85

85
Damien's POV

I thought he wasn't coming. Honestly, that fool would make his pride be the end of him. Did he not see the odds that were astronomical against us, and could he not tell that if we went about this the way he wanted and tried to squeeze a victory out of the fight, we were going to die? It was clear as day we had finally gotten the chance to rewrite the story that had already been set in stone. We didn't get this chance by anything but luck, and yet he was about to throw it away once again with his foolishness and his very foolish decisions.

He needed to be a lot more flexible, I thought to myself, clicking my tongue as I moved even faster. I glanced behind me and saw that he was still standing. Well, maybe he just wanted to die after all. I thought about how it would look if I returned home without him but then decided that it didn't matter. As long as I was alive, then, well, it was cool enough.

We were supposed to stand with him and fight to the death, right? Well, that wasn't going to be me. Maybe the loyal soldiers, the rest of them, could do that. But with a leader that had no plan, I had no plan of personally following or doing everything that he said. Occasionally, I would have to act on my own accord with my own thinking because I couldn't depend on him to lead us to victory, not now.

I glanced ahead of me and saw that some of the men were in front. The random people apart from Robert that were beside me, even the rest of them, had followed, running away. I thought to myself, wondering whether it was supposed to be like this. Weren't they supposed to follow James Jackson's leadership and stay with him for as long as he wanted while he thought of a plan? But no, here they were, running away with us. They probably loved their lives, which was something that everybody did usually.

I shook my head, knowing that this was a very bad start for him. If it was me, I would start thinking of a way to resolve this and address the flaw in my character that brought this about immediately, knowing that it was going to affect my leadership as the alpha in the future. But then again, it wasn't me, so there was no need for me to worry myself. This was just one of his many problems, and he was going to deal with it sooner or later. I just had to relax and enjoy.

I had been doing things because it wasn't going to affect me at all. I would just be beside him and be his friend and help him through everything. I would do everything to make him become a good person and a powerful, wise leader, of course, except for risking my life for his stupid decisions like this one.

I noticed with a start that he was now running. Maybe he was still reluctant about it, or maybe he was now doing it for his life. Either way, the obstinate fool was now moving his bitch ass. It was rather funny to see him finally deciding to give in and do what he had to do to survive. That was something about being a leader. But who was I to lecture? I wasn't a leader myself.

He was moving even faster. But maybe because he had finally started, the people behind us started moving as well. I didn't even have to turn back to know that they were following us and giving chase. Just the sound of their feet on the ground, the rumbling noise that sounded like thunder due to their collective movements, told me that they were moving at a similar pace to us, and the only thing that gave us a chance against them was our head start due to the surprise move that we had pulled off.

Jax is the one with the most risk here. I saw myself shaking my head as I visualized him behind everybody, the most important person being the easiest target. How ironic it was. We were supposed to protect him and cover him from any form of damage, but we were far ahead, each man running for his own life. I honestly wondered how he was feeling right now and would have given quite a lot of money to figure that out from anyone at all. If it was me, I would be feeling embarrassed and angry at the same time, but then again, it wasn't me, so that didn't matter.

The rumble of their legs on the ground sounded even louder as time went by. I could hear gunshots this time, gunshots, and I could also see weapons and shrapnel flying around in the air. "Fuck," I thought. It just got more difficult than before. I took in a deep breath, knowing that I would have to focus all around me in order to get through this successfully. I would have to use my danger radar, if I had any at all, because I couldn't actually dodge attacks that I didn't see coming if I couldn't predict the trajectory, and since I didn't have the chance to actually stand still and dodge when they came, I would need some kind of ultra instinct in order to survive this because any random attack of theirs could very well hit me.

The second option, of course, was to run faster than before because that would definitely make it difficult for them to have a perfect aim. From previous experience, I knew that not many of them had a clean aim like mine, but then I also knew how risky it was and how difficult it was for me to move faster than this at all. This wasn't the solution; we needed something more. If not, they were going to catch up with us, and then we would be forced to put up a fight if we weren't wounded in the process of them catching us in the first place.

I continued moving but suddenly heard a vehicle moving; it sounded powerful and strong, and the rumble of it was almost equal to that of all the men that had been coming. I continued moving and easily outpaced it, even though it never even got to me in the first place. If anything, I was able to successfully maintain the distance between both of us. I felt very proud of it, but suddenly I heard a shout from someone.

I recognized the voice immediately, which made me turn back just in time. A large club went flying over my head, and I ducked immediately to miss it. I took in a deep breath, wondering about the person who called me because that was the crucial moment. If I hadn't turned, I wouldn't have been able to dodge the critical attack, and it would have done, well, critical damage to me.

I was about to look back ahead of me so that I could move faster when suddenly I saw a hand wave from the tank. With another look, this time with narrowed eyes, I realized that it was Jax himself inside the vehicle. He was waving at me, indicating that I should slow down so that we could all enter into this. I felt a little surprised at this gesture and also thought that it was weird, but when I thought about it a little more, I realized that it was very nice, and the level of creativity required to have this in one's mind was way over the top. With that kind of plan, he was definitely going to start off something great if anyone gave him the chance. This was probably our good road to freedom because I could already see it happening.

I decided that it was enough looking and wondering for me and time to take action. I slowed down a little so that I would be on the same line as the tank, and when that happened, I made a seamless jump inside. It was actually pretty wonderful the way I did it, but I was pretty sure that nobody was looking right now. No, nobody cared about that. Everybody was running, some for their lives, while others were going on and on in order to catch us and teach us a lesson.

The other men in front of us soon realized what was happening and slowed down also till the majority of us were in the tank. Only two men were still running fast ahead of us. I noticed that the men behind us were very fast, and they were faster than the tank. The tank wasn't something designed for speed but for stability and sturdiness, after all, so naturally, it was almost impossible for it to outrun them. It wasn't going to be the best plan if we wanted to escape, but that wasn't the plan.

I looked at the men waiting for his orders, even though I already knew what he was about to say. "Guns ready!" he shouted, and we all brought out our guns, pointing them through the window and protecting ourselves from their own shots. "Fire!" he shouted, and then we started. I could see their blood everywhere a couple of seconds after we started firing at them.