red hill - jamie mcguire

“But if we needed to turn them on, we could,” Zoe said, shaken.
Ashley hugged Zoe to her side. “Don’t worry. I’m right here with you.”
“I’m here with you, too,” Zoe said, patting Ashley’s hand.
Scarlet
“IN HERE!” I SAID TO Joey and Bryce, holding open the door. Cooper had led us to the house they’d
stayed in before. It was already boarded up, and, according to the boys, was only a few houses away
from another house full of guns and ammo.
Bryce and Joey had attracted the attention of a large group of teds to divert them away from the
house, and then backtracked. Once they were inside, I tried to flip on the light. Nothing.
“Power’s out” Joey asked. He slipped off his pack and pulled out a small flashlight. “There’s
candles under the sink, but I don’t have any matches.”
“I do,” I said, unzipping my pack.
We all sat on the floor in a circle, sipping our water and breathing hard. By the time we’d reached
Shallot, we only had an hour to work with before we would need to head back. Shallot was so
overrun, we all lost track of time, and then it was too late to even think about going home. We cleared
until nearly dark, and even then we still had more than half to eliminate.
Joey didn’t rest long before he stood up again. “I’m going to go check the windows and doors.
Make sure all of our boards are holding up, and see if we still have a second exit.”
Bryce rolled his eyes, and when Joey was out of sight, he grumbled under his breath. “G.I. Joe to
the rescue.”
“Hey,” I said, taking a sip of water. “He saved our asses more than once today. Be nice.”
Bryce rested his arms across the tops of his knees, unhappy.
“Uh . . . guys . . . ” Joey said, walking into the room with his hands up. With only the candles to
light the room, I could only make out Joey and the end of the rifle that was against his head.
Cooper, Bryce, and I all stood up quickly, pulling our guns. Joey stood in front of the man holding
him hostage.
“Didn’t your mothers teach you not to walk into someone’s house without knocking”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “We’ll leave.”
“How did you get here” he asked. “A car”
“No, we walked,” I said. “We’re sorry. Just please let us leave.” I lowered my weapon. “See We
don’t want anyone to get hurt.”
“Too late for that,” the man said. Joey closed his eyes tight, but nothing happened. I grabbed my
flashlight, and shined it in the man’s eyes. He recoiled from the light. His hair was shaggy, his nails
and fingers black with dirt, and his camouflage overalls and coat were stained with blood. He
towered over Joey, and I wondered if we had a chance if we all charged him at once.