The Battle Within by Kody Boye

Author:Kody Boye [Boye, Kody]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-04-13T22:00:00+00:00

I awaken abruptly when someone grabs the back of my neck.

I would’ve screamed had the person not hauled me up and slapped their hand over my mouth.

“Kelendra,” Dusty whispers. “It’s me. Don’t scream.”

“Thank God,” I say through his hand over my mouth.

“Are you okay?”

“I—I don’t know.”

“Can you walk?”

“I—”

He relinquishes his hold on me and stabilizes me for a short moment before letting go.

I grimace as I apply weight on my right leg.

“Are you hurt? Tell me you can walk.”

“I think I can,” I manage, lifting my eyes to face him. He immediately grimaces upon looking directly at my face. “What?”

“It’s nothing,” he says.

“Did we get her? Did we get the First Lady?”

“We did,” he said. “The Great God shined on us tonight.”

“What about everyone else? Are they—”

The man sighs. “Ashton took a bullet to the shoulder. Essa Dorsey is dead. And we have to leave three others behind.”

I cover my mouth to keep from crying out.

“We knew this was a possibility,” he says as he lifts his eyes to the road—as he scans the distance for any sign of movement near or far. “They knew it was.”

“But… her kids…”

Dusty closes his eyes. “Yeah. I understand.” He takes hold of my hand. “Come on. Let’s go.”

I start forward, and almost immediately feel every single site of impact on my body. However, I am able to grin and bear it—or, at least, I think I can—because Dusty doesn’t pause, nor does he offer any assistance as we continue to make our way along the wheat field and back toward the thicket of trees where the van is waiting.

“Are they there already?” I ask.

“They’re moving forward as we speak.”

“Will we make it back?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do we—”

“No more questions,” Dusty interrupts. “Not until we’re back.”

I swallow my thoughts and nod as we continue forward.

It takes less than three minutes for us to return to the van, and only two after for the sign of the others to emerge from the wheat. A giant of a man appears first, carrying the First Lady in his grasp, while Ashton comes second, a hand to his shoulder and a grimace on his face. Two other women emerge behind him, all with grim looks on their faces.

As they approach, they look upon me with eyes filled with doubt and worry, then open the rear compartment of the van and assist the big man and Ashton inside.

Once Dusty and I have climbed aboard, the van’s back door is shut, and around the thicket we go.

“Make it snappy,” Dusty says to our driver. “We don’t know if she tipped off anyone at the city.”

“She shouldn’t have been able to,” Ashton replies through gritted teeth. “I jammed communications immediately upon our arrival.”

“Still, we don’t know if she was expecting anyone.” He pauses. “Did you get the bug off her car?”

Ashton lifts a hand, within which is a single black triangle.

“Good.” He nods.

“Sir,” Ashton says. “Are you sure it was right for us to leave them there like that? Just… in the field?”

“We couldn’t do anything more for them,” Dusty replies.

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