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After she was kidnapped to a foreign land, Devora Evans found herself rescued by a questionable team claiming to be spies working for the government. However, she soon found out that the term "spies" was much...
"Will Leah and Markus be alright on their own? I mean, Leah's seriously injured and Mark is just a child."
"Leah is tougher than you give her credit for," Travis simply replied, eyes still staring straight ahead as they marched on. "And I checked her injuries. They're better than it actually looks. As long as she doesn't do anything stupid, she'll be fine."
"Don't worry yourself to the bone, Dora." Nathan flashed a dimpled smile, attempting to lighten up the mood. "She'll be fine and so will Markus."
Just as the last syllable left Nathan's lips, a gunshot rang through the air, reverberating loudly as flocks of birds started to fly away from the canopy of trees. Devora felt her blood run cold, panic and dread filling her. When she realized that the sound had come from somewhere in front of them instead of behind, she felt a moment of relief before anxiousness and dread filled her again. After all, having a gunshot go off near the safe house meant that Dallas might be in trouble.
It was as if Nathan and Travis could both read her mind as they turned to eye each other in alarm. After a second's worth of hesitance due to their initial shock, the three broke into a sprint, running and practically flying over the forest's floral growth as they raced towards the safehouse. With each second that was wasted on the journey, more and more fragments of trepidation inserted themselves into Devora's bloodstream like shards of glass that didn't belong to the human body.
When they finally broke free from the line of trees and the metal building could finally be seen, Devora scanned their surroundings, desperately trying to find her friend. Her fingers tightly grasped the gun in her hand as if waiting for either an attack or a sign.
"Shit!" There was a pained groan that originated from her left side. Before the boys could react, Devora immediately darted over, her legs crossing the area quickly as a figure on the forest floor zoomed into view.
It was as if she had been transported back a few months. Instead of Dallas lying on the ground with his bloodied hands clutching his abdomen, in her mind's eye, she saw a little girl that used to be her friends' worlds.
Little Tammy.
She shook her head, willing the gory image away. Despite the number of times she had seen blood and death, the image of the deceased child was still haunting.
Just in time, Nathan and Travis scuttled over from behind. They, too, noticed the scene before them. Travis reacted first, racing forward with urgency as he slid on his knees across the grass to get to Dallas.
"Dallas!" He cried out, hands flying towards his partner that laid on the ground.
Yanking Dallas's t-shirt higher up, Travis felt a weight being lifted off his shoulders when he noticed the dark blue bullet-proof vest underneath. That happiness was, however, short-lived when he realized that Dallas wasn't hopping around as quickly as he should be. His hands were also slightly red with blood.
"Help me out of this thing," Dallas wheezed, unable to move. "It feels like I just got gutted with a baseball bat."
When Devora and Nathan reached Dallas's side, they bent down as well, helping Dallas back up onto his feet before Nathan nimbly worked to remove the vest. The protective armor was slightly torn, the bullet lodged half-way through. Thankfully, with it off, Devora was able to see that the blood was mainly from how the bullet had grazed Dallas's skin. It didn't go any deeper than that.
However, she had once again celebrated a little too early.
Nathan's face was grave, shaking his head at Dallas as Travis supported the latter.
"You definitely broke a few ribs there," he remarked gesturing to Dallas's torso. "How close did she get you?"
No party had to specify who 'she' was. They all knew that their comrade had betrayed them. Dallas was certainly no match for Candice. She was the only one that could get him in such a pathetic state.
"Right against the vest," Dallas replied, his voice still weak and his lips pale. "She headed in right after."
"And she didn't know you wore a vest?" Travis questioned.
"She must've been in a hurry. Scampered off as quickly as she could after shooting me once. A careless mistake on her part."
"We have to bring you back," Devora said. "He's in no condition to follow us."
Travis furrowed his eyebrows, adjusting his grip on Dallas's waist and careful not to agitate his injured area.
"I'll bring him back to the chopper before catching up with you guys," Travis offered. "Leah can take care of him there."
"No," Nathan butted in. "Bring him there and stay there. We don't know if Candice brought any backup and with this many injured people on board, we need someone actually capable of fighting to stay behind and take care of them. Devora and I can handle Candice."
For a second there, Devora thought that Travis was about to protest. He had always been a headstrong boy that felt the need to prove his strength to others. However, for once, Travis simply grimly nodded. His hand was clasped tightly around Dallas's body, the latter's arm slung over his shoulder so that he could support him better.
"Stay safe," he said grimly.
"Yea," Dallas nodded as well, "Don't die before I do." His smile was so forced, weak, and distorted that it was so unusual compared to his everyday lopsided handsome grin.
With grim promises hung in the air, the four parted ways. The one thing that kept chanting in Devora's mind was that their group had started out as a team of six. Now, they were down to two members and a highly-skilled, very deadly traitor.
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