Chapter Eleven
Truett
Eighteen years earlier…
A river of blood carved its path at my feet as I sat frozen—ass on the tile, back to an overturned table—the past melding into the terrifying present.
The world around me blurred, paralyzing memories so vivid and relentless holding me captive.
In my head, I heard Nutz shout, “ Vehicle’s not slowing, S’arnt! ” The echo of his voice was as clear as if he stood beside me. A vise cranked down on my chest, making every breath more and more difficult until I longed for the reprieve of suffocation.
I was trapped in a war zone, the sound of cries and moans echoing around me.
“ What the fuck is this guy doing? ” Steve-O yelled.
My heart pounded in my ears, each beat feeling like the strike of a sledgehammer.
My skin crawled, every nerve ending firing on high alert.
“ There’s four occupants, and I see two AKs, S’arnt! ” Skytrash shouted over the chaos.
I couldn’t move—my limbs heavy, rooting me in hell.
“ Take out the driver, ” S’arnt ordered.
Gunfire—real or imagined—rocked me to the core. I flinched, curling tighter into myself.
Each second stretched into an eternity as I waged war with my mind.
I wasn’t back in Iraq.
But I was living an even more inescapable nightmare.
At six three, two twenty, I was trained in every form of combat the Army had to offer. But as I sat in that mall food court, bodies strewn around me, a gunman on the loose, killing everyone in his path, I was nothing but a helpless child, trapped in my own mind.
Suddenly, a man got up and darted toward the double glass doors. There was no point in running. They’d been chained together, trapping us like wild animals ripe for the hunt.
With one single gunshot, the man dropped to the floor. I slapped my hands over my ears to block out the sounds.
I couldn’t focus, but I desperately tried to use the grounding techniques they’d drilled into me during countless therapy sessions.
Five things I could see: lifeless eyes, bullet casings, abandoned shopping bags, terrified faces, the red-stained sneakers of the dead man beside me.
Four things I could touch: my shaking legs, splintered wood, the cold tile, so much blood.
Three things I could hear: footsteps of a madman, muffled cries, death-rattled breathing.
Two things I could smell: acrid gunpowder, metallic blood.
One thing I could taste: every single one of my failures.
This wasn’t happening.
Not again.
My whole body jerked when another gunshot sounded, marking the end of another life. My stomach rolled, bile crawling up the back of my throat.
I couldn’t do this.
I wasn’t scared of dying, but I wouldn’t be able to survive the aftermath of this.
I didn’t want to survive the aftermath.
Just as I’d convinced myself to stand up and volunteer as his next victim, two kids sprinted toward the pizza place. The lanky boy was older, no more than sixteen, while the girl with red ringlets couldn’t have been older than ten. I assumed they were siblings, but why hadn’t their parents stopped them? I answered my own question as I watched in horror as they held hands, leaping over bodies as they ran.
“Hey!” the gunman yelled.
I nervously leaned forward to see how far away he was. They had a decent head start, but bullets didn’t need to be close to hit their mark. He gave chase, the spray of his gunfire narrowly missing them.
I scanned the area, frantically searching to see if anyone was going to help them. They were kids; somebody had to do something. Somebody had to—
My heart stopped as her brown gaze collided with mine through the glass doors.
Gwen.
Oh, God, Gwen.
Seeing her there, knowing she could be next—that was a kind of helplessness I would never be able to forget.
“Truett!” she screamed from outside the mall doors. She had a cell phone held to her ear in one hand, the other balled in a fist, pounding on the glass.
I blinked, panic engulfing me. Glass wasn’t bulletproof, and pressed up against it, her whole body was vulnerable. She might as well have been wearing a target.
If he saw her….
If he fucking saw her, I had no doubt he would—
Like a guillotine in my mind, a sharp blade of reality fell, severing the past’s grip over me. As my mind slowly transported me back to the present, my instincts roared to life.
No fucking way I was going to let anything happen to her.
I’d failed them. All of them . I would not let Death take her from me too.
I glanced back in time to see the gunman follow the kids into the kitchen of the pizza place, momentarily leaving the dining area unguarded.
I could have run—others did, escaping deeper into the mall.
But when another gunshot rang through the air, it was like a match to my central nervous system. Adrenaline exploded inside me as I clambered to my feet. I paused to steal one last glimpse at the most beautiful woman I would ever see.
I didn’t have a weapon or body armor, but I was determined to take that maniac down no matter the cost. There was no guarantee I’d survive—mentally or physically. That very well could have been the last time I ever saw her.
My chest ached as I took in her tear-stained cheeks. I wanted to tell her I loved her and, no matter what she thought, I had loved her every minute of every day since she was sixteen years old and walked into my math class wearing a smile that branded my soul. Nothing would change that. Not even death.
Though, after everything I’d put her through, those words would have been purely selfish. She was moving on. No matter how much it destroyed me. I’d all but forced her hand.
My list of failures was already a mile long when it came to Gwen. No way I was adding to that in what was more than likely my final moments on earth.
I’m sorry, I mouthed to her.
Her eyes flashed wide, understanding donning on her face. “Truett, no!” she screamed, pounding even harder on the door.
All these people were trying to get out, and my Gwen was out there fighting like hell to get inside.
She was scared.
So fucking scared.
But that was quite literally the only thing I could fix for her anymore.
With blood roaring in my ears and a new resolve coursing through my veins, I took off toward the pizza place, hell-bent on ending this nightmare once and for all.