Silly Bride

Chapter 253

and involuntary act. I know it wasn’t right of me to take advantage of you like that, but I don’t regret it one bit. I wonder how things would’ve turned out if I had known you in Avenport first. I’m sorry, Winnie. I’m sorry for having such feelings toward you even though I knew you were married. I’m really tired… I’ll rest my eyes for a bit…”The factory was short of manpower to begin with, so there weren’t a lot of people available to stop Winnie.They stopped chasing after the two as soon as the motorcycle made it out of the factory entrance.Winnie got a little anxious when she noticed Christopher had stopped talking.She quickly turned around and yelled at him, “Christopher? Hey, Christopher! Can you hear me? Answer me, Christopher!”“Don’t worry; I’m still alive. I got a little tired from all that talking, so I was resting for a bit. Where are we now?” Christopher responded after a few seconds.“We made it outside!” Winnie slowed the motorcycle down a little as she continued, “By the way, what was that explosion earlier? Where are your men?”Christopher started sobbing when he heard her mention his men.“Harold caught me when I was trying to light the fire in the warehouse. He shot at me, and one of my men died shielding me from that bullet. The explosion was an accident. My other comrade wasn’t able to make it out in time because he wasn’t familiar with the terrain, so I was the only one left. Had you not shown up earlier, I would probably have died here as well. Honestly, I kind of wish my comrade didn’t take that bullet for me. There was no need for him to do that.”Affected by his emotions, Winnie had to take a few deep breaths to recompose herself before saying, “Hey, don’t say that. I’m sure you would’ve done the same for your comrade if he was the one being shot at, right? Comrades are supposed to have each other’s backs, so he was simply doing his part. If you don’t want his sacrifice to be in vain, then pick up your weapon and do what you have to do! Complete the mission for all of them!”Christopher burst out crying when he recalled what had happened earlier. “Yeah, I know that! I know I’m supposed to pull myself together and complete the mission! I shouldn’t be crying over their deaths, but when I saw them dying before my eyes, I just…”As Winnie felt the warmth of his tears on her shoulder, she recalled her friend who died for her a few years ago.Since she could relate to how he felt, she decided to stop comforting him any further. “Go ahead and hug me as tightly as you like.”Christopher is on the verge of breaking down. I’d have given him a big hug if we weren’t on this motorcycle right now. Being his friend, I want to give him as much support as I possibly can.Christopher fell silent for a few seconds after hearing that. She’s right! I need to regain my strength and make it out of here alive!With that in mind, he slowly tightened his grip on Winnie’s waist and hugged her tightly.Neither of them said another word as Winnie continued riding the motorcycle at high speeds. As the night was tranquil, the roar of the motorcycle’s engine and the noise from the wind blowing in their faces was all that filled their ears.Suddenly, they heard the sound of multiple cars coming from the front.“Those must be men from the Horton family. They’re probably coming to pick Harold up. We’re severely outgunned and outnumbered in our current state. Hurry up and take the small road on the side!” Christopher exclaimed urgently.“Got it!” Winnie replied as she made a sharp turn.Right as the two of them entered the woods, they heard the men from the cars behind yelling, “Over there! They’ve gone that way! Come on! We need to catch that traitor!”“D*mn it! Those guys sure are fast! This is going to be a bumpy ride, so you’d better hold on tight!” Winnie shouted.“Got it!” Christopher turned his head to glance at their pursuers as he continued, “They can’t follow us in those cars, so we should be safe now that we’re in the woods.”“Oh, no… I wonder if those men ran into Xavier and the others on their way here. Harold is in trouble, so they’re bound to send lots of men over. Hmm… I think I know why they got here so fast. Harold is a very cunning man. He knows we’re unfamiliar with this place, so he deliberately took a long route when he brought us here. He must know a shortcut of some sort that’ll allow his men to get here quicker. Now that they know we’ve escaped, they can just intercept us on that path. Xavier and Professor White are on that same path, so they’re bound to run into those men as well. I can’t believe I didn’t figure their shortcut out!” Winnie exclaimed. “What do we do now? They always put those sacks over our heads whenever they bring us here, so they have the upper hand when it comes to navigation. We don’t even know if we’re going in the right direction!” Christopher was starting to get sluggish due to excessive blood loss.“I don’t know! For now, let’s just focus on getting out of here!” Winnie replied as she kicked the motorcycle into high gear.After riding in the woods for about five minutes, Winnie and Christopher were able to lose their pursuers completely. Nevertheless, neither of them knew where the path they were taking would lead them.As the adrenaline rush from the high-speed chase wore off, Winnie grew increasingly anxious and worried about Xavier’s safety.I chose to leave Xavier behind in order to rescue Christopher. While I don’t regret risking my life to save Christopher, I’ll never forgive myself if anything happens to Xavier, either! Right now, all I can do is pray that Xavier doesn’t run into the Horton family’s men…Winnie was so distracted by her thoughts that she nearly lost control of the motorcycle a couple of times.“Are you worried about Xavier and the others?” Christopher asked when he noticed her absent-mindedness.“Yeah, I am. I’m scared of what could happen if they run into the Horton family’s men. Not only do we have no idea where we’re headed, but we’re also unable to confirm the situation on their end,” Winnie replied.“You shouldn’t have come back for me,” Christopher said after a brief pause.“What the heck are you saying? Do you really think Harold would’ve spared Professor White and me if I didn’t save you? We’re on the run, and I am in a very bad mood. Do not say such stupid things again, or I will leave your *ss here in the woods!” Winnie snapped back at him angrily.Christopher was at a loss for words when he heard that. After what seemed like forever, he said softly, “I’m sure they’ll be fine.”“Yeah…” Winnie mumbled as she continued riding the motorcycle down the narrow path.A few minutes later, Winnie heard the sound of gunfire coming from the front.Unsure if she was imagining things, she turned around and asked, “Hey, Christopher! Do you hear that? It sounds like a firefight is taking place up ahead!”“Yeah, I do. It’s coming from the front. Xavier and the others must be engaging Harold’s men in combat,” Christopher replied after straining his ears for a bit.Winnie let out a chuckle at the irony of the situation. “Wow… Who would’ve thought we’d run into them like this, huh?”It wasn’t long before the two of them arrived at the main road and saw Christopher’s military truck parked on the side.As Winnie pulled over beside the truck, Riley stuck his head out the back and said, “Ah, Winnie, you made it back safely! Come on! You can hide in here with me!”Instead of getting into the truck, Winnie simply looked Riley in the eye and asked, “Where’s Xavier? Why is the truck parked here like this? Why didn’t you guys drive to safety?”“They shot out two of the tires, so it’s a miracle we even made it here. Xavier says there’s another vehicle over there, but Harold’s men have us pinned down. We’ll go for that vehicle once we’ve taken care of these guys,” Riley explained.Winnie nodded in response. She was about to say something when a bullet sailed right past Riley’s head and penetrated the side of the truck.Riley was so terrified that he quickly retreated into the truck.“It’s not safe to hide inside the truck,” Winnie said with a frown as she picked up a motorcycle helmet from the ground and handed it over to Riley.“What should we do, then? Do we find another hiding spot?” Riley asked while putting the helmet on.“No, you can remain in the truck. Just make sure to keep your head down. By the way, is there a first aid kit in there? My friend is severely injured, so we need to stop the bleeding.”“Yes, there is. I’ll go get