Within The Bonds

84: Rescue

"That's my family out there!" I snap back as the deafening sound of bullets behind fired rings into my ears and images of horrifying scenarios invade my mind clouding my judgment.

"My family is out there as well," he argues. "But we need to stay down, they are armed and have bulletproof vests," he adds, securing his arm around me rendering me immobile as I struggle against his hold as panic runs through my veins.

"You and I both know that the vests won't protect them from headshot!" I argue back while my struggle to break free from his hold continues but in vain.

"Listen to me!" He snaps grabbing either side of my face in a firm grip and forcing me to direct my attention to him. "All we have is a single gun, we can't face such heavy fire with just that. We need to stay low," he reasons trying his best to find common grounds with me.

"They are at a disadvantage here, we need to help them in some way," I hopelessly prissiest, refusing weakness to take over.

"We need to locate the source of the attack," I add as my thoughts start connecting to formulate a plan.

"It can't be the cabin, they must have secured it before they exited it," he points out leaving us just one possibility.

"The forest," we voice out simultaneously.

"It must be the Volkov's backup plan," he mumbles under his breath.

"This might be our only way," I remark before taking off down the craggy path of the forest we sat at the exit of.

As determination and adrenaline fuel my steps that I continue to take with calculative caution, I hear the evident sound of Alessandro right in tow with me that gives me an unknown reassurance as I force my ears to drawn out the blaring noise of the blazing gun and focus solely on the origin of the attackers.

With every step I take with just my ears as my guide, I can feel an unnerving feeling pulsate through my veins as the knot in the pit of my stomach only tightens.

As the noise starts to get louder, faint incoherent phases of an ongoing discussion from the other side also reach me giving me all the confirmation I need.

"This is as far as we can go," Alessandro says pulling me back from proceeding any further down this deadly route.

Knowing that he is still even in these circumstances is able to decipher logic from impulse is comforting and terrifying at the same time.

Comforting to know because this way at least one of us knows when to stop, and terrifying to know because if this situation isn't scary enough to lose all sense of logic, then what is? And how is he so prepared for that?

"Now what?" I wonder aloud attempting to get even the slightest glimpse of the attackers.

"Now you let me handle this," he replies taking the gun—our only weapon—from my hands and securing it in his.

"No," I dismiss his decision without so much as a second thought.

"What do you mean no?" He frowns.

"No, you're not going in there alone," I assert, staring straight into his eyes refusing to back down making him sigh.

"Okay look, we can sit here and fight over this while they kill off our families one member at a time, or you can let me go in there and try stopping them," he explains in dead seriousness, causing me to gulp inaudible at the sight of deadliness in his eyes.

"I can help," I offer in a feeble attempt to negotiate, but he isn't having any of it.

"I've been trained to tackle such situations. I know my way around this and truthfully it will be a lot easier knowing that you aren't a target they can leverage if you stay here to continue to remain invisible," he explains while his eyes periodically scan the surroundings as he speaks.