Chapter 4 - Escape into the Dark
The camp at night was a restless beast. The hum of portable generators masked the sound of Silas and Elara slipping through the shadows of the bleachers. The rain had started again, a cold, miserable drizzle that slicked the mud beneath their boots.
They reached the perimeter fence, where a row of confiscated civilian boats was tied to a chain-link post. Silas was just pulling out his bolt cutters when a blinding spotlight hit them, pinning them like insects on a board.
"Going somewhere?" Thorne’s voice echoed through a bullhorn.
From the darkness, six of Thorne's men stepped forward, armed with baseball bats and stolen rifles. Silas pushed Elara behind him.
"Run to the water," Silas hissed to her. "Don't look back."
"Get the girl!" Thorne shouted. "Kill the old man!"
Chaos erupted. Silas lunged forward with terrifying speed, his hunting knife flashing in the harsh light. He buried the blade into the shoulder of the first thug, using the man's body as a shield against a gunshot that rang out into the night.
Elara scrambled under the fence, tearing her jacket on the wire. She hit the muddy bank and tumbled into the freezing, waist-deep water. She grabbed the edge of a small motorized zodiac raft, desperately trying to untie the thick nylon rope.
Behind her, the sounds of brutal hand-to-hand combat echoed. She heard a sickening crunch and a groan of pain that sounded horribly like Silas.
"Gotcha, you little brat!" Hands clamped around Elara's ankle, dragging her backward into the mud. One of Thorne’s men loomed over her, a cruel grin on his face.
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Desperation fueled her. Elara grabbed a heavy wooden oar from the raft and swung it with all her eight-year-old strength, catching the man squarely in the jaw. He stumbled back with a curse.
At that moment, Silas burst through the fence, blood streaming down his face. He tackled the thug into the water, grabbed Elara, and hauled her into the raft. With one swift motion, he sliced the mooring rope and pulled the ripcord on the outboard motor. It roared to life, shooting them out into the pitch-black, flooded ruins of the city just as bullets began to skip across the water behind them.
