I walk through the forest to the Fort’s gates. A soldier appears from thin air with an M16 pointed at my chest. I hold my hands up in surrender—he doesn’t lower his rifle.
“State your business,” he says in a young voice. He looks small. I could probably take him, but most of the fight in me disappeared after these past few days.
“I’m here looking for shelter,” I say. I’m here for the girl sounded ridiculous in my head let alone saying it out loud.
“How old are you?” the soldier says.
“Twenty-two,” I say. What does that have to do with anything?
He holds his hand up to this ear and nods his head. He raises his rifle to eye level. I raise my hands higher hoping it’ll lower his weapon. “You’re lying,” he says.
“About finding shelter?”
“That’s not the reason you’re here,” he says. “You’re here about Hayley Henderson.”
“Sir, please—”
“Get out of here!” he says. “She’s in our walls now, and you’re causing a problem.”
“So she’s alive?”
“She’s under the fort’s care and protection,” the soldier says. “There is no need for you here. Leave.”
“I’m good with guns, and I know a thing or two about cars—”
“Sir, we have it under control,” he says. “I will fire if you don’t leave now. You’re attracting those animals out there to our walls. I will not hesitate to shoot if you come back here with those things on your tail.”
“Please, I’m begging you,” I say taking a step forward.
He takes aim and fires.
YOU ARE READING
The Burn Our Houses Down Series: Painted Red (#3)
AdventureXavier made his choice to leave Hayley and Aisley at Fort Ticonderoga. Five years later, he's still running, killing—doing anything to survive in the woods of Upstate New York. Five years of being in the dark, not knowing if the people who grounded...
