16. Ripley
CHAPTER 16
RIPLEY
SEE YOU IN HELL – BEAUTY SCHOOL DROPOUT
The checkout is fast and impersonal. Our favourite hotel owner barely spares us a second glance now that he’s milked us dry for an extortionate hush fee paid in cash. We step out into the daylight and follow Xander’s directions.
Each one of us has dressed to blend in, wearing dark colours and casual t-shirts. Raine is unrecognisable beneath his aviators and the indigo hoodie he pulled on. Don’t get me started on Mr Polo Shirt now wearing a baseball cap. Xander’s sleek style is long gone.
Tensions are high as we leave the town behind, walking along a concrete underpass that snakes beneath the main road. We’re moving away from the Derby vicinity now that we have supplies and medication.
Xander doesn’t release my hand as the miles sluggishly trickle by. He’s holding onto me so forcefully, I wonder if he thinks I’ll float away like a helium-filled balloon. Or start rambling about my incredible invisibility again.
The time between holing up in the holiday park and the hotel is worryingly disjointed. My episodes often leave me confused and left to pick up the damaged pieces my manic self has scattered around me.
It’s an exhausting cycle.
Not many stick around afterwards.
Part of me can’t believe they’re all still here and didn’t take me up on the offer to leave me behind. I wouldn’t have blamed them. I’m an unstable element. A liability. No one wants that on their team.
“About the press conference.” Xander draws my attention.
“It doesn’t matter, Xan.”
“Doesn’t it?” He quirks a brow. “That snake is still your uncle.”
“Trust me, I’ve long stopped believing he’s going to wake up and suddenly give a shit about me. That was just further proof of how little he cares.”
My words are bitter and caustic.
“You don’t need him,” Xander spits out.
That was never the issue.
It wasn’t a need. It was a want .
As we walk, our surroundings filter between rundown council estates to half-empty high streets. Families pass us on the way home from the school run, carrying bicycle helmets and glittery book bags.
The scene makes my heart ache with loss. I never had that. A chauffeur handled the school runs throughout my childhood while the housekeeper my uncle employed performed the role of caregiver.
I didn’t have the normal, workaday familiarity of a warm family home. I’m sure some kids would trade their lives for the luxury and privilege I had, but to me, it was nothing but hollow grief. A reminder of all I’d lost.
All my life, I wanted a family.
I wanted to be loved.
All I got instead was sickness and disgust.
“We’ll make them pay, Rip.” Xander keeps his voice down. “All of them.”
“How?” I laugh quietly. “We’re penniless and on the run. Up against wealth and corruption the world barely believes. Not even the authorities can see the truth.”
“Then we make them see.”
“We both know it isn’t that simple.”
The destruction we left behind wasn’t the smoking gun Harrowdean’s patients hoped it would be. It won’t be that easy to dismantle the lies pushed by money and privilege.
“Comfort break?” Raine taps his stick in an arc. “We’ve been walking for ages.”
“It’s been two hours.” Xander scoffs. “Suck it up. Daylight’s fading.”
“Not a problem for me. You seeing folk may struggle, though.”
I resist the urge to smack him upside the head. “Do you want us to get lost?”
“Isn’t the human satnav leading the way?” Raine retorts.
Xander flips him the bird over his shoulder. “I have a name.”
It takes me by surprise. I never thought I’d see the day he loosens up enough to laugh and joke with us. Raine chuckles when Lennox translates the gesture to him.
“Up yours too, Xan. Ripley’s leg is still healing, you know.”
“I’m fine,” I splutter.
“No thanks to the stitch you caused her to tear,” Xander adds acerbically. “I didn’t think you had it in you, Raine. It must’ve been some spectacular sex.”
Fucking kill me.
“Hey!” Raine cuts over him, visibly incensed. “I’ve said I’m all for this weird dynamic we have going on, but don’t insult my ego, man.”
“Not sure your ego was his target,” Lennox claps back.
“I was aiming for his sexual prowess.” Xander’s tone is matter-of-fact. “I’ve always assumed you were a vanilla pushover, not a closeted freak in the sheets.”
Bursting into laughter, I can hardly walk straight. Lennox yelps at the hard smack delivered to his arm. His blow delivered, Raine lowers his guide stick back to the ground, lips smashing in a grimace.
“What the hell did I do?” Lennox whines.
“You encourage him! Did I get your head?”
He rolls his eyes at us. “Not even close. Better luck next time.”
“I never want to hear Xander say the words freak in the sheets ever again.”
“Honestly, me neither,” I agree.
We pass a sign denoting our destination, informing us that the small town of Keyworth is still six miles away. We’ve graduated back to narrow country roads, the winding bends sandwiched by drystone walls and fields of munching cows.
As the last of the sunlight fades, Xander pulls a flashlight from his backpack. They stocked up on batteries on the latest supply run. The yellow beam lights the road ahead, leading us deeper into the countryside.
“How much farther?” Raine groans exaggeratedly.
“Probably two or three more hours.” Lennox pulls a cereal bar from his coat pocket. “Here. Eat this.”
Raine stretches out his hand for him to place the food in it. Lennox almost drops the bar when the sound of a rumbling engine breaks the quiet nighttime. We haven’t seen a car for miles now that we’re back in the sticks.
“What’s our excuse here?” I scan the road ahead. “Out for a pitch-black hike?”
“We haven’t seen a local for ages,” Xander replies. “Let’s take cover.”
Snagging Raine’s sleeve, Lennox guides him over to the side of the road. We deftly scale the wooden fence, one by one. The field beyond is completely dark, pierced by the occasional mooing sound.
The distant rumbling grows louder. Safely ducked inside the farmer’s field, Xander clicks off the flashlight, plunging us into complete blackness.
“It sounds like a van,” I whisper.
A huge, familiar hand engulfs my leg, offering a reassuring squeeze.
“Delivery truck maybe?” Lennox guesses.
“In the middle of nowhere?” Raine replies.
Headlights illuminate the thick rows of hedges we’ve ducked behind. The engine slows, idling for a second before crunching tyres pull up. I hear Xander quietly curse as heavy-sounding doors slam.
Come on. Please.
Be here for someone else.
Lighting the flashlight but covering the beam with his hand, Xander gestures for us to creep after him. He keeps down, ducked close to the wet grass before he begins crab-walking as silently as possible.
“Stay low,” Lennox murmurs.
Grabbing hold of Raine’s hand, their grips interlock, ensuring he won’t get lost in the shadows. Xander moves ahead with us following, away from the road. With any luck, it’s a taxi driver taking a leak.
I almost falter and faceplant when another door slams and high-pitched sobbing permeates the night. Xander looks back with a questioning look, also searching for the source.
“Go ahead, sweetheart.” A familiar, male voice rings out. “Call for your friend.”
Ice blooms deep within me and crystallises in my bloodstream. The darkness must be playing tricks on me. There’s no way that voice has followed us all the way out here, far from the subterranean hellscape we left it in.
“Do it!” he thunders.
Stretching to his full height, Xander motions for us to run. “Go!”
But paralysing fear holds me captive. A clammy chill sweeps over me, causing beads of cold sweat to trickle down my spine. My breath comes in short gasps as I hear the weeping voice scream out again.
“N-No! I won’t do it!”
“Rip,” Xander hisses under his breath. “Move!”
Lightning cracks through the night, causing us all to startle. Only it isn’t an electric crackle but a gunshot. The boom disturbs sleeping birds and livestock, echoing endlessly in the nothingness all around us.
“Next shot won’t be a miss,” the man yells. “Do it!”
The sobbing intensifies.
“Ripley! Rip!”
Realisation comes in an awful trickle, burying its pincers deep in my chest. I know that voice. Xander pulls off his backpack to search inside. He then tosses something shiny and metallic to Lennox.
“Here,” he mouths.
Lennox catches the folded switchblade. It has a stainless-steel grip, the slightly curved blade flicking out with a deadly snick. Xander locates his own pocketknife. A surviving relic from our Harrowdean days.
“We’re not here to mess around!” the deep voice rattles through the air. “Let’s make this quick and easy, shall we? It’s been a long few weeks for us all.”
Xander tsks. “Is this joker for real?”
“Come on, stooge. Show yourself. I don’t think you want Red here to take a bullet.”
Red?
“No,” I whisper in horror, my suspicions confirmed. “Please, no.”
“It’s the one who tortured us, isn’t it?” Lennox stares at me imploringly. “Harrison?”
“He’s… He’s got her.”
“Who?” Xander demands.
“Ripley!” a petrified wail answers his question.
Tossing my head back, I clench my eyes shut. “It’s Rae. He has Rae.”
“Show yourself, Ripley!”
That evil bastard can’t be here. It isn’t possible. Excruciating memories rush to the surface before I can staunch the traumatic flow.
Harrison’s fists and feet delivering each punishing blow, beating my organs into a paste in an attempt to find the truth. Him tossing me around like a bag of bones. Being cruelly stripped and hammered with freezing water.
It is Harrison.
He’s here.
The sadistic motherfucker is supposed to be dead. Rick told me himself—he left him floating in an ice-water tub. Stupid me dared to believe Harrison was dead. He must’ve been down there for the whole riot.
Who survives that?
“Next bullet’s going in her stomach!” Harrison shouts gleefully. “There’s no one around to hear your pretty friend’s wails as she bleeds out.”
Dropping my backpack, I snatch the flashlight from Xander’s hand. “I’m getting Rae.”
“Ripley, stop!” Lennox bellows. “He’ll kill you.”
“She doesn’t deserve this! I’m not letting anyone else get hurt because of me!”
Silent and deadly, Xander pounces on me. The flashlight is knocked aside as he weighs me down in the damp field, the pocketknife an inch from my eyeball. I recoil from the cold determination on his face.
“I’ll knock you out and throw you over my shoulder if that’s what it takes,” he warns starkly. “Don’t test me.”
“Xan! Please!”
“No, goddammit!”
Bucking wildly to throw him off, I freeze dead when another shot rings out. The resultant howl sets my teeth on edge as hot tears prickle my eyes. All I can picture is the blood pooling around my friend.
“No! Rae!”
She’s screaming in agony… because of me. All I’ve ever done is put her through hell. She’s going to bleed out on the side of a fucking road because I’m too weak to save the people I care about.
“Who should get the next bullet?” Harrison calls out.
I want to face the son of a bitch who hurt my friend head-on. But Harrison’s next threat causes sense to win out.
“Your little blind friend?” he cackles. “Or one of his two guard dogs?”
“Screw that.” Lennox pulls Xander off me. “Let’s fucking move!”
My breath escapes me when I’m plucked from the ground and shoved forward. The paralysing numbness that’s seeped in prevents me from fighting them. I can’t watch Raine or the others get hurt.
“There!” someone screeches. “They’re running, sir!”
Xander snatches my hand. “Go!”
Lennox is half-dragging Raine, the pair hot on our heels. We’re straying deeper into the field, slick grass quickly turning into tall, ripe maize stalks.
As shouts pursue us, the world narrows into rapid snapshots. Crops whipping our arms and faces. Flashing lights carried on the breeze. Pain pulsing from my still-sore thigh, matching the stitch forming in my stomach.
Tears blur my vision as an arctic defeat settles in my heart, turning my entire body to ice. We’re running into literal blackness with a futile hope of escape.
“There they are! Fire!”
Voices overlap more gunshots. Bullets sizzle past us in a fast stream as we all duck low to avoid being hit. Lennox hisses a curse, pulling Raine with him, the pair taking cover amidst swaying crops.
“Stop! We need her alive!”
During a brief pause in firing, we throw ourselves forward. Evil is snapping at our heels. Fleeing for your life is a horrifying pressure like none other. I can almost feel death breathing down my neck.
“Argh!” Raine howls.
Tripping over, he flies onto the dirt ground. Lennox is pulled down with him, the pair landing in a tangle. I tug Xander to a halt, my pounding heart on the verge of spewing from my throat.
Yelping in pain, Raine grabs fistfuls of dirt. “Shit!”
“What is it?” Lennox picks himself up.
“My ankle.” He tries to stand and immediately falls. “Fuck it. Leave me!”
“Never!”
Scooping him up, Lennox throws Raine’s arm around his shoulders to carry him onwards. We’ve lost precious seconds. The pounding footsteps sound closer than ever as light swings above us.
I shriek Lennox’s name when a red beam slices through the crops, marking a target in the dead centre of his chest. Noise is exploding all around us, creating a dizzying effect. I’ve lost track of direction completely.
“Lennox!”
He skids to a halt, looking down at the red glow. “Oh, fuck.”
“Move another muscle and the big guy gets it.” A balaclava-clad figure emerges through the stalks, carrying an assault rifle. “You’re done.”
Two others follow with flashlights while the third carries a small weapon. None of us dare breathe, let alone take off. That red dot hovers just above Lennox’s heart, his gaze fixed on the man threatening to end him.
Xander steps forward, his hands spread. “Let’s talk about this.”
“Silence!” the assailant snaps. “We’re here for the girl.”
“You’ve got me!” I throw my hands up. “Lower the weapon.”
“And let you take off again? I don’t think so.”
Breaking through the maize forest, a face I never thought I’d see again emerges. Harrison is sweaty, an ugly flush reaching his buzz cut. His once-bulky frame has slimmed down since he delivered me to Professor Craven.
He still wears an unhinged grin that promises all manner of ungodly sins. If he didn’t have a screw loose before, it’s safe to say his entire brain is untethered now. He’s looking at me like I’m a fucking Christmas present.
“As much as I enjoy a chase, I promise to shoot the next person who moves a muscle.” He smiles maniacally. “It’s over.”
“How are you alive?” I blurt.
Harrison lifts his arms, showing off welts and healing abrasions that circle his wrists. “Courtesy of our mutual friend.”
Looks like Rick was telling the truth about shackling him in the same barbaric tub he’d been imprisoned in. The sick fuck survived the riot, handcuffed in the darkness. I don’t want to imagine how.
“I’m afraid to say Rick’s dead now,” Harrison chortles without remorse. “A little apology present from the boss for all that I endured.”
“You didn’t suffer enough for my liking if you’re still alive and breathing.”
“Charming.” He hooks up an eyebrow. “It felt like Christmas had come early when I heard you’d been spotted in a pharmacy. It wasn’t hard to track you from there.”
Harrison flicks his eyes to Lennox, lip curling in a sneer. I take the chance to make eye contact with Xander who shakes his head infinitesimally. Don’t move. We’re outnumbered.
“I’m surprised this tool survived Craven’s lair.” Harrison chuckles derisively. “Perhaps I underestimated your plaything, Ripley.”
“Fuck you,” Lennox seethes.
“I have no qualms about shattering your skull, Mr Nash. Your life is forfeit now. Watch your mou?—”
“What’s the play here?” I cut across him. “A quiet little execution?”
“Originally, yes.” Harrison sniffs in mock disgust. “A waste if you ask me. However, my orders have changed. You should be glad.”
“Changed?” Xander parrots.
“Our management structure is rather complicated right now. I’d hate to bore you with the details. Suffice to say, for the trouble she’s caused, the price for Ripley’s safe capture has tripled.”
In my periphery, I can see Xander clenching the pocketknife in his palm. He keeps his hand angled so it’s tucked out of sight, allowing him to finger the blade. Rage radiates off him in waves.
“Where is Rae?”
“The redhead?” Harrison smirks. “I’ll take you to see her body if you’d like. She may still be alive.”
Nausea flushes over me, setting off light-headed prickles. Harrison’s lying. He has to be. Surely, they haven’t stooped so low as to shoot innocent people in plain sight. Not in public, at least.
“Surrender, and we’ll kill your other friends quickly.”
“She’s going nowhere with you!” Raine shouts back.
Harrison casts a withering eye over Raine, Lennox and Xander. “You’re protecting a monster, boys. Think about it. The Z wing program wouldn’t run if each institute didn’t have a willing stooge.”
“Because you’re so much better than me?” I snarl at him.
He shrugs, grinning ear to ear. “I’m just doing my job. It’s a generous pay cheque. What excuse do you have?”
The lunatic actually thinks he has the moral high ground. This is the same man I saw attaching spike-laden handcuffs to Patient Three. His fucking pay cheque is saturated with spilled blood.
“Ripley stays with us.” Xander strokes his blade.
“Is that your final answer?”
“Yes!” Lennox roars.
A sinister grin curls Harrison’s lips. “Very well. I played nice.”
Clicking his fingers, Harrison gestures for his men to advance. I’m preparing to throw myself in front of the rifle’s scope to protect Lennox when Xander strikes.
Like a coiled python going in for the kill, he glides through the air with graceful precision. The pocketknife strikes faster than a whip as he jams it into the first assailant’s shoulder.
The scream that spills from the man’s lips is ear-splitting. He drops the rifle, the red glow spinning out of control. Xander pulls the blade free and sinks it into his exposed neck before the others can react.
Lightning fast.
Savage.
Deadly.
Blood erupts in a tidal wave, spitting out of the wound and spraying across his face. Xander continues to jab over and over. Wet, stomach-turning stabs that turn smooth skin into shredded flesh.
“Take them!” Harrison jumps into action.
Stepping in front of Raine, Lennox holds his own glinting blade. He faces the two men coming for him, elbow cocked and switchblade poised. His wide shoulders hunch in preparation.
I can’t step in to help him before I’m faced with my own attacker. Harrison has set his sights on me. Perfect. I’ll be the one to kick the shit out of him this time around. Retribution for the beating he doled out.
“Afraid to face me now that I’m not handcuffed and half-dead?” I taunt.
He pulls a baton from his belt. “On the contrary, I’m going to enjoy this. I don’t mind losing a few thousand for turning you over in bad condition.”
Ducking the baton’s swing, I surge at him. Harrison grunts when I slam into his midsection, throwing him backwards.
It’s easier than anticipated to throw Harrison off his feet. Being confined in his own filth has dissolved much of his strength. I follow him down, my fist cracking across his gleeful face.
Blood and spit somersaults from his mouth. My pleasure is short-lived as he rolls us, the inflexible metal of his baton smashing into my back, sending pain shooting up my spine.
As the breath flees from my lungs, he rolls to crush me beneath his weight. The baton sails towards me, but I dodge at the last second, causing him to strike the ground.
Frantically searching for anything to defend myself with, I seize a handful of wet dirt. He curses when I throw it in his eyes, buying me precious seconds to punch him in the throat.
“You should’ve died in that basement!”
Harrison clutches his throat, gurgling beautifully. I shove him off me, searching around for the others. The gloomy night clamours with punches, cursing and yelps.
Raine is still on the ground, cupping his ankle. In front of him, Lennox is able to put one guy in a headlock while the other rolls around at his feet. I follow the heavy scent of blood to the culprit.
Oh my god.
Xander is doused red, locked in a hand-to-hand knife fight. He discards the still-bleeding corpse of the first man he disarms, turning his focus on gutting his current opponent.
I’m dragging myself up to intervene when a hand latches around my leg. Yanked backwards, I fall on my chest, nails painfully digging deep into the ground. Grunting tells me who’s got me ensnared.
“Little bitch.” Spittle blasts past Harrison’s lips, his amusement spent. “You never could obey.”
Something sharp slams into the middle of my back. Any retort dies on my tongue at the instant rush of blistering pain. My entire body is gripped by a violent electrical current, causing every muscle to lock up.
I’m being stabbed by a thousand needles all at once. The convulsions take over, assaulting me with rapid bursts of excruciating electricity. My heart threatens to explode as disorientation sets in.
“That’s better.” Harrison relinquishes the taser from my back. “I prefer you like this. Whimpering like the pathetic stray you are.”
My silent howls wrap around me. I’m trapped by aftershocks, each spasm causing more tears to leak from the corners of my eyes. For good measure, Harrison stands and boots me hard in the stomach.
Heat radiates through my belly. I cry out, unable to move a muscle or curl in on myself. His steel-capped boots strike over and over, sending me plummeting back into the past.
I’m back in the Z wing, stripped bare in a padded cell. Covered in my own blood. Tears. Sweat. Taunted by his cackling while beating me to a semi-conscious pulp. This time, he’ll kill me.
“S-Stop,” I beg.
“Now you want to behave, huh? Where was that attitude when I held a gun to your cute friend’s head?”
Blood bubbles in my mouth, forming a hot, foaming pool. I feel it streaming from my lips, mingling with stinging tears. Everything around me is swimming in the dropped flashlight’s glow.
I couldn’t save Rae.
I can’t even save myself.
“Step back.” The command is delivered in a monotone voice. “I’d prefer not to cover Ripley with your innards.”
Peering through cracked lids, I can make out the shadow looming behind Harrison through a beam of light. Lanky. Blood-streaked. Hair unkempt and eyes cold. Harrison sucks in a surprised breath.
“Now.” Xander nudges the back of Harrison’s head with the rifle. “I quite fancy testing out your friend’s gadget. You can be my guinea pig.”
Slowly, Harrison raises his hands, the baton clattering to the ground beside me. I watch his gaze harden, but my lips won’t move for me to warn Xander. They’re still numb and slippery.
“You know how to use that thing, son?”
Xander sighs in a long-suffering manner. “I’m disappointed at your lack of confidence. Though I appreciate the chance to make good on my threats.”
With the speed of a trained thug, Harrison snatches a sheathed knife from his belt. The black-handled blade slashes in a circle as he spins. I’m powerless, forced to watch everything unfold in slow motion.
The knife.
His secret smile.
Xander being sliced wide open.
Only the blow never comes—just in my petrified imagination. Before Harrison can land his shot, the thunderous burst of the assault rifle marks his fate. The muzzle flash temporarily blinds me.
I have to squint through my tears to take in the aftermath. Terror grips me at the sight of the body sprawled out amongst crimson-soaked crops. Except he doesn’t have bright-white hair and calculating eyes.
The corpse is Harrison.
Mouth open in an eternal scream. Chest caved in from a bullet delivered at point-blank range, tearing straight through his heart. His cruel eyes stare at the night sky, empty and lifeless.
Teeth bared, Xander drops the gun. “Ripley!”
He looks like an avenging angel, saturated in our enemies’ blood as he steps over his final victim to reach me. Xander falls to his knees, yanking out the taser darts then sliding an arm beneath me to lift me into his lap.
“You hurt?”
“I hate tasers,” I cough out. “Fuck, my ribs.”
His almost-black stare bores into me. “I’m sorry.”
Blood trickles from my mouth. “Why?”
“I promised no one would hurt you again.” His neck muscles spasm. “Yet the son of a bitch laid his hands on you.”
My eyes stray to Harrison’s body. “He p-paid the price.”
“I’ll tear his corpse limb from limb!” He wipes the blood from my chin.
With a heavy thump, Lennox spits out a curse nearby. He’s got the final perp subdued, a knife pressed against his jugular. The three other men are dead, watering the earth with their life blood.
“One move and I’ll give you a new smiley face.” Lennox digs the switchblade in deep. “You wanna join your friends?”
He’s rewarded with a groan.
“That’s what I thought.” Lennox looks over at us. “Rip?”
Breathing deeply, I force my lips to move. “I’m okay.”
“Jesus, Xan. Did you have to go full Hannibal Lecter?”
“We need to get out of here.” Xander eyes the bloodbath all around us. “Can you walk, Raine?”
“I think so,” he utters quietly. “Christ, all I can smell is blood.”
Struggling to his feet, Raine winces as he puts weight on his ankle, but he manages to stay upright this time. His stick has vanished somewhere in the melee. All of our supplies are scattered in the dark.
“What should we do with this one?” Lennox nods to his captive.
“Kill him.” Xander isn’t fazed.
“W-Wait,” I stammer. “We can use him.”
“For what?” Lennox frowns.
Raine catches on, looking panicked at the thought of even more death. “Leverage. He works for Incendia.”
Sighing in disappointment, Lennox lowers the blade to tuck it in his pocket. “Pass me the gun.”
I work on flexing my muscles, attempting to regain control of them while Xander tosses the rifle over. Lennox trains it on our new prisoner’s back, ensuring he knows the deal.
“Let’s get you up.” Xander pulls me to stand with him. “Easy.”
I cry out at the throbbing heat wrapped all around my middle. The entire area is tender, pulsing with deep, shooting pain. Xander braces me against his side, a hand clasped on my waist.
“Can you move?”
Lips smashed shut, I nod curtly.
“Let’s get the fuck out of here, then.”
“What about the bodies?” Lennox asks.
“Leave them for Bancroft to find.”
With each step, the internal fire roars hotter. Still, it falls short of the fear knotting my windpipe at the thought of what we’ll find. Or rather who. We ran into the night while Rae was still screaming.
Retracing our steps is a harrowing dance in the dark, hobbling along in faint light, all panting and exhausted. Lennox still guards his stumbling prisoner.
“Hear anything?” Xander asks apprehensively when the road comes into view.
Raine tilts his head, still favouring one foot. “Ticking engine up ahead.”
“I’ll go first with this one.” Lennox digs the rifle into the man’s spine. “Just in case.”
Blood surges in my ears, creating a vehement roar. Xander has to help me over the fence, his face crumpling as he struggles to remain stoic. The still-running van’s lights illuminate the deserted road.
Hesitating, Raine’s steps slow. “Rip… maybe you shouldn’t look.”
I can already hear the words he doesn’t want to say. He can sense what lies ahead. Shrugging off Xander’s support, I stumble towards the vehicle, a relentless fist locked around my lungs.
There’s a delusional slither inside me that hoped I’d imagined it. Maybe Harrison found a way to trick us. Those sounds were recorded, or he used someone else… Or… Or…
No.
Life isn’t that kind.
It’s hard to tell where her vibrant auburn hair ends and the puddle of blood spilling from her stomach begins. A crimson river paints the tarmac, glistening in the headlights. Surrounded by her deathly halo, Rae lays still.
The discomfort from slamming to my knees fails to compute. Her blood is still warm as it slides across my palms. I wade closer, uncaring of the mess. Rae feels boneless in my arms when I hug her body close.
“No,” I weep helplessly. “I’m so fucking sorry, Rae. I’m so sorry.”
All I want is for her arms to hug me back. She could crack a smile or drop one of her sarcastic jokes. Tell me I’m forgiven for leading her to this place. But that doesn’t happen. It’s too late.
She’s dead.
And it’s all my fault.
Sobbing senselessly, I cuddle her close until I have nothing left to give. Not a single tear. Soul-destroying grief boils into smouldering rage. It hits hard and fast, sweeping in and obliterating my self-control.
I slacken my grip to look at her face. Ashen. Waxy. Slack. Blood smears across her freckled skin as I stroke her hair back, lowering my lips to her forehead.
“I’ll make it right, Rae,” I vow fiercely. “All of it.”
“Ripley.” Raine awkwardly crouches down near me. “She’s gone. You need to let her go.”
“It’s my fault. She didn’t deserve this.”
“I know,” he whispers sincerely.
“I was so cruel to her, Raine. Unnecessarily. She just wanted to be my friend, and I kept pushing her away. I was scared to let her get close.”
“She didn’t see it like that, babe.” His voice is thick with emotion. “Rae wanted to be your friend. She knew you needed one.”
“And where did being my friend get her?”
His nostrils whistle with a long sigh. “You can’t take the blame for all the world’s evil. This isn’t on you.”
Smoothing her red waves a final time, I gently lay Rae back down. My fingertips leave two matching streaks on her eyelids as I slide them shut. Like this, I can convince myself she’s asleep. Peaceful and safe.
By the time I look up, my decision is made.
“No more running scared,” I declare firmly. “We’re taking the fight to them.”
“How?” Raine questions.
Looking up at Xander, I implore him with my gaze. “Call Theodore. Tell him we have a hostage for them. I want a rendezvous by dawn.”
“Rip,” Lennox attempts.
One look in his direction silences him. I’m kneeling next to my friend’s corpse, covered in her blood. Death and defeat are scattered all around us. We’ve fled. Schemed. Bargained. Killed.
Enough.
No more cheap hotels or breaking and entering. No more stealing cash to buy enough food to keep us alive. No more hiding our faces and praying death doesn’t come knocking. I’m done being scared.
“Make the call.” My words come out steadier than I feel. “That’s final.”
Xander pats his pockets, searching for the stolen phone kept on his person at all times. A startling ringtone erupts before he can find it, only the noise isn’t coming from him. We all glance around in shock.
Our captive moans weakly. Eyebrows knitted, Lennox reaches into his bulletproof vest, pulling out a clunky-looking burner phone. He frowns down at the lit screen.
“Boss,” he reads.
The ringtone halts, leaving us in crushing silence. It quickly starts up again with a second call.
I lift a trembling hand. “Here.”
Lennox pauses, clutching the device. “Sure you want to do this?”
“Yes.”
His mouth pursed, he tosses the phone underhand towards me. I numbly catch it, stabbing down on the green button before holding it to my ear.
“Why is no one else answering their phones?”
My hand tightens into a vice, creaking the cheap plastic.
“Hello? Is it done? Do you have her?”
Summoning my voice, it sounds alien to my own ears.
“Hello, Uncle Jonathan.”