Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 87618 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87618 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
I run again, right on the edge of losing control. My fingers work at the pouch at my waist, and I find a round canister. I hit the bottom of the stairwell and turn toward the outside exit just as the first-floor landing door opens.
Another guard barrels through. He’s heavier than the first one and roars at me to halt. I whirl around and blast him with the canister, spraying mace right into his face.
He screams in shock and starts coughing. His arms windmill wildly, and he nearly hits me right in the face. My mask helps dull some of the effects, but tears stream down my cheeks as I shove the exit door open and sprint into the night.
The guards are right on my ass. I sprint faster than I’ve ever gone before, arms pumping, legs feeling like pure fire, pushing at my absolute limit. My chest burns with exertion. Every inch of my body strains. Adrenaline rips through my system, and I’m at my max effort, dragging in deep breaths, fear ringing through my skin.
If they catch me, if they get me, if they grab onto my ankles and drag me back screaming and crying—
The fence looms ahead. I risk a look back. The original guard is gaining again, looking determined.
A cold horror washes over me when I look ahead again.
I’m not going to make it.
Oh fuck. Oh my god.
It’s not going to happen.
I’ll reach the fence first, but there’s no way in hell I’ll climb up and get over the Kevlar blanket before that big asshole drags me back down.
I’m trapped.
I’m totally fucked.
Mantis is going to know we tried to break in, and that’ll put all the pieces together. I’ll be dead by morning, and so will Alexan.
I killed us. My stupid, stubborn, impulsive idiocy got us killed.
I roar, throat raw, tears streaming down my face, clawing at the air, but it’s done. We’re finished. I’m fucked.
“Stop!” the guard yells.
Then a sound like splintering metal. It’s a massive crash. I don’t have time to look over, but I flinch anyway and keep flinging myself forward. Faster, faster, toward the fence, toward an impossible freedom on the other side—
A car engine roars right as I slam into the chain link. I grip and look back over my shoulder.
Alexan’s car rams straight into the guard chasing after me. The man’s body ragdolls over the hood and smashes into the windshield with a sickening crack. Blood splatters as he rolls over the roof and bounces down the back, crunching onto the pavement. His limbs land at impossible angles, and he’s not moving.
I stare in stunned disbelief.
Alexan’s car spins to a sudden stop. Smoke drifts up from the wheels as he kicks open the door and gets out. “Riley!” he yells and comes toward me.
I open my mouth to say something—anything—I don’t know what—but words fail.
Because the other guard, the one with the mace-covered face, is aiming a gun at me from across the parking lot.
He squeezes off three shots. They sound like fireworks. Alexan reacts on instinct and throws himself on top of me, tackling me down to the ground. I feel something wet and warm cover my chest.
“I got you,” he snarls before pulling away. He’s up on his knees, his own gun in his hand, and he squeezes off a shot.
It hits the second guard in the skull. His head snaps backward, blood spraying out behind him.
Everything’s numb. Sickness spreads into my limbs. I want to throw up, but I can’t even bring myself to do that. Something red’s covering the front of me, and when I touch it, my fingers come away sticky.
It’s fresh blood.
“Alexan,” I say, heart hammering. I touch myself, looking for a bullet wound, but there’s no pain.
“You’re okay.” He gets to his feet slowly, hand pressed against his shoulder. Blood wells up from between his fingers.
Oh fuck. I’m not shot.
But he is.
“You’re bleeding.” I get to my feet, the dead guards forgotten.
“I’m okay, baby.” He shoves the gun away and takes my arm. “Come on, I got you. Get in the car.”
“But you’re shot. We need a doctor.”
“No time for that. I know a guy; we just need to get home. Get in, baby.”
I want to argue, but what’s the point? One guard’s lying in the middle of the parking lot, his body twisted and broken. The other’s near the back door, his skull blown to pieces.
Blood’s covering the pavement.
What a fucking mess.
“I got you,” Alexan says again, even though he’s the one that’s shot. He helps me get into the car. “Hold on. We’re going to be okay.”
I don’t know what makes me believe him. Maybe it’s his completely calm demeanor or the fact that he saved me. Whatever it is, right now, I’d do anything he told me to.
Once he’s behind the wheel, he hits the gas, and we speed away.