Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 67263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 336(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 336(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
Boom!
Explosion after explosion rumbled overhead, shaking the ground and rattling my bones. Sparks and gunfire danced in the air. A foot landed next to my face. My stomach churned in disgust. I shook in fear.
Several feet away, the heat of the explosions almost burned my skin. The air thickened with smoke and the smell of gunpowder. Screams and sobbing rose all around me.
"Come on!" I grabbed Boris's arm and yanked him with me, crawling forward. Timur was still stomping forward with his flame torch.
We had to keep moving.
The ground was slippery with blood, guts, and body parts. Death surrounded us.
Boom!
Goddamn it! Stop tripping the fucking wires!
Dirt, debris, and blood rained down from the sky, peppering my face and neck. The scent of blood rode the smoky air. More bullets zipped above us. I had no idea if it was just the French shooting or if Timur had begun blasting back.
We kept crawling forward.
Thunder rumbled in the sky.
Every few feet I checked to make sure Boris remained at my side.
Boom!
Gunless, I was too terrified to look up. All I knew was that men were dying all around me like we were in a war. My eyes teared from the smoke and heat. The stench of blood and burning metal clogged my nose. So much that I could taste death on my tongue.
Someone grabbed my arm. I screamed.
It was Jean-Pierre, he shoved me to the side. “We can’t go back to the cars."
"No shit!"
"And we can’t stay here. Come with me.”
“Where?” I jumped up, gasping for air, but it was hard to breathe through thick smoke. “Boris, stay with us!”
“Okay.”
"This way!" Jean-Pierre rushed in the direction of thick woods on the right side of the path. Seconds later, he escaped through the trees.
Where is this going to take us?
I entered.
My hands shook.
Cold wind whipped by.
I picked up my pace, glanced behind me, and saw Boris just getting into the woods. “Stay with us, Boris!”
“I am.” He stumbled along.
Fuck. How did he injure his leg?
My nerves flared.
Em would lose her damn mind if I don't return with him.
I ran back to Boris and grabbed his thick waist. “Come on. Use me as a crutch, but hop fast.”
"Okay."
Somehow we wobbled along, yet we made a good pace and followed after Jean-Pierre. My heart pounded in my ears. My breathing ran ragged, but I didn't dare stop.
I glanced over my shoulder and witnessed nothing but horror. “Fuck!”
We would have been dead by now if we stayed there.
Out on the path where we had just been crawling, Timur was barbecuing motherfuckers with that flame thrower like it was a cookout for cannibals.
In the other hand, Timur carried an AK -47. Dude blasted anyone who wasn’t on fire. Bullets pierced French guys left and right. They collapsed to the ground.
It was trail of burnt, enflamed bodies—blacked and charred. Even the ground was scorched black. High-pitched screams rode on the wind. Some still ran as fire engulfed their torsos. Others were blackened husks, scorched and falling to the ground.
The sickening smell of burnt flesh and hair saturated the air. The screams of the dying echoed through the trees. I had never seen anything so horrific in my life, and I prayed that we would make it out alive.
And Timur just stomped along, frying people.
Yo. . .
I turned around and focused on getting Boris and me out of there.
"What's taking you all so long?" Jean-Pierre rushed back to us. “We have to go!!”
“Eh!" I tried to carry Boris along. "He’s injured.”
Jean-Pierre blurted something out in French and got to Boris’s other side. It was crazy how a shared threat could turn enemies into friends.
If we made it out of here, I would give Jean-Pierre more respect. He could have abandoned Boris and me and left us to our deaths.
Yet, his addition of strength got us moving faster.
We were three against the world, and I knew that we could make it out alive if we stuck together.
We’re going to get out of here! We really will escape.
The wind continued to whip by. The forest's sea of leaves and trees swayed, their branches and trunks fluttering with them. The sky darkened, and the air hummed as more dark clouds gathered overhead.
“Let’s hope there is a road past these woods.” Jean-Pierre kept his hold on Boris, helping him along.
My shoulder strained under Boris’s weight. “Even more, let’s hope Timur didn’t see us escape into the woods. He would know this land better than us.”
Minutes passed. Boris and Jean-Pierre kept up an impressive pace, but they had to be even more exhausted than me.
Then, the storm came.
Damn it.
Rain fell in torrents. Freezing water bit my skin and numbed my senses. Lightning all but blinded me, the bright flashes leaving afterimages on my retinas.
Keep walking. Don't stop.
Thunder roared. The ground turned to mud beneath my feet. It was getting harder to carry Boris along. My shoes filled with water and weighing me down.