The raft didn't drift.
It stopped.
Hard.
Wood scraped against something below the surface—rock, debris, something solid enough to hold them in place. The current pushed once, twice—
Then failed.
They weren't moving.
David felt it before he understood it.
The river kept going.
They didn't.
"…that's not good," he muttered.
Cole didn't answer.
He was already testing the pole, pushing against the riverbed.
Nothing.
Stuck.
Jason stepped forward, eyes already past the problem.
Not the raft.
The shore.
The cages.
"Up," he said.
The bank sat just ahead.
Close now.
Bent cages.
Open doors.
Dark shapes inside.
And the camp—
Too still.
Too ready.
"…seven," David said.
No one corrected him.
The first shot hit the raft.
Wood splintered beside David's hand.
He dropped instantly.
"Down!" Jason snapped.
Another shot followed.
Closer.
Accurate.
"They're here," David said.
Jason didn't respond.
He didn't need to.
Cole moved first.
Straight off the raft.
Committed.
Jason followed.
Revolver already up.
David moved with them.
The last trapper hesitated.
Just for a second.
Long enough.
A shot cracked—
The man jerked hard, the impact throwing him backward off the raft.
He hit the water wrong.
Didn't come back up.
David froze—
"Move!" Jason snapped.
David moved.
The ground felt too open.
Too exposed.
Another shot kicked dirt near his feet.
"Spread out," Jason said.
Calm.
Controlled.
David moved right.
Cole went straight.
Jason angled left.
A slaver stepped from behind a crate—
Jason fired once.
Clean.
Dropped him.
David saw movement near the cages—
Raised his rifle—
Fired.
The man staggered—
Fell.
David's breath caught.
Too fast.
Everything was too fast.
Gunfire echoed across the camp.
Short.
Violent.
Cole didn't slow.
Another slaver rushed from the far side—
Weapon raised—
Cole fired.
Dropped him mid-step.
Kept moving.
A final shot rang out from near the fire—
Jason stepped into it.
Fired once.
Then again.
Both controlled.
Both final.
Silence.
It came back too quickly.
Like nothing had happened.
David stood still.
Listening.
The river moved behind him.
Unchanged.
Jason moved through the camp slowly.
Checking.
Clearing.
Cole was already at the cages.
"Clear," Jason said.
David walked forward.
His hands hadn't steadied.
His ears still rang.
Inside—
Three people.
One barely conscious.
Another staring.
The third—
Watching Cole.
Cole didn't open the cage right away.
Jason noticed.
"Make it quick," he said.
Cole pulled the latch.
The door creaked open.
"Go."
No explanation.
No delay.
They moved.
Fast.
Gone into the trees.
David watched them disappear.
"…that's it?" he asked.
Jason answered.
"What else would it be?"
David didn't respond.
Cole turned away.
Finished.
Jason stepped beside him.
"You knew this route had slavers," he said.
Cole checked his 10mm.
"Yeah."
"And?"
Cole met his eyes.
Flat.
"I don't avoid them."
"I will fight them."
Jason held his gaze.
Then nodded once.
David glanced toward the river.
The raft was still there.
Stuck.
Empty now.
The last trapper gone beneath the surface.
Like the others.
Like it didn't matter.
"They'll know," David said.
Jason didn't ask who.
Cole didn't look up.
"Good," he said.
Jason looked toward the trees.
Longer this time.
Then—
"We move," he said.
Behind them, the river kept carrying what it always had.
Ahead—
Only the forest.