Vain (The Seven Deadly 1)

But Ian didn’t deserve that. He was in love with me and was sad that he might lose me. How could I possibly get mad at that? How could I possibly tell him no? Masego made me happier than I’d ever been. Ian was the love of my life, I was certain, despite my young age. He was it.

“Ian, I-” I’d begun but he stopped me.

“Do you smell that?” he asked, distracted.

“What?” I asked, taking a deep breath.

“Something’s burning,” he said, standing rigidly straight and peering Masego’s direction.

It was too far away to see it and if there was smoke we couldn’t see it in the dark of the night.

“I smell it, too,” I said, worried we might be caught in an approaching grass fire. “What should we do?”

Suddenly, shots rang out from the direction of Masego. I jumped, grasping Ian’s arm. My heart dropped and a lump formed in my throat.

“What was that?” I asked Ian.

“Get in the jeep, Sophie.”

Ian dropped his tools where they lay and hopped in the driver’s seat so quickly I’d barely had time to register his command. I quickly obeyed, goosebumps rising on my skin when five consecutive shots rang out again. An unchecked sob came bursting from my throat.

“No!” I yelled as Ian started the jeep and peeling backwards from the fence. We raced, the lights from the jeep showing a seemingly endless sea of stark grass. The only sounds the blades slapping against the sides and our breaths as we blundered the length of the fence to get to the entrance.

“Please,” I begged out loud, my knuckles white against the dash.

I glanced at Ian and panic was written over every line of his face. My stomach plummeted further at his expression. Six more consecutive shots spilled from Masego and Ian punched the gas further, grabbing me by the arm and wrenching me into his side.

“Hold on,” he said steadily, before charging through the fence to get to Masego faster. When the truck righted, he said, “The guns, Sophie.”

I grabbed his assault rifle hung at the back of our bench seat and rested the butt against the floor near his leg then opened the glove box and removed the handgun. Instinctively, as Ian had taught me, I removed the magazine and checked the bullets before replacing it. I placed the gun in my lap. My hands shook as I wrenched my hair back into a ponytail.

Masego came into view and my heart clenched in the worst pain I could possibly imagine. She was on fire. It seemed not an inch of her went unscathed. More and more gunfire rang out and the adrenaline took over. I was ready.

Ready to defend her.

Ready to save others, if I could.

Ready to die for them...especially Ian.

It felt like we couldn’t get close enough, fast enough. The inches dragged.

Ten feet within its barriers, though, we could see obvious LRA soldiers opening fire on anything that moved, running toward buildings in attempt to get people, children, out.

“If we don’t make out of this alive, Sophie Price, I want you to know that I’ve never loved anyone as much as I love you. You’re it for me,” Ian said, stealing my breath and my words from earlier.

Tears streamed my face. He kissed me hard and quickly.

“Stay down,” he said, shoving my head toward the seat.

He exited the vehicle before I’d had a chance to say anything to him. He created distance between himself and the jeep, probably to keep the bullets from straying toward me, before opening fire himself.

“No!” I yelled a million times, tears plummeting. “I didn’t get to tell you!”I cried. “You were supposed to let me tell you!” I choked in pain. “No,” I said again, when bullets seemed to fly toward the direction I thought he’d gone.

I didn’t hesitate, didn’t think twice. I flew up from my crouched position, crawled over and opened the driver’s side door, fixing myself behind it as a makeshift shield. I placed my hands on the window’s edge and assessed the grounds.

“Two soldiers at the back of our huts, three at the kitchen’s door.” My eyes followed back across. “Seven on Karina’s and Charles’ porch. Two at the children’s house door. Five at Kate’s.” All the buildings were on fire except for Karina’s and Charles’ cabin and Ian’s and my huts.

Ian was nowhere to be seen which comforted me. He wasn’t lying in the common area and that was one more check toward keeping my sanity. I scanned the area once more and drank in the sight of our stalwart Baobab tree, its entirety had erupted in flames. Unease began to settle through me.