The Dark Days: Dark Beginnings - Episode 4 Read online

  I hear the sound of jingling metal, and Elsie jumps out of the trees on the opposite side from the guard.

  “What?” He darts toward her and this time she disappears behind a smoky, black cloud.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I see motion on the deck. It’s Jimbo! I glance toward the gunman and see his back as he chases Elsie deeper into the trees. Good—right where we want him.

  I get Jimbo’s attention. Perfect. I approach him and stand in the shadows. I toss up Ben’s rope and plastic bottle ladder and he secures it to the railing and climbs down.

  “Jimbo!” I hug him quickly. “We’re here to break you guys out. Where’s Molly and Sam?”

  “They’re inside the house. Molly is reading a book and I think Sam is playing cards.”

  “How many guards inside? Ben saw two.”

  Crack! I hear wood snapping and then a man screams in pain.

  “Punji traps in play!” Ben whispers loudly and gives me thumbs up.

  “I’ve gotta go in!” I say and head for the door.

  Jimbo grabs my arm. “No! I can walk right in and they won’t suspect anything.”

  Before I can stop him, he’s scaled the ladder and is up on the deck.

  Kane runs up from behind. “I heard a scream. You okay?”

  “Yeah, Elsie’s guard must have found one of Ben’s traps. Jimbo ran back inside to get Molly and Sam out on the deck.”

  “Good. You can run back and meet up with Tiny. Let him know we’ll be there in a second.” He leans in to kiss me on the cheek.

  “Uh, I’m not leaving until they are safe with us,” I say backing away from him.

  “Do you have to-”

  Lucky for me, Molly, Sam and Jimbo rush out onto the deck. The guys help Molly climb over the railing and she is the first one down the ladder. I motion for her to come to me. Sam scales down fast behind her and runs by Kane.

  Jimbo is climbing over the railing when the guard runs out onto the deck. I have to distract him.

  “Hey!” I yell and the guard stops and looks in my direction.

  Jimbo is halfway down the ladder and the guard has his gun aimed at him.

  Jimbo stares down the barrel of the rifle. “Go! Don’t worry about me!” Jimbo shouts.

  Ben’s rock that hits the guard in the head isn’t that big, but it knocks him out cold—may have even killed him. All I know is that we aren’t waiting around to find out.

  “Run!” Kane yells.

  We sprint through the trees and I know I’m running for my life. We stay on the outside of the safety boundary that Ben pointed out earlier that day. I suddenly spot the guard that wasn’t so lucky. He’s waist deep inside Ben’s punji sticks and has speared himself in the back from trying to climb out.

  “Help me!” he screams.

  It’s surreal, the way everything blurs past me as I run and all I can hear is the deep thump of my heart. Tiny sees us coming. “Come on! Get in!”

  Molly and Sam get into the cart with him.

  Kane gets into the driver seat of one of the other carts and Elsie jumps onto the back seat. “Claudia!”

  I hesitate, searching for any sign of Ben and Jimbo.

  “Claudia! He knows the plan. Come on!”

  Finally, I see them charging through the trees toward us. Kane’s already in motion when I jump into the front seat and we take off into the forest. I feel like I should hang on for my life as Kane speeds through the obstacles. A few small branches smack me in the face and it stings in the cold air.

  We make it to the path and will be home free once we hit 9th Street. That’s when I hear the motorcycles not too far behind us.

  “Kane!” I look back and can see a headlight less than thirty yards away. They are gaining on Ben and Jimbo who are bringing up the tail.

  “Ben!” I point to the motorcycle.

  He yells something, but I can’t hear him.

  They are getting closer. “Kane, they’re going to catch them.” We’re going so fast to try to get away we don’t even stop to grab Jay and Brody.

  “Ben will take them through the trap. He’ll be okay, I promise.”

  The motorcycles are gaining on all of us. Then Ben wraps around the outside of the tree markers and sure as the sun rises, the bad guys drive right into the fishing line.

  The first guy flies through the air and his bike crashes into a tree. Another biker is too close behind and can’t stop before he is yanked off his motorcycle and hanging from his ankle. I laugh—just like Ben said.

  Then, in slow motion, I see a third guy on a motorcycle. He’s stopped and has raised his bow! He’s aiming at Ben and Jimbo.

  I see the arrow shredding the air. It hits Ben in the back and knocks him out of the cart.

  “Ben! Kane, stop! Ben’s hurt!”

  I’m one foot out of the cart when I see Ben shake his head, get off the ground and jump into the cart. He takes off toward us. “Go!”

  The bad guy jumps back onto his bike and is in pursuit once again. Three more guys come blazing through the woods on their motorcycles. This isn’t looking good.

  “Kane, hurry! There are three of them now!”

  I look back just in time to see Jay knock one of the guys off their motorcycle with a two by four. That had to hurt.

  The one guy is almost on Ben and Jimbo. Ben’s expression is fierce and he’s doing his best to keep away but he’s losing ground.

  Brody jumps onto the second biker and knocks him to the ground. They are rolling around on the ground throwing punches.

  I can’t worry about them. I see the guy chasing Ben has skidded to a stop and he is readying his bow again. He’s going to take another shot.

  “Kane, stop now!” He has barely hit the brake when I jump out of the cart and grab Masaru’s dagger from my boot. I’ve got one shot.

  I throw the dagger as hard as I can and the biker drops to the ground.

  “Nice shot!” Ben yells and flies by us. I climb back in with Kane and Jay and Brody are running up behind us. They jump into the back of the cart.

  By the time we get to Guanella Pass, we realize we have made it to safety and no one else is following us.

  We get to the boulder trap and slow to a stop. I get out and run over to Ben.

  “You are bleeding!” There’s a good amount of blood that has seeped through on the back of his coat. “Let me take a look real quick.”

  He cringes, as he lifts up the back of his coat. His tin can armor has been punctured, but it saved his life. The arrow did go in, but it would have gone all the way through and hit his heart if the tin lid hadn’t stopped it.

  “The armor, Ben! The armor!” I hug him, careful not to touch his wound.

  “I’m going to be okay. Let’s go home.”

  “Should we release the trap before we go?” I ask.

  He looks up to the trees and smiles. “No, we’ll need it when we take the district.”

  From the Authors

  Thank you for your purchase of Dark Beginnings! If you enjoyed this Episode, we urge you to read the first three, if you haven't already. You can find those here:

  The Dark Days Series:

  End of the World – Episode 1

  Dorian Lennox – Episode 2

  The Others – Episode 3

  I would love to hear what you think, so please leave a review on this books page at the retailer where you downloaded the episode, or send me an email at [email protected].

  Also, please check out my books in the Aurora Conspiracy Trilogy and Prequel Series:

  Crash Landing – Prequel Series 1

  Conflict Rising – Prequel Series 2

  Calm Before the Storm – Prequel Series 3

  Chaos Unleashed – Prequel Series 4

  Quest of the Hybrid – Book 1

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uthorscave.com

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