"Ready?"
"No."
"Oh come on, this was your idea."
"That does not mean I'm ready."
"Point proved."
Trent and I were crouched in our positions on top of a hill overlooking the coast. It was at least a ten foot drop to the beach and we could hear the motor of a car coming down the beach. I had my gun out and my knife just in case. My right hand was shaking slightly and Trent kept having to put his hand on my shoulder to steady me.
"Keep steady. You never know when you will have to shoot," Trent said for at least the hundredth time in the last hour. I took a deep breath and steadied myself.
Ashley, Van, and Nile were along the coast a little ways and on the beach. Kyle and Miranda were on the other side of the coast and also on the beach. We were going to corner them on all sides to keep stuff in our favor.
The car got closer and finally came into view. It was a Jeep that had at least seven people packed into it. Parks was one of them.
The driver stopped the Jeep and Parks jumped out instantly then groaned when he hit the soggy sand.
"Of course, we just had to meet here," Parks said with disgust and a man clapped him on the shoulder.
"Parks, you are probably the girliest man to ever set foot in the CIA," the man said and Parks brushed at his shoulder as if dusting off dirt.
"Yes, I'm quite alright with that. I don't see you going out of your way to go out and kill zombies, Junko," Parks said to the man, Junko.
"Those things creep me out," Junko said and shivered the tiniest bit.
"Five minutes," Trent whispered as he looked at his watch. I nodded and then heard the sound of another Jeep approaching.
"Ah there's the rest of the crew, and hopefully the Boss himself," Parks said and I could almost distinguish a bit of excitement in his voice. Like a kid at Christmas.
The Jeep pulled up next to the other one and Parks happiness disappeared instantly.
"Well of course it's just Mr. Worthless and his worthless followers," Parks said as three more people joined, bringing the count up to ten. I cursed under my breath and clutched my gun tighter.
"Shut it Parks. Where's the Boss? We have all of the important people here like someone asked," the new man asked and Parks shrugged.
"If I knew do you think I would be sitting here, Ris?" Parks asked the man with bitterness.
Ris opened his mouth to respond but another motor sounded down the beach and a car came speeding up and skid to a stop, spraying wet sand all over Junko, Ris, and Parks.
The door was thrown open and a tall man with sleeked back black hair climbed out of the car in a white dress shirt and faded jeans. The man looked so familiar in so many ways. Almost like I had known him forever.
"Boss," Parks said and walked up and shook hands with the man. Parks seemed to have forgotten that he was covered in sand.
"Parks, nice to finally meet you," the Boss said. His voice was smooth but there was venom in it that made me shudder.
"Thirty seconds," Trent whispered to me and I nodded and scooted closer to the cliff's edge, Trent right beside me.
"Who called us all here today? I do believe you mentioned something about having a lead on the Richards rat?" the Boss asked and I gritted my teeth and Trent stood up and I followed. Down each side of the coast I could see Ashley, Van, and Nile and Kyle and Miranda.
The first one to notice us was Junko. He pointed at Kyle and Miranda with their guns out and yelled something I didn't quite hear over the sound of my heart beating in my chest.
"And there's Richards," Parks sneered and I noticed that he was glaring at me.
"You know it," I said with a side smile, trying to hide just how terrified I was. Trent and I raised our guns in unison and Parks cursed loudly.
"She set this up!" Parks yelled and took out his gun. I fired before I knew what was happening and the sand right beside Parks' foot exploded.
"Relax," Trent said before he began firing at the people, Miranda, Kyle, Ashley, Van, and Nile doing the same.
I heard guns go off everywhere and yells of pain as people were shot on the beach. I felt something pierce my leg and I yelled in pain and fell forward and rolled off of the small cliff. I felt the land connect with my bad side and I gasped in air and tried to get to my feet. The bullet wound didn't go deep but it did go deep enough to hit sensitive skin. Someone had planned that.
More bullets went off and I willed myself to move, but my side was on fire and I was still gasping in air. I felt a hand on one of my wrists and I was dragged to my feet.
"Shoot and risk shooting her!" Junko yelled. A wave of adrenaline went through me and I slammed my head backwards into Junko's head. He yelled and let go of me. I had my gun and knife off of the ground before I knew what I was doing and I lunged for the nearest person, which just so happened to be the Boss.
Of course he was far stronger then me and he threw me onto the ground without too much of an issue. He had his gun pointed to my head and his knee rammed into my bad side in an instant. I resisted the urge to yell in pain.
"That's it, I'm done with this little bitch getting away with everything. Get her up," the Boss said to Junko and Ris. They lifted me off of the ground and held my hands behind my back.
The Boss grinned at me and took out a syringe full of a greenish liquid.
"Let's see how the new and improved zombie virus works on the immune one," the Boss said and my eyes widened and I immediately started to struggle against my attackers.
The Boss advanced on me but as he lifted his hand, his hand and the syringe exploded.
I swung around wildly as the Boss yelled in pain. Standing on the beach, covered in sweat was Darwin and Cory. Darwin with his gun pointed forward.
I grinned and took my chance to get away again. I wrenched my hands out of Junko and Ris's hands and swung on each of them. My fist connected with Ris's jaw and he landed on the ground unconscious. I turned to take care of Junko but a blur came by and tackled him to the ground.
"Thanks Nile!" I yelled and ran through the crowd of fighting people to Parks who was getting into one of the Jeeps.
"You're not getting away that easily," I said quietly and took perfect aim at the front tire of the Jeep and fired. The tire popped but it continued down the beach at a slow pace, but fast enough to leave.
I took a deep breath and did the only thing I could at the point. I chased after the Jeep.
I don't think I've ever ran as fast as I did then. I closed the distance between myself and the vehicle in about a minute and jumped onto the back of it. Parks swung around and pointed his gun at me. I cussed and ducked just in time. The gunshot rang out above me and I used momentum and sprang forward, running right into the back of Parks. He yelled in surprise and the Jeep swerved towards the water a little.
I swung a fist at Parks but he dodged it and tried to kick me out of the Jeep. I grabbed onto the sides of the Jeep quickly and reached for my knife. I slammed the knife hilt down onto Parks' hand that was on the steering wheel and he swerved again. The unpopped front wheel splashed in the water and sprayed mist over us.
I kicked out at the wheel and hit it dead on. The wheel swerved in a spasm in Parks hand and the vehicle swerved away from the water and back again. I must have broken the wheel because as much as Parks tried to pull away the vehicle drove full boar into the water. I jumped off at the last moment and splashed into the water before the vehicle hit a rock that was sticking out of the water.
There was a loud explosion that I could hear under the water. Orange exploded above me and I kicked towards the surface, my lungs screaming for air. Right as I was about to hit the surface, a hand grabbed my ankle and dragged me down. I kicked downward at Parks strongly but he wouldn't let go of my foot.
I still had my knife in hand so I reached down and sliced Parks' hand. A large amount of bubbles escaped from his mouth but he didn't let go of my foot. I kicked out strongly and tried to reach the surface, needing to reach the surface.
Darkness started to cloud the edges of my eye and fear consumed me. I felt Parks hand loosen on me and then go dead on me so I took it as my opportunity and kicked. His hand slipped free and I swam to the surface quickly.
As soon as my head broke the surface I was gulping air and coughing up water. I dragged myself out onto the shore and laid on my stomach, water draining off of every inch of me.
"Astrix!" a voice yelled and I heard the footsteps trimming on the beach. My head was groggy and I forced myself to open my eyes.
A person dropped down by me and hands were brushing the wet hair out of my face. I opened my eyes a little bit wider and saw Kyle.
"Don't go into the water, it's cold as shit in December," I said and Kyle's concerned face broke with a smile. I sat up and he hugged me quickly. Held me like that for a long time. I breathed in and sighed in peacefulness.
I heard the roar of the car engines approach and Cory, Darwin, Nile, Miranda, Ashley, Van, and Trent climbed out of the two cars.
I let go of Kyle and walked up to Darwin and Cory. Cory had a wide smile on his face and he looked healthy again. I pulled him into a hug like I hadn't seen him in forever, and the best thing was that he actually hugged me back.
I turned to Darwin and ask, "That was your dad wasn't it? The Boss? That was Michael?"
Darwin hesitated before saying with a sigh, "Yeah, that was Michael Grange. Now both of our dads are in the hell they deserve for creating this mess."
"Wait, you're Hunter Grange? Are you kidding me right now?" Kyle asked and everyone's mouths fell open.
"How did you know?" Miranda asked and glared at me.
I grinned and looked at Darwin. "Let's just say, I may or may not have been snooping and he almost killed me when he told me," I said and Darwin laughed and punched my shoulder.
"Ey, I'm injured," I said and Darwin rolled his eyes.
"You're the fastest healer ever so shut up. Let's get back to the house. I'm exhausted. Cory and I ran the whole way," Darwin said and we turned and walked back to the cliffs, just as one and then another snowflake came down upon us.
----
A/N
Next chapter is the last chapter! Makes me sad but I'm excited! Next chapter I might put some ideas for the next book I'm going to upload. Then you guys get to vote. Good idea?