The Burn Our Houses Down Series: Painted Red (#3)

Chapter 1

        And with a simple decision, my entire life is gone. I left my best friend, and the only other good person in this world in the hands of the Army. I should be grateful that they’re safe, but I’m not. I feel like I made the biggest mistake of my life. It’s been hours, and I can’t bring myself to move from a rotted-out tree trunk at the edge of the forest. The gunfire ceased when the sun started setting. I lost track of time I guess. My legs throb; I haven’t ran that hard in a while.

        I pull myself up along the stump and try to figure out where I am. I don’t see anything through the barren trees other than a sea of brown and white. I’ve got to get back to the hotel. All my weapons are there. My best chance of getting by until this all ends is there. The only shelter I have from the cold is my jacket. I was lucky that those monsters forgot about taking it when they brought Hayley and Aisley to me in the woods.

        I start walking back in the direction I came from avoiding broken branches on the ground. The moon hovers above the trees like a beacon. It’s silent aside from my breathing. The trees tower over me like a giant’s foot waiting to come crashing down at any moment.

        My fingers are numb from the cold, and I lost feeling in my feet when I let Hayley and Aisley go. I hear dull shouting from somewhere in the trees, and adrenaline floods my veins—movement about a hundred meters to my left. I duck behind a tree and hold my breath.

        “Where the fuck could he have gone?”

        “Do I look like a god damned GPS, man?”

        “Listen asshole, we both lost a lot of guys. They were my friends too. So, I’d appreciate if you cut out the sarcastic remarks.”

        “Fuck off, Randall!”

        A gunshot snaps and then another. I peek around the tree and squint into the woods. I still don’t make out any bodies, but I hear them getting closer.

        “Jesus Christ, Earl!”

        “Will you shut up! There isn’t gonna be any fighting or disagreements here anymore.”

        Silence.

        “Get the bodies and head back,” the guy they call Earl says. “At least something good came out of killing those two assholes. We’re gonna have something to eat tonight.”

        I take a step around the tree and land my foot directly on top of an old branch. The crack booms throughout the forest and deafens my ears.

        “Who’s that?”

        “Did you hear that?”

        “Someone’s listening to us out there.”

        A gunshot goes off and grazes my arm. I bite down on my tongue so hard, I taste blood. It takes everything in my power not to make a sound.

        “You’re wasting bullets, Earl.”

        “What would you do? Waste bullets or get whoever it is stalking us away?”

        I breathe through my nostrils trying to get the fiery pain to stop. The voices get drowned out by the sound of my pounding heartbeat. I try to listen, but all I catch is muffled yelling.

        The wetness reaches in between my fingertips. I don’t have anything to wrap it with so I squeeze tighter. A light pops into my vision. I look around the tree trunk and see more white orbs flip on through the trees.