Chapter 219: SHOT
Up in the tree, Erika felt the sunlight that hit her face. Abruptly, she flickered her eyes open and stared directly into the sunlight which nearly blinded her. Instinctively, she placed her arm in front of her face to protect her eyes before she could adjust to it.
She glanced around the jungle and when she remembered everything that had happened, she quickly checked herself. "Thank God I’m still alive," she mumbled under her breath thankfully.
Erika grabbed the gun that was lying beside her and looked down from the tree, "This tree is higher than I thought," she mumbled. Last night, she didn’t have any fear of heights because it was already nighttime, so she didn’t feel that she was quite high up in the tree until now.
"I need to get down," she added as she wore the gun around her waist. She placed her hand on the nearest branch and started climbing back down.
"What are they doing here?"
Erika suddenly heard the familiar voice, and quickly she climbed back up. "That was Adrian’s voice," she muttered under her breath. "But who are the people that are here?" She wondered.
Since she was high up, she could find where the jungle ended and some parts of the main road. She darted her eyes around the trees and even stood up to try to look further away but when she felt the leaves shake, she immediately sat back down. She couldn’t risk falling from this tree. Even if she didn’t end up dying, she would end up acquiring some injuries.
Suddenly, she saw two of Adrian’s men, roaming around the place, still looking for her.
"Don’t these people get tired?" she wondered. She watched them pass a few trees before they disappeared. "Where did they go?" She asked herself. She tried to jump up as she had done earlier but when the tree shook instead of the leaves, she grabbed onto it for her dear life.
She looked back down to see if she would find anyone but when she didn’t, she became assured and started climbing back down. Just like last night, Erika acquired even more injuries since it was quite harder to climb down the tree. She quickly brought the gun closer and started looking for the right path that led to the main road with the hope that she wouldn’t bump into either Adrian or his men.
—
"What are they doing here?" Adrian questioned his men with a red face that was full of anger.
"I think they followed you here, boss," said one of Adrian’s men. Earlier in the morning, they had woken up to continue their search when they suddenly heard a car driving towards the jungle. And when Adrian got closer, he saw Erika’s two brothers and that same man that he saw the day he was taken to the station.
"That’s impossible!" Adrian objected. "I was very sure when I was coming home last night, no one followed me," he added with assurance. When he had been coming home the previous day, he drove with rage and the only thing on his mind was to teach Erika a lesson and because of that, he wasn’t able to see the car that trailed behind him. "We need to distract them and make sure that they don’t find her. Have you seen her yet?" He asked and his men shook their heads in response. "Where could she be?" He wondered.
Leaving there, they wandered further into the jungle as they searched every corner properly.
—
Erika pointed the gun at anything that made a sound but she would always hold herself from pulling the trigger and alarming the others.
"There she is," she suddenly heard from behind her. She quickly turned to find three of Adrian’s men glaring at her. Her heart skipped a beat but she tried to control her emotions and not be scared. They pointed their guns at her but she fired first, hitting one of them on the leg and the other on the head, ending his life which shocked the third one that stood alive. He stared at his dead colleague and couldn’t believe that the miss had just ended his life.
"Drop the gun now," he heard her order. "If you don’t, you are going to end up like him," she threatened.
When Erika saw his finger aiming for the trigger, without thinking, she fired another bullet. But unfortunately, she missed this time. She was about to shoot again but she felt a piercing pain on her left leg and she slumped on the ground.
Erika stared at her foot and couldn’t believe that she had been shot, but it wasn’t from the man that was in front of her. She had been shot by someone from behind her.
"What have you done?! The boss never asked us to shoot her!" The man who was in front of her reprimanded the one who was behind her. "You are a dead man if he sees what you have done."
"You can’t even appreciate what I did for you. She was about to shoot you, man!" Yelled the other one as he tried to defend himself.
"No one asked you to shoot her," the first one repeated before he rubbed his hand on his face and then released a tired sigh.
Erika heard them argue but she couldn’t understand anything they were saying. The only thing on her mind was to escape and she had forgotten to be alert for any movement, now look what just happened. She had been shot!
In the middle of their arguments, she tried as much as possible to pull herself up but unfortunately, she couldn’t stand still.
Falling, she yelped in pain when her body crashed on the ground again, gaining the arguing men’s attention.
"Where are you going to miss? Do you have the mind to kill one of our men? You are so heartless," spat the man who had shot her.
"I still can’t believe that he’s dead. Now grab her, let’s take her back to the mansion," said the other.
