A Flash of Red

Chapter Forty-Four

Harry

We had no choice but to leave Leila's body in the lobby.

Tara was outraged.

"We cannot leave her here!"

"Tara-."

"No, Dimitri. I'm not leaving her here defenseless."

"It's not her, Tara." MaryAnn piped up. "Not anymore."

Tara stared at her blankly.

"We're not leaving her here." She looked at me, almost begging me with her eyes. I nervously held her gaze, trying to communicate with her that there was nothing I could do. She held her ground.

"This is an apartment building, right?" I asked, not breaking eye contact with Tara. I looked over to Dimitri when I saw him nod out of the corner of my eye. "Let's take her upstairs into one of the apartments. Make sure she's not out in the open. Maybe lay her on a couch or something and cover her with a sheet so she's concealed. We can give her some respect and not leave her laying out here."

I looked back to Tara when I finished and saw her slowly nod, her stare thanking me.

"Alright, but we're doing it quickly." Dimitri interrupted our unspoken communication. "They're still outside and we need to move."

He and I carried Leila's body up the stairs to the fourth floor. I struggled beneath her lightweight and I realized once again how fatigued I was. Dimitri did as I said, laying Leila on a loveseat in an abandoned apartment and covering her with a sheet MaryAnn found when rummaging through a linen closet.

"Do you want a few moments before we leave?" Dimitri asked.

Tara shook her head.

"No, I'm fine."

"Tara-."

"I said I'm fine, Dimitri."

I knew Tara well enough to know that if she took anymore time here it'd make it harder for her to leave.

"Let's head out." I said, motioning for the door.

Dimitri nodded and walked out, I followed behind, brushing my hand along Tara's lower back as I passed her.

We jogged down the stairs and out of the building, not stopping until we were positive we weren't visible. We then walked quickly, eager to get out of this part of the city.

"We've got another half mile and then we're golden" Dimitri whispered, a smile on his face. "You guys are gonna run inside and I'm going back to camp."

"What?" Tara asked. "You're going back to camp?"

He nodded.

"I can't stay with you guys. It's too dangerous."

"That camp seems pretty dangerous to me." MaryAnn mumbled.

"I'll be back. I'll check up on you guys." Dimitri explained. "But I can't stay."

"You have-."

"I'm not staying. This is just something I have to do."

Tara stopped arguing.

The distant sound of gunshots broke the tension. Dimitri swore under his breath and stood up. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and stood up as well. Men were running towards us as we crouched behind an overturned care.

"LET'S MOVE!"

The girls jumped up and started running behind Dimitri. I looked behind me and saw how close they were and it suddenly dawned on me that I could die. Surely, they wouldn't take us back to the camp. They would kill us.