Chapter Two
Waverly
Itake a step back and come to a dead stop.
Not that I want to think about anything dead right now!
My eyes have never left the two men, so I notice the second they look up at me when my damned foot finds the only fucking stick in this manicured lawn.
For a heavy moment, all three of us look at one another like we can’t believe we are really seeing each other.
Then the one who hit the kid over the head barks a command that stops my heart and causes my body to go hot and then cold!
“Get her!”
The second guy bolts towards me, and I turn and take off fucking running. No way am I waiting around for them to just come and do whatever to me. They obviously aren’t going to just walk me back into the party and forget we saw each other. In the next breath, the bigger guy confirms my suspicions.
“Kill her!”
Oh, fuck this!
My lungs burn and fear claws at my throat as I hit the wood line and break through it like a swimmer crashes through the water. My heart, once stopped by what I was seeing, is beating so fast it could burst from my chest and outrun me.
Running is not my natural state. I’m a reader.
Curling up with a good book for hours until I fall in love with the main characters and get my happy-ever-after is my thing.
The only good reason I could think of to run was if zombies were chasing me, and even then I figured I could outrun enough other people to stay safe for a little while.
This shit is on a whole different level.
The sound of gunshots in the distance makes me worry about Sadie enough to stop.
Then the tree next to my face takes a bullet, and my ass is booking it again!
I say a prayer that she is alright and streak through the woods trying to outrun the bullets with my name on them.
The cacophony of gunshots back at the house goes silent even as the guy chasing me keeps on coming.
Branches tear at my clothes and skin, but adrenaline masks the pain.
All that’s going through my head is making it out of this alive.
I fall but jerk right back up again. The guy chasing me isn’t shooting at me anymore, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t still chasing me.
A roaring in my ears drowns out everything else, so I can’t hear his footsteps behind me or his shouts any longer.
All I can focus on is my pounding heart and keeping it in its current state -alive!
I come out of the woods into a clearing and cuss, or I would if I had any breath to form words. I sprint across the field hoping to find safe haven just as something hot burns through my arm.
I felt that! And mother fucker did it hurt! Like laying a hot poker on my skin.
It also knocks me off my feet, causing me to pitch forward just as I realize there’s nowhere else to run.
Before I can stop my forward momentum, I am falling and then rolling.
I try to catch myself but only end up hurting my wrist. I unceremoniously hit the bottom and find the only fucking rock down below… with my head.
Headlights fall across me and give me a good view of the shadow at the top of the hill I just rolled down. This is it! As hard as I ran, as much as I fought to live, this is where and how I die. And I can’t even move to fight anymore.
For all I know, the headlights could belong to his associate who ordered him to kill me, and now both of them are going to shoot me.
My vision goes blurry for a moment, causing the image of the man on the hill to waver and shimmer in the moonlight that’s backlighting him.
I close my eyes when I hear gunshots and pray the end will come quickly and I won’t linger in agony.
My eyes snap back open as I’m being half carried, half dragged by a second shadow.
I begin to fight with what is left of my strength when I realize the man who has me isn’t shooting at me but up at the man on the hill.
I’m shoved down between a big body and a car as they continue to exchange fire, and then silence falls all around us.
The roaring is still in my ears so I can’t really hear what the guy is saying to me, but I do get a good look at his eyes.
Midnight blue. Eyes that burn into me and make me question if my heart is still beating so fucking hard because I just had to run for my life or if it just might be because those eyes are staring down at me.
Before I can find out, everything goes dark, and I sink into it, so I don’t have to face the pain any longer.