fuck!" Jenna mopped her blood away from her eye and leaned out to return fire. She pulled back just as a bullet whizzed through the doorway. "It's Terin."

"What?"

"It's fucking Terin!"

"Shit." Kalei reached out and snagged the edge of Josh's pants leg, using it to pull his limp body away from the gunfire.

Jenna frowned at Kalei, fresh blood pooling in the crease between her knitted brows. "What are you doing?"

Kalei finished dragging Josh and propped him against the wall. "We're not going to leave him here."

"Why the fuck not?" Gunshots continued to ricochet off the floor and walls. Jenna returned a few of her own.

Kalei ignored Jenna and checked her pistol. The magazine was still half full. She popped it back in and chambered a round.

Jenna said, "Fine, we're taking the kid, but I sure as hell ain't carrying him." She took another shot, then her gun made a sharp click. Jenna tossed the weapon away. "Hey, gimme your gun."

"What? Why?"

"Cuz I'm out. Now give it."

Kalei slid her gun over to Jenna. "It's just Terin, right?"