Chapter 26 Kaitlyn
Kaitlyn
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
It takes a second to see that it really is Emerson Butler underneath all that blood and bullshit. His usual cocksure attitude is nowhere to be found at the moment, though, which feels appropriate, given the knife in his leg.
“What the fuck?” Emerson shouts, hands shaking, close to, but not actually, touching the knife in his leg. “What the actual fuck?”
He’s in shock, obviously. I’ve seen girls go into shock after a particularly brutal injury during games and practices, but Emerson’s shrieks are worse than those of any of the girls I’ve heard.
I bend down, take the knife he dropped, and pull back his hood, revealing his blood-covered hair.
I stand up and take a step back, watching as the rain carves lines of clarity through the red on his face.
As everything washes away, it’s easy to see that, yes: It is Emerson, covered in even more blood and injuries than before.
“Fucking told you,” Javi growls, lunging forward. “I told you it was him.”
I grab Javi’s arm before he can get to Emerson.
Sure, he definitely looks like a murderer, but he needs to catch his breath and explain himself.
Not because I’ll believe any of his bullshit.
But I want to see him try to weasel out of this, just so I know exactly what his story is before I stomp it into the ground.
And it’s not like he can run away or anything.
“I’m not a murderer!” Emerson stammers, coughing on the last syllables as he sucks in a breath of air. “I was holding up the knife because I thought you were him—”
Behind me, Marlene’s murmuring something I can’t make out.
“Shit, this really fucking hurts,” Emerson says, hand shaking over the knife. He glares past me at Marlene. “Do you see what you did, bitch?”
“Hey,” I snap at him. “Don’t talk to her like that.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Emerson all but shouts. “She stabbed me in the leg!”
“Because you were going to stab me,” Javi says. “You’re such a goddamn liar, Emerson. You always have been. Time to confess.”
“It wasn’t me, okay?” Emerson says. “And if we don’t move immediately, he’s going to get all of you—”
“Don’t try to bullshit us,” I say just as Javi shouts, “Liar!” again at Emerson.
“What are you talking about?” I ask. “Who is he, Emerson?”
“It’s the same guy as before,” he says. “The same guy who killed Jay!”
“I thought Avery killed Jay,” Javi says. “Or are you walking that back now?”
“I was wrong, okay?” he says. “Clearly, it’s the same guy trying to kill us all.”
“How do you know?” Marlene asks Emerson, still keeping her distance.
I glance at Javi, whose hard gaze doesn’t shift, but he does step to the side before crossing his arms over his chest and lifting his chin. A clear message that Emerson better not fucking try him, better tell him the entire truth right now.
“You need to be very careful about what you say next,” Javi says, a rumble in every syllable. “I want you to remember that I know you, Emerson. I know exactly who you are.”
Emerson regards Javi, and I wait for the rage to appear in his eyes, but the fear remains constant.
“I saw his face,” Emerson says. “When he came after me. I can describe him to you. But we need to…We need to get out of here. He’s coming back.”
Marlene lets out a squeak, and I glance behind me to see that she’s shivering in the rain.
“We need to get away from here,” Emerson says again, tilting his chin up so he’s staring right at me. “Head back to the road, away from the house—”
Realization hits me. “Did he get back into the house? What happened to Avery and Caulder? Lucas?”
Emerson shakes his head again. “Nothing, nothing, they’re fine.”
“What happened to them?” Javi demands, stepping closer. “Is that their blood?”
“No!” Emerson practically screams. “It’s not, of course it’s not.”
“Then why did you leave them?” Javi says, practically shouting now. “What the fuck’s going on, Emerson? Whose blood is that?”
Emerson’s coughing and clutching his chest, and whether it’s from his injuries or Javi staring him down, I don’t know.
“I’ll explain everything,” he says, wincing. “Just get me back to the road so we can call for help. Please. I need—”
But then we all hear it.
A rustle behind us, getting louder. Like a person moving through branches.
We turn slowly, each of us looking over our shoulder at the trees that are shifting in the dark.
“Kaitlyn?” Marlene whispers, her voice practically a rattle in the wind. “Who is that?”
If Emerson’s right, we’re giving the killer a buffet right now. An easy location to get us all at once. But we can also be a team. And I know how to lead a team.
“Okay,” I say. “Here’s the plan—”
“Scatter!” Emerson shouts, cutting me off.
And immediately, all hell breaks loose.