Fear the Night
Chapter 13-The Escape

Chapter 13: The Escape

“Ican’t believe we’re doing this!” Maverick hissed, lying under a blanket. The wagon they were in the back of jostledand he grunted when he bumped into Yukio who was lying next to him.

“Ican’t believe who she is!” Yukiohissed back through clenched teeth.

“Youdidn’t know who she was when you met her?!” Maverick chuckled, softly.

“I’venever seen her!” Yukio retorted. “Howwas I supposed to know she wasNatalie Keith, heiress to the Keithfamily, the richest family in thecountry?!”

“Well,you know now,” Maverick replied, rummaging into his pocket and pulling out twocompacts and handing one to Yukio. “Better put your face on.”

“I’mafraid to look dead,” Yukio voiced, wrinkling his nose as he took thecompact. “Dead people look too much likeDrones.”

Maverickchuckled as he dabbed his finger into his compact then pressed it to hisforehead, right between the eyes.

“Howcome you get shot in the head and I get beaten to death?” Yukio wondered,rubbing his face with dark make-up.

“‘CauseI’m too cool to be beaten,” Maverick smirked, handing him the compact of redmake-up.

“Whatever,”Yukio grumbled, snatching the thing from him. “You think Izzy’s ok with the servant guy of Natalie’s?”

“Itrust he’s helping out by keeping her as still as possible with all thisjostling,” Maverick replied, wiping off the make up from his finger. “We should just worry about out part. I have no doubts about Natalie’s acting skillssince she fooled you, as easy as thatis to do.”

“Ijust reloaded my gun, Mave,” Yukio warned, jokingly. “You don’t want a new real bullet hole in you, do you?”

“Youdon’t scare me, Greenhorn,” Maverick retorted.

“Quietyou two!” Natalie called softly from the front of the wagon as she sat with thedriver. “We’re coming to the Barrier!”

Maverickand Yukio nodded to each other mutely then shifted to lie on their backs andbegan breathing shallow as they shut their eyes.

“I’mgonna have nightmares about my death tonight, I know it,” Yukio muttered,quietly.

“Shutup!” Maverick hissed as the wagon stopped.“”“”“”“”“”“”“”“”“”“”“”“”“”“”“”“”“”“”“”“

“Stop!”a Suit ordered the driver of the wagon Natalie was accompanying. “Where are you going, Miss Keith?”

“Please,you have to let me through!” Natalie cried desperately to the Suit. “It’s important that I get to the woodsbefore sunset! My uncle, in the woods,he’s expecting me!”

“What’sin the wagon, Miss Keith?” the Suit asked, skeptically. Natalie felt her heart race, but kept up theact. She buried her face in her hands,shaking her head and making her shoulders shudder as she gave sniffles andslight sobs. She finally looked to theSuit with crocodile tears and sniffled one last time.

“Mydear friends,” she shuddered. “Someone killed two of them and injure theother. My uncle can treat her, but hewants me to bring the bodies of the two to bury them.”

TheSuit frowned then walked to the back of the wagon. He looked into the wagon to see a man withthe body of a girl and a blanket on the other side of the wagon with a pair oflegs sticking out from under it.

“Hey!”the Suit called to the man and when he had his attention he ordered, “Pull thatblanket off those bodies.”

Theman did as instructed and the Suit saw two men, dead. One shot through the head and the otherlooked beaten to death. He gave the manhis thanks for cooperating then headed back to the front of the wagon.

“Alright,Miss Keith,” he nodded and signaled to the gatemen to lower it and let herpass. Natalie cried a little more as shethanked them and the driver drove them past the gate. She kept fake sobbing until they were a gooddistance from the gate then checked to make sure before slipping into the wagonand pulling the blanket off of the bodies.

“Alright,boys,” she grinned. “You can stopplaying dead!”

“Finally!”both men exasperated as they sat up and Maverick rubbed the bullet wound fromhis forehead.

“I’mgoing up front to guide the driver,” he announced. “You guys gonna be ok here?”

“We’llbe fine,” Yukio replied, trying to wipe his make-up away as well. Maverick climbed up front and sat next to thedriver. Natalie giggled at Yukio as hetried to wipe his face clean but it was proving difficult. She pulled a handkerchief from her pocket andscooted closer to him.

“Here,”she murmured. “Let me help.”

Yukiofroze and stared at her as she wiped the make-up from his face. He swallowed as he stared at her, feeling astrong urge to kiss her but he held back and decided to make conversationinstead.

“Yaknow,” he choked then cleared his throat when she looked into his eyes. ‘I’m actually surprised we were able to pullthis off.”

“Youhad doubts?” Natalie wondered, still wiping the make-up from his face.

“Well,not about your part,” he smiled andNatalie blushed slightly with a smile of her own. “I was more concerned about one of the Suitsrecognizing us.” He looked to the manwith Isabella and asked, “Is Izzy ok?”

“She’sstill breathing, Sir,” he replied. “I’mtrying to keep her as still as possible.”

“You’redoing a fine job, my man,” Yukio commended then looked back at Natalie whoseemed a little closer to his face than he remembered. He couldn’t fight it anymore.

Screw it, he thought to himself and planted hislips to hers, causing them both to topple over with him on top of her. She giggled when they fell but he stillkissed her as she threw her arms around his neck.

Theman sitting with Isabella jumped when they fell, but smiled at the two beforeturning his attention back to Isabella who still slept.“”“”“”“”“”“”“”“”“”“”“”“”“”“”“”“”“”“”“”“

Meanwhile...

“Justfollow the trail up to the fork, then turn right,” Maverick instructed. “Going right you’ll come to another fork andI’ll take the group from there. You cantake Natalie and the other servant back across the Barrier.”

“Shewon’t go back,” the driver reported as Maverick was just about to climb intothe back and he stared wide eyes at him who continued, “Miss Keith isstubborn. Unless you can tie her to thewagon as I drive off, I doubt she’ll go back. Especially since Mr. Hayate ishere.”

“What? Yukio?” Maverick smirked in amusement. “Don’t tell me she’s got a crush on thatscrawny Greenhorn.”

Agiggled answered his question and he turned to look into the wagon where he sawYukio and Natalie having their moment. He smirked then turned his attention back to the trail ahead.

“Well,I guess there’s no getting around it,” he sighed. “Looks like she’ll be coming along afterall. Yukio seems to share hersentiments.”

“Soit would seem,” the driver smirked, glancing over his shoulder as well. A silence reigned over them for a momentbefore he said, “That unconscious girl…is she yours?”

Maverickshot his gaze at the driver in wide-eyed surprise and sputtered, “W-What?!”

“Theway you looked at her before we got into the wagon,” the driver recalled, “itlooked like she was your girl.”

“Oh,”Maverick replied, vacantly then cleared his throat and sputtered, “Well, I,uh…I guess she is.”

“Youguess?” the other man chuckled andMaverick narrowed his eyes at him.

“Justdrive,” he muttered and climbed into the back of the wagon as the driverlaughed. Maverick sighed as he shook hishead at Yukio and Natalie, still in a lip-lock. He said nothing as he stepped over them and toward Isabella where heknelt down at her head as the servant with her moved away.

“Howis she?” Maverick whispered.

“Nothing’schanged for better or worse,” the man replied. “She’s still breathing.”

“Thankyou for helping us,” Maverick said. “With Yukio and I playing dead there wouldn’t have been anyone else tokeep her from jostling so much.”

“MissKeith knew you’d need another hand to help,” the servant replied.

“I’llwatch her now,” Maverick nodded. “Thankyou, again.”

Theservant nodded and climbed out to sit with the driver.

Maverickdidn’t hear Natalie’s giggles as Yukio whispered in her ear, and he didn’t seethat they were smirking in amusement at him. All he saw was Isabella’s face and all he heard was her steady, shallowbreathing.

“Holdout, Bell,” hewhispered, his face so close that his breath fanned through some of herhair. “Hold on, please.”

Unableto help himself he leaned forward and pressed a tender kiss to her forehead ashe stroked her hair.

“Wakeup,” he whispered. “Just open yourpretty eyes, Bell. I need you to open your eyes. You don’t have to jump up and do a dance,just open your eyes.”

“Mave?”Yukio called, but the other man didn’t move. “What’s wrong?”

Hellif Maverick knew. He’d never felt ofacted this way with anyone else before Isabella. For some reason, he missed her. He couldn’t waituntil they got to his friend in the woods; he wanted her to wake up now.

“Mave?”Yukio tried again.

“Nothing,Yukio,” Maverick finally replied. “Justtalking to myself.”

Agentle hand touched his shoulder and he looked up to see Natalie’s smiling,freckled face. She knelt down to hislevel and patted his shoulder.

“She’stough, Maverick,” she assured him. “Alittle bump on the head isn’t gonna take her out so easily.”

Mavericksmiled back and nodded in agreement, but he still wished Isabella would awaken. He had an urge to kiss her…badly.

“So,”Yukio cut in, “what’s your doctor friend’s name, Mave?”

“JoshuaCrane,” Maverick replied, stroking Isabella’s hair as he looked down at heragain then whispered to her, “I’ll get you there, Bell. He’ll take care of you.”