Wolf Country

Chapter 17- Chaos

Scarlett

The next day is nerve wracking for all of us. Today is the day we put the plan in action. If we succeed, we'll definitely be a mile away from this place by sundown. If we don't, we'll be dead.

In the morning, I feel a hand touch my shoulder and shake me gently awake. I open my eyes and find my mother's worried face looking into mine. I sit up and rub the tiredness out of my eyes as everyone in the tent wordlessly eats breakfast. Despite the silence, I know what they're thinking: if this all goes right, this is our last day in this hellhole.

"Alright, so we all know our roles?" my mother whispers, looking around at everyone.

"Yes...we're ready," Olivia says with a steely look in her eyes.

We wait until dinner time rolls around and a guard comes and brings us our food. As soon as he steps in, Ben pulls him down and presses his knee against his throat and a hand over his mouth. He struggles and squirms under the man's weight, but eventually his body stills and his muffled cries go silent.

Part of me feels guilty about taking a man's life, but I know it's necessary for our survival. Now isn't the time to be thinking about morals. Ben pulls the man's gun off of his body and hands my mother a knife.

"Let's go," he says gruffly.

He peeks his head out of the opening and then slips his whole body out. We hear a struggle and a short yelp before he sticks his head back in. "C'mon, let's go. I think everyone is in the meeting tent."

We all slip out, one-by-one, into the cold winter air beyond the tent. The two guards lie on the ground, unconscious or dead, I don't know. My mom grips my arm gently with one hand and the knife in the other as we walk with careful steps towards the outskirts of the camp.

"Hey!" a voice says behind us. Two men are running towards us with surprised looks on their faces.

"Run," I whisper, peeling off into a sprint. We all start running madly into the forest, toward our freedom that seems to be getting farther and farther away.

"Scarlett!" my mom's voice calls out to me from behind. I risk a glance and see her being dragged off back to the camp with the men. My eyes widen but she shakes her head.

"Go!" she yells.

With my eyes filling with tears, I take a few stumbling steps back before turning and disappearing into the trees.

Adam

I realize now why Ryan and I never became friends on the football team. He's controlling, arrogant, and doesn't like to admit when he's wrong. Still, he's a good shoot and has keen eyes, for a human. And I know he has a good a reason as anybody to be trying to rescue Scarlett.

A group of twenty of us heads out a the sun sets, looking like we're geared up for war. All of us carry guns and rifles, and I know I'm not the only one with a knife tucked away in my waistband. As we trek through the woods, following David's map, I start to feel worried. What if they know about the map and have moved already, like last time? Is Scarlett and everyone else okay?

About an hour into the walk, I see lights ahead and pause the group. We all crouch amongst the underbrush and move forward at a slower pace, weapons at the ready. We can't give our position away before we've even made it to the camp.

Gunfire, coming from the left. I swivel my head and five behind a log, my pulse quickening. How did they find us? They must have known, somehow, that we were coming.

"Fire back!" I yell before peeking over the log and firing my handgun into the darkness. I've scarcely fired one round before hands are grabbing me and throwing me into the dirt, typing my hands behind my back, dragging me off towards the lights I spotted earlier. How could I have let myself be captured? How did this all happen so quickly?