Ever Hayes - Redemption

A few minutes later, he was standing beside me, and I was wrapped in his strong arms. Ava stood a few feet behind him. I wasn’t quite sure what had happened to the Rambo Barbie I’d seen back in the Cheyenne Mountain tunnel. This girl looked scared to death. I pulled away from Danny finally and asked her if she was all right. She didn’t answer. Instead she reached out for Danny’s hand. A half hour ago I’d have considered this a play for attention—and it would have pissed me off—as I watched Danny take her hand. Now, as he began leading her down the hill, it was clear this was no act—she’d been deeply shaken. I needed to cut her a little slack.

I grabbed Danny’s arm as he stepped away from me. “Where’s Eddie?”

He turned and looked at me. “Saying goodbye to Cera.”

Oh no ! The shock had to be evident across my face. “What?”

“Sniper shot,” he answered, shaking his head. “She was standing right beside Ava.”

I took a better look at Ava now and could see the bloodstains on her shirt and her heavily matted hair. Her hands were shaking, and her lips were trembling. I understood the sudden change in behavior now. That’s Cera’s blood all over her!

“Did I—was it—”

“No.” Danny shook his head. “She was shot from behind—other side of the peak. They were coming up that way too. Cera and Eddie had just caught up to us. There were two more guys with that sniper. They never even saw you.” Then Danny nodded at Blake. “It was he and Axel who saved you. I only took out the last two guys.”

I turned toward Blake and could see he was looking down too. No. “Axel?”

“He didn’t make it.” Flynn stepped up beside me and took my hand.

“That one might—” Danny cut himself short, turned away, and led Ava down the hill toward the stream.

“That one might, what?” Those three words cut through me like a cold knife. “Danny.” Was he going to say that one might have been my fault? That had certainly been the insinuation.

“Hayley.”

I heard someone say my name, but I was staring after Danny. He was going to say that.

“Hayley.” Blake grabbed me and shook me. “Hayley, forget about it.”

“But—”

“No, I mean it. I need you to hear this—this is God’s honest truth—if you hadn’t come down the hill like you did, they’d have come all the way up the hill and killed all of you. You drew their fire and allowed me to not only follow the gunfire here to you but to get in position behind them to pick them off. They gave up their advantage for a quick kill, and they didn’t get it. They didn’t get you.”

“But Axel—”

“I know, Hayley.” Blake was right in my face now. “It’s terrible. Axel, Cera, Keena, her brother…” Blake pointed at Flynn. “We’ve lost a lot of people in this… but this is all because of Lazzo. None of this is on you.”

Blake was suddenly silent, and that was what finally made me look at him. He was looking behind me. I turned and watched Eddie slowly approach us, sadness painted across his face. “He’s right.” Eddie looked at me, nodding his head. “This isn’t on anyone but Lazzo.”

Eddie walked past us, and we followed him down the hill to the stream, where Danny was helping Ava clean the blood off. He and Danny exchanged a quick hug, and Danny said, “I’m sorry.”

I watched Eddie nod, and I sat down on a rock by the stream. No matter what Blake had said, I knew I’d been careless. Danny wouldn’t even look at me now. He was probably mad at me for how I’d treated Ava and definitely for Axel’s death. Blake was going to talk to Danny for me, but I didn’t know how much difference that would make. I’d been stupid. Part of the blame for this was always going to be mine.

Flynn sat down beside me with a cup of water. “Drink,” she said. “You need it.”

“What have I done?” I whispered to her.

“Hayley, you have to listen to Blake,” she reasoned. “He’s right. If you hadn’t drawn them out, you’d probably all be dead. You’re extremely lucky you’re not!”

I knew that, but I wasn’t entirely grateful for that fact right now. It took me that long to ask her about her fall from the plane. I apologized to Flynn for not asking sooner.

She smiled. “Don’t worry about it. It hasn’t exactly been uneventful on your end either.”

“So what—what happened with your chute?”

“Obviously it didn’t open all the way. Somehow it got stuck. I thought for sure I was gone. Then suddenly Blake is beside me, and I’m wrapped around him, and he’s pulling his own chute. We were so low to the ground when his opened, probably only two hundred feet up or so, and we hit the trees so frickin’ hard. We crashed through the trees and hit the ground. Blake shielded me from almost everything. He has to be a lot more hurt than he’s letting on.” She stopped and looked over at him as he splashed water on his face. “It was really… incredible.”

I took the cap off the canteen Flynn had handed me and leaned over to fill it. Suddenly a large trout swam by. Whoa! I tapped Flynn, and she turned to watch it wiggle away. “I could so eat that right now.”

I laughed. “I’ve got some string here somewhere… but I’d need a hook.”

There was a lengthy pause as I drank from the canteen. I glanced up and saw Flynn nervously looking around. A slight smile twisted the corner of her lips. “Did you say you need a hooker?” She nodded toward Ava—mocking her earlier pillows comment. “Cause you can have mine.”

I almost snorted water out my nose. Inappropriate timing or not, I couldn’t help it. By the look on her face I knew Flynn didn’t know if it was okay to say that now—even to me. I smiled and raised an open palm up to her. “High five.”

She extended her own hand and clapped it against mine.

“That was perfect, Flynn.”

Blake came over to us then. “What was that all about?”

“Nothing.” I couldn’t look at Flynn. “What’s the plan, Blake?”

“I don’t know. Dan, what’re you thinking?”

Danny walked over to us. Eddie came with him. “Ava told me the Anaheim safe house is at Disneyland, about a hundred miles from here. I think we’ve got to try to get there. It’s a bomb shelter like all the others…we just have to figure out exactly where it is.”

“She doesn’t know?” I asked. “And it’s not in the book?”

Danny shook his head. “The book just says Anaheim . But she remembers her dad talking about it in the bunker—unfortunately no specifics other than the obvious.”

“Which is?”

“It’s underground.”

Of course.

“More importantly—now anyway,” he continued. “Those soldiers were on their radios. It’s going to be a zoo here soon. They’ll be coming up every road, filling the skies…”

“So what do we do?” Eddie asked.

“There’s only one other way down.” Blake looked at Danny, and my brother nodded—he already knew that. “We have to follow this stream over the cliff and down the valley. There won’t be anywhere to hide. A hundred naked people standing on the roof of the Astrodome wouldn’t be more exposed than we’ll be.” He let that analogy sink in. “On the other hand, the river is cold, and staying next to it could be our best defense against their THIRST thermal detectors.”

“So we don’t have a choice?”

“No, Eddie.” Danny shook his head. “Not if we have any hope of getting back to Hawaii before they shut down the Shield and blow the islands away.”

“Can’t you message them? You have that tablet, don’t—”

He didn’t let me finish. “I don’t have it anymore.”