Page 54 (1/1)

I tear off, adrenaline shooting through s pu in loud puffs Pants Sobs

I hear thes in loud, brutal voices They don’t care about keeping quiet One of thehs A demented, crazy sound I know it’s not Nate His curses burn ht behind ht thatround I’est, the most fit

He flipsto see, especially as I slide a blade into his ribs

A knife I hardly recall re from my pocket Instinctively, I went for it And just as instinctively, I buried it inside hiers His smile slips into a loose-lipped O of shock I scurry backward, taking ushes between his fingers, but I don’t stick around to watch

I’ain I don’t look back Not even when I hear the angry bellow fro ed to stab Goliath Suddenly the expression "no quarter given" has all-new clarity forto hurt me before, but now they willI can’t stop

But how long can you keep this up?

The instant the thought enters er I have to I can outrun Nate surely And I’er than Leo I have to be faster, even as exhausted as I am

Fingers catch the jagged ends ofinto ed, terrified, bewildered I’o down in a tangle of li to cut him Feral sounds rise from deep in my chest

"Davy! Davy! Stop! It’s me!"

My eyes focus on the face abovehiso hard I probably cut off his oxygen I don’t even care aboutaway the terror

He hugssounds, hisFear and pain lift from me with each tear His hand rubs s lulls

I jerk violently and pull back in his araze darts around "They’re coover his shoulder

"Shhh, it’s okay Junie and Terrence got one of the for the hills Probably shit hi Junie and two other shadows approaching I moisten my dry lips and start to speak, but ers "Water," he calls out

Terrence steps forward and offersthe lid, I drink noisily, water running downThey let , "How did you find uys wasn’t exactly quiet Everyone within twentyand fast" At thethe dark horizon

I stare into the distance, at the boy I killed, his body nothing more than a bump in the landscape "I killed one of theer than me

"You had to," Caden says instantly, auto so snize "That big one didn’t go down easy" Squatting, she wipes her blade off in the dirt "He was one angry mofo Didn’t run Not even when Terrence juot hi motion to her neck

Bile rises in the back of uess I shouldn’t feel sick, especially knohat he had planned for ainst my stomach like that can help settle it

She jerks a thuo after--"

"No" Caden wraps an arm around me and stares off into the horizon as if he can see the fleeing carrier "Let the desert have hiaze rests on me "You’ve looked better You okay?"

"I’m in one piece" My voice trembles and I s Was I supposed to lie and say I’uess I do have a knack for it A third life taken by my hands Yes, justified, but did that really matter? Dead is dead How " Still with one hand on ht, turning constantly, scanning the horizon We uide us, Caden leading us, the others close on our heels Their tread falls silently on the night, a direct contrast with the other carriers--two of whom lie dead behind us I close o away Won’t stop digging claws into me