call.
But that’s because they need me right now. My brothers. Trinity. They need me to be strong. I can freak out later, or not at all. I don’t need to add fuel to this fucking inferno.
“I need an ambulance.”
And then I go blank, because I guess a part of me isn’t all that focused right now.
“2192 Maude Street,” comes Trinity’s voice. It’s faint, but it’s steady.
That’s my girl.
The operator starts talking me through emergency procedures. Applying pressure to Zachary’s wounds to stop the bleeding. And I try. Fuck, I try. But his blood keeps seeping through my fingers. And it’s eating into the carpet and heading for my knees.
I shift back like it’s contagious.
Cass appears on the other side of Zach’s limp body. He moves away one of my hands, using both of his to stop the flow of blood from the wound.
I mimic him.
And slowly the blood stops trickling through my fingers. I like to think I did that. That I somehow stemmed the flow.
But it could be that Zach’s heart has stopped pumping.
Chapter Twenty-One
Apollo
Leaves and low-hanging branches whip against my face. Holy shit, did Gabriel run track or something? I’m struggling to keep up. He had less than a minute head start on me.
We’re weaving our way through the dividing line sandwiched between properties. Not all of the houses have fences, but most of them do have trees and shrubs for privacy.
Gabriel obviously knows this area very well. He’s pulling all the moves—throwing trash cans between us, rousing dogs who must have been distant offspring of Cujo.
All I can do is try and keep him in sight. Lucky for me, he’s leaving behind a path of devastation. Broken branches, rustling shrubs, gates thrown open.
I chase him over a road, and then down a cement embankment.
And then I lose him.
I’m panting, bloody hands on my bloody knees as I scan left and right. The embankment led down to a storm drain, but there’s no fucking way I’m going into that black hole.
I’m not an idiot.
I know he’s waiting in there for me.
Shit!
I could go over the top. But if he’s watching then he’ll know what I’m trying to do. So should I stay, or should I—
Something slams into the back of my head.
I land on hands and knees, fire scraping over my palms as I skid over the cement floor.
Before I can scramble up, a foot hits me square in the stomach.
God! Again? Fuck!
I kick out, manage to catch Gabriel’s shin. Not that it fucking helps—I could have been kicking a tree stump.
He takes a step back, and then surges forward again. Grabs the back of my neck. Hauls me to my feet.
I catch the crook of his arm when he goes to punch me, and that he wasn’t expecting. But he recovers so fast, I don’t even have time for some kind of counter strike.
He rips his arm free and shoves me like we’re a pair of bullies marking turf in the schoolyard.
I slam into the side of the storm drain’s massive mouth, banging my head.
There go the last of my fond childhood memories.
And that’s when Gabriel whips out his gun. Which is round about the same time I put my hands up.
Oh God, the blood. I squeeze my eyes closed and try my best to remain fixed to the earth.
“Okay! I yield!”
And he laughs. The fucker actually laughs. There’s a click from the gun, which I assume is him taking off the safety.
I’m supposed to know about these things, but I was so high when Zach took us for practice shooting. I can’t remember a damn thing.
Instead of yielding, like I asked him so damn nicely, Gabriel grabs my shirt and rams me into the concrete wall again. Then he drags me around the corner. It’s an overcast day, so there’s no sharp line in the limbo between shadow and light. Just a dark haze.
All the better to rape you in, my dear.
Jesus, fuck, no.
I tilt forward to try and push him out of the way. The icy nozzle of a gun burrows into my forehead, urging my head back and back and back until it presses against the uneven wall behind me.
Christ.
I lift my hands, close my eyes. “Just make it quick, okay? And if it’s all the same to you, I’d prefer it if you rape me after I’m dead.”
There’s another click, and that confuses the fuck out of me, because I know some guns have a hammer, but this one doesn’t.
I open one eye,