Chapter Fifty-Seven – Jace
JACE
“Don’t listen to her, Jace. Of course it’s me.” The words are whispered in my ear, lips trailing down my neck.
But I can’t get her words out of my head. That voice replaying over and over. I know that voice. Why do I know that voice?
“It’s me.” Is it? Why would she lie? Does she not want us all to be together again? Why would Bonnie-
Bonnie.
I latch onto the name, gripping it tightly in my mind and using it as an anchor to pull myself through the heavy fog that’s descended over my mind.
Bonnie.
He speaks again, but it’s like my ears were filled with cotton and now they’re not. I can now clearly hear the difference. The edge in his voice, the way it scratches at my soul, rather than soothes it.
It’s not him.
It’s not Charlie.
With as much strength as I can muster, I manage to lift my arms between our bodies and push, shoving him off of me.
Rolling over to my side, I pant from the exertion but before I can catch my breath and pull myself up, he throws himself on me, his hands wrapping around my throat as I’m forced back onto my back.
What he doesn’t expect is for me to go with it, to use the momentum it generates to keep rolling our bodies until I’m on top. He loses his grip, releasing my throat and I’m finally able to pull a proper breath into my lugs.
Not wasting a second, my hands travel up the side of his face, feeling the wisps of an unkempt beard and the edges of something smooth, plastic or maybe even metal, framing his face.
Realising whatever it is, must be how he’s able to see us in the dark while we’ve been kept blind from the moment we woke up to this hell, anger surges through me and I rip them off his face, throwing them away.
“Jace? What’s happening?” Bonnie asks. I can hear the fear in her voice, and I can’t imagine how she must be feeling. I don’t think I’d be able to cope right now if our roles were reversed.
His fist slams into the side of my head, narrowly missing my temple. I grip, swallowing the pain but I refuse to loosen my grip.
He wraps his hands around mine, trying to pry them away. My arms tremble with the effort of our struggle and I can feel myself weakening by the second.
I need to end this before my body gives out. I can’t let that happen. I can’t leave Bonnie alone with this guy.
Lifting his head, I slam it back down onto the concrete with as much force as I can muster. The crack it makes echoes through the air, and I can hear Bonnie calling out to me, but I’m in no position to answer her.
His knee comes up, connecting with my groin and knocking the air out of my lungs. The sheer force of it is enough to shift my grip, my thumbs slipping down from his forehead and slipping into, if the squishy jelly-like goo is anything to go by, his eyes.
He lets out a pain filled scream, his fists battering at my ribs, neck, head, anywhere he can reach as he thrusts up, trying to buck me off, but I refuse to budge.
I double down, my thumbs sinking deeper and deeper until I’m able to hook them behind his eye socket, renewing my determination. Lifting his head again, I use all of my weight to drive it back down.
Over and over and over again.
I don’t stop.
I can’t stop.
Not until he stops moving.
With the last ounce of energy I have left, I roll off his unmoving body, landing on my back in a pool of warm viscous liquid.
“Jace?” Her voice sounds small, far away now, muffled behind the ringing in my ears.
I open my mouth to reply. To let her know that we’re safe. He’s gone…but the words don’t come. My fingers twitch and my eyes grow heavy.
My lips mouth her name as I lose the fight to stay awake and my eyes close.