In the Woods

Gunfire suddenly erupted at the back of the crowd, and I saw three of Amory's men go down with a splat. The guard who told me about Hugh's whereabouts had snuck out behind them, taking three men down before getting shot himself.

While Amory's men had been distracted by the guard, Castello cocked his fist back and punched Amory right on the nose.

Amory fell back like a rag doll. He slid to the floor and his head hit the ground with a thud. One of his men ran to his side but he shoved him away.

Disoriented, he wobbled to a sitting position, his nose bleeding, "Fuckin kill him," he ordered pinching his nose with two fingers.

Three of his men raised their weapons and, in unison, fired shots at Castello.

Castello went limp to the floor. At that moment, I felt like I'd been knocked out of my body. What did I just see? It's not possible. My vision blurred, but my eyes stayed on Castello.

I willed him to get back up, to fight back, to run. But he wasn’t moving. Blood soaked up the f