Read Story: SEASON 2 EPISODE 50

As I returned to the shelter, I reloaded the pistol and slid the clip back in, trying to get more familiar with the weapon.

“I’ve got shit to do. I’ll check on you in a couple of hours,” I called back.

Part of me felt bad for bullying a woman in her condition.

But then I remembered what she did to Bobbi. And how she tried to manipulate me.

Yeah. I was getting tired of that bullshit.

I slammed the clip into the gun.

I couldn’t wait for Chloe to get back.

I needed to fuck.

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Chloe had been gone for hours, and waiting for her had become nerve-wracking. I didn’t know how far away the cabin was, so I had no way of knowing whether her absence was unreasonable. All I knew was that the darker it got, the more I worried something had happened to her.

After my talk with Astrid, I only went back to check on her twice—once to give her water and again to offer a protein bar, which she gratefully accepted and devoured. She asked if I had any more, but I told her we were rationing and walked away. Later, after dark, when I had built the fire, I heard her call my name. I found her struggling with the parachute-blanket we’d fashioned for her and helped tuck her in. As I secured the fabric in the near-total darkness, I could feel her staring up at me, but I couldn’t make out her expression.

“Thank you,” she said sheepishly.

“No problem,” I responded, then left her to rest. I returned to the fire and heated one of the packets of soup in a small metal bowl Chloe had pulled from the wreckage earlier when we were trying to free Astrid. I sat in silence, eating slowly and hoping Chloe was okay.

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d gone this long without a screen or some kind of connection to the outside world. My imagination was running wild—not just about what might have happened to Chloe, but about everything else, too. Without any sense of how long we’d be stranded, I couldn’t help but wonder what might happen back home. How long before I was declared dead? If Hiro caught wind of my situation, would he make a move? Would he try to seize his estranged wife back from me? Would he bribe Erin and Charity out from under me?

What if it worked?

A vivid image flashed through my mind—Erin, her slender frame and unbuttoned blouse, bending over Hiro’s desk to lay down a file. My stomach turned at the thought, and I stomped it out as quickly as it came. Erin was loyal. Even if I went missing, she wouldn’t just jump ship. We’d been through too much. She meant the world to me. There was no way she could be bought. Could she?

Eventually, she’ll have to find someone to settle down with. She told you that when you first hired her.

My stomach twisted again. The frustration of being unable to reach her—unable to touch her and reassure myself she was still mine—was unbearable. What about Helen? Bobbi? Shea? Were they all being courted by vultures waiting for the right moment to pick apart what I’d built?

Unlike the last time I’d been cut off from the outside world, I was conscious this time—conscious enough to dwell on all the gruesome possibilities my imagination painted.

Fortunately, movement at the edge of my vision snapped me out of it. I turned to find Chloe stepping into the soft glow of the firelight.

“Oh, thank God!” I said, jumping to my feet and rushing toward her.

I crashed into her, wrapping my arms around her shoulders and pulling her into a tight embrace. It took nearly five seconds before I felt her arms tentatively wrap around my back, loosely resting there until the hug was over. It's not exactly the kind of enthusiastic return I might’ve gotten from Erin or Danni, but this was Chloe, after all.

Finally, I pulled away to get a better look at her. Her freckled face was smudged with dirt, and there were a few leaves and twigs tangled in her hair, but she looked healthy. Whole. No visible bullet wounds.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she said, her expression unreadable as her eyes met mine. “I’m good. Just hungry and a little tired.”

I spent the next few minutes heating up some soup for her while she settled onto one of the logs arranged around the fire.

“You made a fire?” she asked after a moment.

“Yeah,” I said, glancing up from the bowl. “Used one of the Sterno cans to get it started. Found some semi-dry wood buried under a pile of wet stuff. I assumed it wouldn’t be a big deal if I kept it small.”

“It’s foolish,” Chloe said, casting a wary glance around the clearing. “Someone could’ve taken you out pretty easily.”

“Should I put it out?” I asked, trying to keep the annoyance out of my voice. It was getting harder to suppress my pride and defer to her experience. After all, she worked for me. Still, I managed.

Chloe shook her head. “No. The area’s clear—for now. Shouldn’t be a problem for about an hour.”

“What happens in an hour?” I asked, handing her the steaming bowl.

“Just can’t guarantee no one will spot it after that,” she said. “For now, no one’s close.”

“What did you see?”

She took a sip of the soup and swallowed before answering. “I found the guy you tangled with yesterday.”

“Oh yeah?” I asked, already suspecting where this was going.

“Yeah. I was hoping he’d have something useful to say.”

“Did he?”

Chloe shook her head. “He was dead when I found him. Still tied to the tree. Looks like an animal got to him. Maybe wolves.”

“Jesus,” I muttered, suddenly no longer hungry. My body count had just doubled. Unlike the first man, who’d died instantly, this one had likely suffered a more gruesome fate. All because I hadn’t known what to do with him.

“Don’t beat yourself up,” Chloe said. “Wolves don’t play around. He didn’t suffer long.”

“You can’t know that.”

“No, but it’s likely. Anyway, it was going to be either you or him. You did what you had to do, Marcus.”

She kept going before I could argue.

“Since I couldn’t get anything from him, I moved on to the cabin. It’s about a three-hour walk from here—maybe a little less. I got a bit turned around on the way back, so it could be closer to two and a half.”

She paused for another sip of soup, then continued.

“Tanaka’s still out there. He’s not leaving without you—alive or dead. He was fine with you being killed before, but now that there’s a chance you’re alive, he wants to bring you back breathing. Thinks his father will reward him for the extra effort.”

“I couldn’t get an exact headcount, but there are at least twelve mercs at the cabin. I never saw the staff, which means they’re either tied up somewhere or dead.”

“They’re sending out patrols—two at a time—to try and find us. One team reported finding the wreckage, but said no one was alive. That team never made it back, and no one else has located it, which is surprising, because the trail they left was easy to follow. That tells me Tanaka Junior values muscle over skill. Good for us.”

“How do you know all this?” I asked as she took another sip.

“I ran into a pair of scouts. Killed one. Interrogated the other. Killed him when I was done.”

She caught the look on my face and cut me off before I could speak.

“They’re trying to kill you—or deliver you to Tanaka, which is the same thing, just slower. It’s us or them. If I’d left him tied up, he might’ve ended up like your other guy. If I’d brought him here, he could’ve escaped and endangered us. Killing him was the only real option.”

I didn’t respond.

Chloe seemed all too comfortable with killing, which unnerved me—but it wasn’t like I could judge. She’d probably seen worse than I could imagine. And she was right. These men were getting paid to make sure I didn’t walk out of here alive.

I accepted it. Hell, I even appreciated Chloe’s ability to make those calls. She was filthy, bloodstained, and exhausted, but I owed her. That didn’t mean I had to like it.

Chloe fell into silence, staring into the fire. The flames flickered in her golden-brown eyes, revealing both the life in them and the thoughts racing behind them. She wasn’t checked out—she was planning.

“What is it?” I asked warily. Given what she’d done today, and the blood under her fingernails, I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

“I think…” Chloe said, her tone unusually hesitant. She finally looked up at me, and I saw a mix of uncertainty—and to my surprise, a little amusement—on her dirt-smudged face. “I think I know a way to call for help.”

That got my attention. I sat straighter, every muscle suddenly alert.

“You do?”

“Yeah. But it’s weird.”

Her eyes returned to the fire as she raised the bowl to her lips. She took a sip, swallowed, and licked the residue from her upper lip with a flick of her tongue. Then she pursed her lips and continued staring into the flames.

“Where’s your bag?”

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To Be Continued...