Austin’s POV

Alex, Alan, Quinn, Ghost and I all crouched behind a car, waiting for the signal. Two woman had already taken out the guards that had been patrolling the driveway. It was quite impressive to see two people who had been professionally trained put the collectors down with a simple kick to the head.

We waited, and waited, and waited. On the dot at eight o’clock, a hand went up, giving the signal. A war cry went up through all directions as we all sprinted towards the front door. It was the most beautiful, ferocious, death defying sight I’ve ever seen.

Men and woman swung their clubs to shatter the windows, but some just body slammed through the glass. A few teens went and knocked the door off its hinges. Teams one, three, and five took into the house. Screams rose up as the men fell before their might. I didn’t want to wonder how many of our forces had fallen so far.

“ESCAPE!” Anarchy called the signal, pointing to a man sprinting to one of the cars. In one fluid motion, Quinn whipped around and shot two bullets into the man, never missing a beat along the way. The guy in grey face planted on the grass and lay still. Our job was the take down any strays that managed to escape the house. Through a broken window, I heard a woman laugh like a maniac as another collector screamed.

“We’ve got north and west side, you get the south and east!” Alex called to Amity and Anarchy that were coming towards us. They bobbed their heads and moved off. I noticed that Balz stuck close to Amity’s side.

The fight was going, full force. I glanced someone on the top of the roof, but a teens were creeping up behind him. Before I knew it, they had pushed him off the edge and he landed with a sickening crack. I looked away before he splattered.

“Yo, Austin! There’s a cabin where Kynder is! I think I can see it, it’s just north!” A kid with an accent called and pointed. I could see over the tree line, so I had to trust him. Quinn took off running in his direction that he pointed, the other followed.

“Hope! We think we found Kynder! Keep the rest rounded up!” I called to the elder woman with a butcher knife. She nodded and went to tell the rest of her group and spread the word.

I sprinted faster than I ever had in my life. Kyn’s life was in danger and I needed to hurry.

Thunder boomed overhead like feet stomping on hard wood in an echo room.

Sure enough, there was a small cabin type house that had no path leading to it. It was only a half mile away and secluded from view. Most of the lights were off. The only window that was it seemed to come from the back.

“What do we do?” Alex asked nervously. Alan, Quinn, and Ghost bit their lips anxiously and awaited my cue.

“Head in the front and rush to the back. We’ll storm in on my signal.” I explained. Creaking behind me made my head turn. A figure jumped me, taking me down.

A shot fired off.

Amity lay motionless, not breathing on top of me. I rolled over, seeing a grey shrouded man hold a loaded gun and poised to kill. He was the one that shot Amity.

“AMITY!” Balz’s voice screamed. Anarchy lunged into view in the background. Before the shooter could turn around to kill the pale keyboardist, Balz shot the killer twice, rushing to Amity’s side with tears running down his cheeks.

She had pushed me out of the way, saving my life and now she was dead. The two men sobbed beside her body.

“We have to go, now.” Alan touched my shoulder. With a final farewell, I looked at only one of the sacrifices made today and felt sorrow grow heavy on my shoulders. I had led them to do this. Each death was on my head.

I turned around to the men who sobbed over their fallen friend.

Alex kicked in the door as we rushed down the hall, twisting through the desolate turns to the closed door at the far reaches of the house. We all paused, holding our baited breath.

At a single nod, we all rushed through the door, Quinn headfirst barging forwards with a yell. Alex had a gun on him, but didn’t shoot at the sight. As we all filed in, circling around the man who held our girl, I saw him smirk. My heart boiled over with anger.

“I would put down your weapons, if I were you.” Miles clucked with a smirk. Kynder sat on her knees, gasping for breath at the touch of the biting chain.

Her blood dripped from each lash in her skin, dripping down her bare torso and staining the black bra she wore. Kyn’s mouth was twisted into a grimace.

A knife was held against her exposed throat, pressed tighter and poised to plunge into her throat.

Notes