House of Steel (25 page)

“He killed a lot of innocent people. He got
what he deserved.” Evie turned back, flashing the light to the
opening of the old milk house.

“Not all innocent,” Delaney muttered under
her breath. She didn’t want to get into it with Evie. She just
needed to get out of the barn and into any place that was warm.
Safe. The gray barn blurred in Delaney’s mind as she stumbled
forward, trying to keep up with the footsteps in front of her when
a now familiar sound rung through her ears.

BANG. Pause. BANG. BANG. The gunshots echoed
on the other side of the wall, outside.

Evie skidded to a stop and pointed the
flashlight on the ground. “Stay here.”

“Don’t leave me!” Delaney’s voice strained
to maintain a whisper as she grabbed the air looking for Evie’s
arm. She was gone. Delaney slid against the wall near the opening
of the door to the milk house. Her surroundings were only lit in a
slight glow from the fire at the other end of the barn, which
revealed the perimeter of the walls. They were made from cement
blocks that only reached her chest. As she continued to look
around, her eyes caught a glimmer near the floor.

“There are two of them,” Evie’s voice
whispered near the opening of the milk house.
Two of them?
Delaney’s eyes fixated on the object’s silhouette a few feet from
her.
A hatchet.

“They must have followed Gunnar here,” Evie
added.

“Who?”

“More of my father’s employees.”

“You’re an employee. My brother’s an
employee.”

“Obviously, not that kind of employee,” Evie
whispered. She paused before adding, “I thought Gunnar was the only
one. I checked over and over. In Wisconsin, Illinois, California.
The whole U.S.” The anger welled in Evie’s voice.

“The shots?”

“Joe. Had to be Joe,” Evie said, “I didn’t
see him. It was too dark, but I did see two men coming from the
shed. We can’t go out this door. We have to go out the other end.”
Evie motioned the light, still on the ground, along the concrete
toward the fire. Delaney lunged to the side and wrapped her fingers
around the hatchet’s wooden handle, her aching skin pulling tightly
across her hand.

“Follow me,” Evie whispered as she sprinted
down the walkway. Delaney propelled forward toward the flames, her
legs moving as the darkness disappeared behind her. She felt the
air warm as they drew closer; her body craved the heat despite its
danger. Evie pointed to the right of the pen as they neared the end
of the barn then lowered herself to avoid the thick haze of smoke
that was developing. Just a foot behind her, Delaney inhaled. The
sudden burn spread through her throat sending her into a coughing
rage as she bent down lower, searching for oxygen while the smoke
scorched her eyes. Delaney blinked wildly before putting the inside
of her elbow to her face.

When Evie wrapped a hand around Delaney’s
arm, pulling her forward, a shot suddenly reverberated through the
air. This time, inside the building.

“GO!” Evie yelled, yanking Delaney’s arm to
the opening on the right side of the pen. Delaney stumbled forward
through the thick smoke, still coughing into her elbow. A warm,
lightness began to creep over her head as she gasped for air.

Another shot, this one louder, flew passed
her head. Delaney’s feet stumbled through the opening to cleaner
air only laced with a small haze that was rising to the forty foot
peaks.

“UP!” Evie yelled in her ear. Evie pointed
the flashlight at the wooden beams twenty feet in the air before
flicking it off, shoving it and the gun into the waist of her
pants.

No.
Delaney shook her head, bending
down for the cleaner air.

“CLIMB!” Evie ordered. She jumped up,
grabbing the decaying wooden slats that started near her head and
swung her feet up. Old wire laced together wove between the slats,
leading to the beams. Evie flew up, moving her hands and feet in
easy synchronization. Delaney stuck the hatchet in the waist of her
pants and jumped, her legs kicking the air as she swung them up,
trying to get footing. The flat edge of the hatchet slammed into
her chest as Delaney gave a final swing. She felt a hardness on her
foot as she looked to see it resting on a slat.

“FASTER!” Evie yelled from the nearest beam.
She had the .9 millimeter in one hand while Gunnar’s .22 rested on
the beam. Delaney grabbed the wire, moving her body up the wall of
broken wood and jaded wire, when a sharpness jolted through
Delaney’s fingers with her next grab. The wire had sliced her hand.
She pulled back her hand, grabbing higher as the warm liquid ran
down her wrist. Each new foot holding shot tingling pain through
her legs as she moved up, now only a few feet from the beam. The
metal of the hatchet dug into Delaney’s chest, the sharp end
flanked outward. The sound of a man coughing became louder.

“Hurry!” Evie whispered, holding out her
hand. Delaney grabbed it, feeling the warmth against her own frozen
fingers as her hand absorbed Evie’s. Delaney’s arm yanked up as she
felt the heaviness of her body lift upward. Delaney’s knees
throbbed against the splintered wood as she shuffled them along the
thick beam.

A silhouette of a man burst through the
smoke as a crouched Evie aimed her gun at him. Her hand steadied,
following his movement.
What are you waiting for?
SHOOT
HIM!
Delaney’s head screamed as she watched the man slide back
against the wall. Her throat crawled from the smoke like a nest of
spiders erupting in her neck. Delaney stifled her cough in her
elbow, swallowing to attempt to abide the dryness. Bending her head
down closer to the beam, she inched lower from the smoke gathering
in the peak.

Delaney slid her hand out from beneath her,
trying to adjust her position on the beam and watched the second
man rush through the opening. He had his hands on his knees as he
coughed into his arm. The hard barrel of the other gun, still
resting on the beam, grazed Delaney’s knuckles. She stopped,
watching the shadowed outline of the gun creep toward the edge,
tipping slowly toward the ground. Delaney’s outstretched hand
grasped nothing as the gun flipped over the edge, plummeting to the
concrete with a clank.
We’re dead.

A barrage of shots escaped from five feet
away as Evie aimed at the man against the wall. Delaney flattened
herself against the beam, landing on the handle of the hatchet
still tucked into her pants. Pain shot to her ribs as she gasped
for air.

Two shots returned from the wall. Delaney
felt a vibration in the wood before she heard the scream.
Evie
was hit.
Her eyes shot up to see Evie hanging onto the wooden
beam with one arm. She was still emptying shots with the gun in her
other hand. Delaney slid forward on her belly, shimmying closer to
Evie’s hand before the second man stood erect, directly below them,
and took aim at the rafters. Delaney covered her head as the gun
echoed against the walls, connecting with the beam ahead of
her.

The sound of a thud registered in Delaney’s
ears.
EVIE!
Delaney crept her eyes over the edge of the beam
to see two bodies entangled on the concrete. Evie’s cries echoed
through the barn. Delaney swung her legs down toward the wire and
wood planks with her arms still wrapped around the thick beam and
then let go, sliding five feet before catching her feet on the
planks. The wire scraped against her body and feet as she slid down
again, now only a few feet from the bottom. She slid the hatchet
out from its place tucked into her pants, gripping it firmly in her
right hand.

More screams. Delaney exhaled and released
her other hand, plunging to the hard concrete below. Pain jolted
her body as her feet hit the surface. She lunged forward until her
knees cracked against the concrete and the sound of metal clanged
next to her. She continued to hold fast to the handle of the
hatchet as she peered forward. She saw the shadow of the first man
slumped against the wall.
Dead.

“Where is she?” the man yelled between
Evie’s cries as he kicked his leg into her abdomen.
He didn’t
hear me.

“Where is she?” he screamed again as he
grabbed a fist of hair and yanked her up.

“LET GO!” Evie shrieked as she kicked her
legs.

“Not until I know where she is,” he yelled
again.
Me?
He looked at Evie underneath his hand, his back
facing Delaney. Delaney inched her body up to a stand, holding the
hatchet close to her body. She stopped, narrowing in on Evie’s face
twisted with pain. Delaney squinted through the darkness, watching
as he shoved his finger into Evie’s arm. Evie let out a
high-pitched scream.

“He must of hit you, huh? Does that help you
remember where she is?”
I have no choice.
She raised the
hatchet up, the sharp blade poised in the air ready to land the
blow. She wasn’t a killer, not like Gunnar, not like Evie, but she
had to get out of the barn. She had to save Theron, Mark, Ben…
James. Delaney swung her arm down, feeling the hatchet stop when it
made contact against his skull. The sound of the thud shuddered
through her body. Delaney pulled back, ready to make another
attack, but the handle didn’t move. It was lodged deep in his head.
Delaney let go of the handle, watching his body slump forward as
his hand released Evie’s hair.

“The guns,” Delaney’s voice cut through the
air. Evie fell to her knees, scattering her hands along the
concrete. Delaney followed, searching for the guns along the
cracks. A groan came from the slump on the ground. Delaney looked
up, contemplating trying to pull the hatchet out again and
delivering another blow.

“I got it,” Evie said as she jumped to her
feet with her left arm hanging limply against her side. Then she
leaned down, bent her head over like she had with Gunnar and
emptied two shots into his head. The smoke had begun to pour into
the opening, stinging Delaney’s eyes.

“We’ve gotta get out of here,” Delaney
yelled as she grabbed Evie’s other arm that still held the gun.

“The other guy.”

“He’s dead. Let’s go.”

“Hang on.” Evie crept forward to the man
slumped against the wall. She raised the gun to his head and, like
the previous two, shot bullets into his skull before kicking him
over. Evie bent down to examine his face in the darkness. “I didn’t
know either of them.”

“Let’s go,” Delaney coughed into her sleeve,
bending down until her knees almost touched the ground. The warm,
light feeling in her head returned.

“The door’s this way.” Evie emerged from the
smoke, stumbling forward away from the opening. Delaney turned
around, following Evie straight forward through the vast, empty
space to the other end. They reached the cement blocks of the wall
as the smoke swirled around them.

“Where is it?” Delaney fumbled along the
wall.

“Go left. I’ll go right,” Evie ordered.
Delaney turned her head toward her weakening voice as her hands ran
along the clammy cement.

“Where the hell is it?” Delaney cried out as
smoke filtered into her lungs.

“I know it’s here. Somewhere.” Evie’s voice
was now further away from Delaney as they parted, searching along
the wall.

“Any chance it’s boarded up? Gone?” Delaney
yelled, frantic as she stubbed her toe along a rise in the
concrete.

“I don’t know, but we have to find a way out
of here, and we can’t go back through the smoke,” Evie shouted
back. “Get down on your knees!” Delaney fell onto her battered
knees, crawling along the concrete and running her right hand along
the wall, searching for a break in the cement.

“I hit the corner! Should I check this wall
or come back your way?” Delaney yelled.

Silence.

“EVIE!” Delaney’s scream ended with a cough
as the smoke burned her lungs.

“I got it,” Evie’s voice, barely audible,
called from the other side of the barn. “DELANEY! I got it. Come
back the way we started.” Evie pushed the rusted handle down and
pushed her weight forward, but the door didn’t budge.

“EVIE!” Delaney called out as she sprinted
along the cement wall.

“Follow my voice, Delaney. Here. I pushed
the handle down, but the door won’t go,” Evie grunted as she bent
down and shoved her right shoulder into the wooden slab. The door
remained unmoved.

“WHAT?” Delaney yelled as she neared
Evie.

“The door. It’s stuck. It’s gotta be the
snow,” Evie grunted again, ramming the door with her shoulder. The
door cracked open an inch. Evie felt the cold draft brush against
her face through the small opening. Fresh air. Evie inhaled the
oxygen, feeling the coldness cleanse her nostrils.

“Evie?” Delaney reached out her hand,
searching for Evie.

“OW!” Evie yelled as Delaney grabbed her
arm. Evie pulled back and cradled her arm with her other hand. The
blood was still pouring from where the bullet had entered her
arm.

“Sorry,” Delaney apologized as she felt the
cool draft escaping through the crack.

“It moved a bit. Shoulder it on my count.
One, two, three, PUSH!” They sprung forward, slamming the door with
their shoulders. More cold air rushed in.

“It’s open, maybe three inches. Again, on my
count. One, two, three, PUSH!” Delaney felt the dull throb against
her shoulder as she shoved the wooden slab with her shoulder, and
more of the precious oxygen poured in.
Life.
Evie tried to
wedge her body through the door.

“There’s no way my head will fit,” Evie’s
voice coughed.

“Push some of the snow out of the way,”
Delaney suggested. She bent down and wrapped her hands around the
outside of the door. Delaney shoved her hand down into the heavy
layers of snow, partially wet from the afternoon sun and scooped it
away.

“It’s going to take too long,” Evie
rasped.

“It’s our only chance. Just move over and
stay on the ground,” Delaney yelled as she nudged Evie over to get
a better angle through the door. Her numb hand barely felt the
temperature difference as she continued to scoop and toss. Delaney
sunk her hand again when she felt something hard against her own.
A hand?