He turned back around, and the gap between the guys’ bodies showed her that right outside, waiting for them like some kind of welcoming committee, were five men. They leaned against the side of a rusty orange pick-up truck that looked about fifty years old. The men were scuzzy and grungy-looking, but the guns they held up against their chests were new and gleamed with the promise of death. She knew they couldn’t see them inside the store, but it looked like the five of them were staring right at them.
The biggest one out of the five, and clearly the dirtiest one as well, pushed away from the truck and stood a few feet from the other men. Even from where she stood, she could see his smile. “We saw you guys head inside, so there isn’t any use in trying to wait us out. And the back door is blocked off, so there is no escape that way.” The other guys started laughing, and Sparrow found herself gripping onto the backs of Mason and Asher’s shirts.
“What do they want?” It wasn’t lost on her that she hadn’t moved and hidden in the back, but shit, they knew they were in here, and they outnumbered them. Mason and Asher might’ve been strong in their own right, but it was five against three. Sparrow could handle her own against a slow-ass infected, could even fend for herself when it came to a person one-on-one if she needed to—and had, in fact. But there was no way she could cause any damage to these men, certainly not when they were packing that kind of weaponry.
“Sparrow, go hide in the fucking back, and whatever you hear or see, do not come out.” Asher glanced over his shoulder and held her eyes with his bright blue ones. “No matter what.”
“Do what the fuck he says, Sparrow.” Mason looked at her, and there was a dangerous expression written across his face.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are.” There was more cackling from outside. “I’ll tell you what, if you hand over what we want, you can leave unharmed.” She swallowed and started walking backward, making sure to keep her eyes trained on the men right outside the store. “And you know what we want, right, boys?”
Her throat was dry and closing in, and her heart was beating a mile a minute. She held the gun tighter, feeling sweat start to coat her palms, but not afraid to use it when the time came. And the time would come. There was no doubt about it.
“What we want is the girl.”
Chapter Seven
Mason waited until he knew Sparrow was toward the back of the store and hidden behind one of the clothing racks before he motioned for Asher to come closer. “They know she’s in here, so there’s no point in lying about it. There’s also no reasoning with them, seeing as they’re already making demands for the girl.”
Asher held a hard expression, and Mason knew a part of his anger was because he wanted Sparrow. Those emotions were not welcome at the moment.
Right now, it was about getting them out safely. He may have been reluctant to take on another member, because frankly he was content with it just being Ash and him. He may also be annoyed that the little slip of a female thought she could keep up with them. She may have lasted this whole time, but Mason was not blind to the fact that she wouldn’t last another five months in the world as it was now.
But all of those things combined didn’t mean he was going to hand her over to these motherfuckers. He might be an asshole on the best of days, but he wasn’t a bastard to give up a life just to save his own, and he knew Ash felt the same way.
“I’m not going to hand her over to them,” Asher said through gritted teeth.
“Neither am I, so that means one thing.” They looked at each other, knowing they were going to have to take five lives in order to get out of here. They nodded to each other once, dropped their bags on the floor, and grabbed their guns. They didn’t have an endless supply of bullets, so they would need to make these shots count. But Mason was trained for war, trained to take down his enemies before they even knew he was standing right behind them. He checked his weapons: gun at the small of his back, gun at his hip, and his knife in his hand. Asher was doing the same, and with a glance back at the rack he knew Sparrow was behind, he took a step forward.
It wasn’t that he didn’t think Sparrow could handle herself, but she was a female, and call it pigheaded, but Mason wanted to protect her, wanted to make sure she was safe. Unlike what he had been able to do….