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I should’ve known not to leave the cave and that I would beharder on Adria and Daisy and myself

I watch in horror as more beasts are taken down, as ive way to their nakd human forms as they succumb to death Tears coat my eyes, but I can’t actually cry I’m tooMyhelpless behind the rock I feel her struggling againsther mental hands into the deepest recesses of my brain

Suddenly, Adria’s face snaps out of h the air At first, I think I’ve been hit in the sto pain there, but then I realize I’ froht around s, the beast is holding me so securely

But it’s not Daisy I would know if it were her being this close

I start to panic

"It’s Raul," a voice says inwith h the forest "Protect Adria!" And that’s the last thing I hear as he drops round several feet from the cave entrance and hurries away just as quickly, out of sight

They’ve switched sides…Raul and his ives me hope

I crawl onthe way the ground ruh the forest violently like a sta trees--fall all around ainst the earth froh into the sky and s it harder to see even six feet in front ofto rain and if I believed in God, I would think it was a miracle because the rain couldn’t have co and no thunder, just a steady, heavy downpour of cold rain Already my clothes are soaked and my hands are muddy as I continue to push myself toward the cave entrance, but now that the rain is taain

I push myself up and just as I reach the cave entrance, Trajan appears in front ofthe breath fro; it could be a tree or rock, I don’t know, but it snaps Adria alhtly as I can I can’t let her fight hi to nificant as an insect, and his tall, ure clad in an old leather trench coat and leather boots, disappears into the darkness of the cave

My head is spinning I can hardly breathe or see straight or think straight, but I know I have to do soainst whatever it was that I hit and I calrowls, the roars, the howls, bones breaking, flesh ripping, teeth gnashing, and beasts dying I hear the fires sizzling as the rains pound on the fla off the cave walls as he makes his way inside Every little sound is amplified in nified sense of hearing

But I can’t focus on anything anymore, not when I have to localize all ofall of

My God…she is so powerful…

My chest shudders to a halt and I take oneI know to do: I envision Adria’s death I picture Trajan finding her out in the wide open because h to hold her back and keep her hidden behind the cave walls I picture her facing Trajan in her last moments

And then I see him kill her…

ISAAC

Chapter 34

TRAFFIC AND STOPLIGHTS AND light poles rocket by h sos and houses and churches and gas stations look like nothing more than one-dimensional structures sprawled out across the landscape; those closest to et into the et to Adria before my father does

And when my heart tries to tellinside ious cries

I push on harder and faster, feeling the earth grind beneath round We rarely get tired and we rarely ever feel the effects of exhaustion when running, but right now and for the first tihtening beyond their capabilities in this for pain I feel the blood surging so hard through ht explode

But I just push harder

Every town and s but a blur, a stain seared into the back of my mind Several parked cars I know I destroyed when I covered their distance, using their hoods and tops as a means to propel e just beyond the into the outskirts of the h the first layers of trees