Chapter 68
AVA - MY LIFE DEPENDED ON IT
The shot was deafening.
In the crawl space, it didn’t just echo; it exploded.
My ears rang, sharp and piercing, like static underwater. The recoil jolted up my arm and into my chest, and everything around me seemed to freeze, like the world had slammed on the brakes.
For a split second, I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe.
All I could hear was the warped, ghost-like thump of blood in my ears.
A strange echo. The scream took a second to cut through the fog.
It was him.
He hit the ground hard. I heard it more than saw it, the slam of his large body hitting the ground, The woosh of air leaving his lungs... the low, animalistic groan of pain. And then, his face.
His eyes found mine beneath the slats.
Wild. Furious. Unhinged.
Fuck
He started shouting, a string of curses and guttural rage, his body twisting toward the crawl space entrance. That snapped me out of it.
I moved.
Or I tried to.
I tried to turn, to spin myself around in the tight, suffocating dark. My elbows scraped the ground, my feet dug in, my hair caught on something above me... my hands slipped on damp earth. Behind me, wood groaned.
What was that?
Panic shot through me. He was trying to break through. Or pull it loose.
I got halfway turned when I felt it...
A hand, crushing around my ankle.
“No... no, no, no...”
I thrashed, kicked, and clawed. He pulled again, and my hands went out from under me, slamming my face into the ground. Dirt filled my nose and mouth, but I didn’t care.
I couldn't.
He yanked again, dragging me backward. The light disappeared. My body scraped over stone, splinters tearing at my calves. He was strong, wounded, but high on adrenaline and hate.
I knew if he got me, that would be it.
I had to keep moving... do something.
I flipped to my back, panicked and primal.
And without thinking...
BANG.
The second shot was blind.
His grip released.
I didn’t wait to see why.
I couldn't stop to think about if I had just taken a life.
I scrambled to flip back onto my stomach, the grip on the gun white knuckled.
.. and I surged forward on elbows and knees, every movement frantic, lungs burning, heart jackhammering against my ribs.
I didn’t dare look back. I just prayed he wasn’t following, that I hadn’t missed, that the fire wouldn’t collapse the crawl space with me still in it.
Another sound.
A gunshot. Farther away.
Not mine.
Was it Gray?
Was it someone shooting at him?
Please let him be ok.
I pushed harder. Dirt crumbled beneath my palms, and my feet felt like they had gone numb. Smoke curled through the slats and stung my eyes. The air was getting hotter. Thicker.
I reached the hatch.
It took everything I had left to lift it. My fingers barely worked, scraped raw, trembling. The wood and metal groaned under my grip, and for one awful moment, I thought it was stuck.
“Please,” I whispered. “Please, just open...”
It gave.
Smoke poured down over me, suffocating and acrid. It felt like I was choking... drowning.
Keep moving, Ava, you have to move.
I climbed up, coughing, pulling myself through with the last of my strength. The cabin was barely recognizable. Shadows warped the walls. The smoke made it impossible to tell what was flame and what was memory.
Voices. Yelling. Somewhere behind me.
Did it work?
Did they think I was still under there?
I crawled through the haze, disoriented, dizzy. My hand brushed the couch. The hallway. The kitchen table. I couldn’t see anything clearly, just shapes and outlines.
My lungs screamed for air.
A wave of dizziness washed over me.
I had to get out.
Where was the front?
Another shot in the distance.
My body moved on instinct, barely tethered to thought. I reached the front door. Pressed my hand against it. Waited.
Was someone out there?
Waiting to finish what they started?
I heard another shout. I couldn’t tell if it was Gray. Or the man I shot. Or someone who had gone to him.
I didn’t have time to wonder.
Now or never.
Be brave, Ava. Be like Remi.
I yanked the door open...
And the air hit me like a wave. Cold. Clean. Alive.
It sucked into the cabin like it had lungs of its own, feeding the fire behind me. I didn’t look back.
I ran.
Down the steps, across the gravel, to the trees.
My body barely felt the impact of each step, like I’d left something behind in that crawl space, my fear, maybe. Or a piece of me I could never reclaim.
It felt like forever reaching the tree line.
I pushed as hard as I could, hoping my legs wouldn't give out beneath me... hoping I could take in enough air to keep me going.
Crossing the threshold of the tree line, I choked on a sob, but I couldn't stop.
I knew this was far from over, and now I was exposed.
Branches slashed my arms.
I tripped on something, a rock, a branch... a body... I barely regained my balance, stumbling into a tree and righting myself.
But I didn’t stop.
I couldn’t.
I ran like my life depended on it.
Because it did.