Land of Wolves

Chapter 64

The truck jerks to a stop, and Adam and I make brief eye contact before turning toward the door. It's got to have been hours since we woke up, and I've thought of every possible way HPAW is planning to kill us in that time.

Bells continues to shout, her voice shrill as she proclaims her innocence, but all I can hear is the blood rushing through my ears.

This is it.

The chain around my leg drags across the floor as I shift, my nerves making it impossible to stay still. I used to pride myself in my ability to remain calm in stressful positions, but it seems I've lost that skill these past few months.

Before, when faced with the possibility of my death, I didn't feel nearly as much emotion. If I died, it was for a good cause. I died fighting to save the humans, and it's not like anybody would miss me. Now, though, I feel like I've finally got a reason to live.

I'm excited by the prospect of a future with Caleb, and I don't want to lose that. I'm not ready to.

A small part of me wants to hope that Caleb will be on the other side of the door, here to save us, but I refuse to get my hopes up. I can't.

The truck's doors are pulled open, and five HPAW soldiers jump in the back. Where did they all come from? There's no way they were cramped together in the front seats of the truck, and there must be a second that followed.

How many HPAW soldiers are here? This truck can probably fit twenty grown men, assuming they squish together on the benches, and I presume HPAW would want to bring as much backup as possible when moving Adam and me.

We're precious cargo.

The HPAW soldiers all business as they file inside the truck, and two point their weapons at Adam while a third moves forward and unchains Bells.

Her cries are practically incoherent as she mindlessly defends herself, and the man unchanging her pointedly ignores her as he curls a hand around her arm and tosses her into the chest of another soldier.

Adam snarls, the deep sound making me jolt.

It's a loud, terrifying noise that would probably make me piss myself if directed at me, and I snap my head in his direction as he tries to stand. It seems the drugs aren't entirely out of his system, and he stumbles forward the second he rises.

He catches himself on the bench opposite us, his hand landing right where Bells was sitting just moments ago.

"Don't touch her," Adam threatens, his voice low.

I've never heard him speak with such hatred before. I didn't know it was even possible.

The soldier who unchained Bells laughs, and she is forced off the bus by another man. The two of them disappear around the side of the truck, but her pleading quiets as she's pulled away.

Adam continues to struggle, and three of the four HPAW soldiers move forward to chain his hands behind his back.

The fourth points a gun at the back of Adam's head, preparing to shoot at the first sign of trouble.

Only once Adam is properly restrained do they unchain his foot, and one soldier loops his arm through the back of Adam's and forces him to his feet. Adam looks furious, but he doesn't fight as three soldiers escort him out of the back of the truck and around the corner where Bells was taken.

This just leaves me.

I run my tongue along the edge of my cracked tooth, using the pain to distract me. I listen for any sound of gunfire or struggle, desperate to know what's happening. There's nothing, but I can't tell if that's good or bad.