Crouching down to stay out of the line of sight, I rush over to the dead guard. On his wrist is a black rubber wristband with a silver “X” on it. Slipping it off his hand, I place it over my own and roll up my sleeve so it can be plainly seen.
I get back to Hannah, wrap my arm around her waist to support her, take a deep breath, and then start walking purposefully down the path toward the storeroom.
“Come on, Hannah,” I whisper in her ear. “You gotta walk with me. Just a little ways, then everything’s going to be okay.”
There are still a lot of people in the group near the Kessler, drinking coffee and complaining about their assignments. Others have broken off from their groups. The first two glance at me but say nothing. The third one is the man I saw yesterday leading the traders around the camp.
He narrows his eyes as he watches me walk closer to him. I can see the questions forming inside his head already. I beat him to the punch.
“Hey!” I call out to the guy who is eyeing me. “Where’s Brett?”
“What are you doing with her?” he asks with a glare. “She isn’t supposed to be out of the stable.”
“Hey, I just got this job,” I tell him as I hold up my wrist. “Brett said he wanted her brought to him and Caesar right away. I’m just trying to do my damn job!”
He continues to eye me suspiciously.
“Come on, dude,” I plead with him, “I only got here last night. I don’t want to fuck this up.”
His face relaxes a little.
“They were headed toward the depot,” he tells me. “Someone just brought in a new batch of toilet paper, and some fuckers are already fighting over it. It’s on the other side of the main entrance.”
“Cool,” I say. “Thanks a lot, dude. I owe ya one.”
“You’ll be all right,” he says. “Pretty nice duty for the first day!”
“I ain’t arguing!” We both laugh, and I move quickly past him, heading in the direction he indicated.
When I’m sure he’s not checking on my route, I veer off and pull Hannah over to the storeroom. I have to pull her close and balance her against my hip to pull the door open. Thankfully, there’s no one inside. I shift her weight to my other arm to get her through the door.
“What the fuck?”
I glance over my shoulder and see Brett standing not twenty feet from me.
“Hey!” he screams at me, and I see his eyes widen in recognition. “Motherfucker! You aren’t going anywhere with her! Caesar!”
Fuck!
I shove Hannah the rest of the way into the storeroom and slam the door behind me. I let her go, and she sways slightly but doesn’t fall. I grab onto one of the shelves with both hands and pull as hard as I can, toppling the shelf in front of the door. I grab the table from the middle of the room and lodge it in front of the door as well.
“Move, Hannah!”
She’s still almost completely non-responsive. I grab her arm and pull her to the crates near the opening. I have to drag the crate back farther to fit her through the crack and then shove her into the tunnel.
“Come on,” I tell her. “You gotta crawl. Move with me, Hannah. You can do it! Move!”
I shove her ass to get her to go, and she moves a couple of feet. It’s enough for me to grab the crate and pull it back, blocking the tunnel. I can hear scraping sounds coming from the door, along with a lot of yelling and cursing. The mess from the shelf won’t hold them for long.
I shove at Hannah again, trying to get her to go, but she doesn’t even seem to be aware of what’s going on around her. I’m not sure if she’s in shock or just shut herself down, but I don’t have time to figure that out now. I keep pushing and encouraging her, and we finally get to the other side of the tunnel.
A shot is fired behind me, and I hear the bullet ricochet off the side of the tunnel.
“Go out the front entrance!” I hear Brett yell. “Cut them off before they can get out! I’ve got t
hem from this side!”
“Goddammit, Hannah! Move your ass!” I scream.