A bead of sweat rolled slowly down Carl’s cheek as he stared up at the ceiling, forcing his eyes to stay fixed on a crack that ran across it.
He focused on that crack like it mattered.
Like it was the only thing in the room.
Anything to keep his mind from drifting.
Anything to keep from thinking about how exposed he felt.
A few minutes ago, Annie had stripped both him and Adira down without hesitation, like it was just another task to check off a list. Their clothes had been taken and thrown onto the bodies in the bags outside, a sick attempt to sell the lie.
Carl swallowed hard.
He had never imagined ending up in a situation like this.
Not like this.
His hands were tied tight behind him, the rope biting into his wrists every ti he shifted even slightly. His back was pressed against Adira’s, and he could feel the warmth of her through the contact. It made him more aware of everything, not less.
It made it harder to stay focused.
His jaw tightened.
Despite everything going on, his mind kept slipping in directions it had no business going. He caught himself wondering what she looked like from the front, and the thought hit him like a slap the second it ford.
Damn it.
Why was he thinking like that right now?
And why her?
Of all people.
He shut his eyes for a second, trying to push it down, trying to get a grip on himself.
This was not the ti.
His voice ca out rough when he finally spoke.
"What...?"
It cracked halfway through.
He cleared his throat quickly and tried again.
"What do you think they’re doing out there?"
For a mont, Adira did not answer.
Carl felt his pulse pick up.
The silence stretched just long enough to make his chest tighten.
Then she spoke.
"Hard to tell," she said.
Her voice was steady, a lot steadier than his.
"But it sounds like things are getting loud."
Carl listened.
Now that she said it, he could hear it too.
Muffled voices.
Movent.
Sothing heavy shifting.
It was not clear, but it was enough to know sothing was happening.
"We should get ready," she added.
Carl frowned slightly.
"...for what?"
There was a pause.
Adira shifted just a little against him, testing the tension in the ropes.
"For anything," she said.
Carl tried to steady his breathing.
He leaned his head slightly, angling his vision toward the small gap in the wall to his right. It was barely anything, just a thin opening where the wood did not quite et.
But it was enough.
He squinted, trying to make out shapes through it.
At first, all he saw was movent.
It was blurry. Fast.
Then it cleared just enough.
And what he saw made his stomach drop.
Lila moved through the room like she had done it a hundred tis before. One of Annie’s n stepped toward her, gun half-raised, and she closed the distance before he could react.
The knife in her hand flashed once.
Then it disappeared into his neck.
Blood sprayed out in a sudden burst, hitting the floor and the wall beside him. The man dropped almost instantly, his body collapsing like the strings holding him up had been cut.
Carl’s eyes widened.
His breath caught in his throat.
Everything outside had just shifted.
This was not a negotiation for them anymore, quite clearly.
This was a fight.
And all he had been able to think about how left this could really go if Adrian’s hadn’t played his cards right.
—
Aubrey’s eyes widened the second the blood hit her.
It sprayed across her face in a hot burst, catching her off guard completely. She froze for half a second, like her brain refused to process what had just happened right in front of her.
Lila did not hesitate.
She moved through Annie’s n like she had been waiting for this. Quick, clean, and brutal. The knife in her hand rose and fell without pause, each strike landing with purpose. There was nothing reckless about it. It was controlled. Efficient.
I grabbed Aubrey’s wrist and pulled her back before she could even react properly.
"Move," I said, dragging her behind as another body dropped.
Gunfire exploded from the other side of the room.
Annie.
I turned just in ti to see her shove a table over and take cover behind it. Her face was twisted in sothing raw, sothing unhinged. The amber in her eyes pulsed hard, veins spreading out from them like cracks.
She started firing.
Not controlled shots. Not aid.
Just firing.
Bullets tore through the room, ripping into walls, splintering wood, punching into bodies that were too slow to get out of the way. One of her own n dropped, and she did not even notice.
"ILL FUCKING KILL YOU!!!"
Her voice broke as she scread it.
She kept shooting.
"DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE DIE DIE!!!"
Each word ca out louder, more frantic than the last. Her finger kept pulling the trigger even when the gun started to click empty. It took her a second to realize she was out.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Then panic hit.
She fumbled for another magazine, hands shaking, breath uneven.
She never got the chance.
Lila hit her from the side and drove her into the ground hard enough to knock the air out of her. The magazine slipped from Annie’s fingers and skidded across the floor.
Lila pinned her without hesitation.
One arm twisted behind Annie’s back at an angle that was seconds away from snapping. Her face was pressed into the floor, cheek grinding against the dirty surface as she struggled.
And she did struggle.
But it was ssy.
Unfocused.
The rage that had been fueling her just seconds ago had cracked into sothing else.
She started crying.
Not quiet tears. Not controlled.
Ugly crying.
Her body shook as she tried to push back, but Lila held her in place like it was nothing. Tears stread down her face, mixing with snot as her breathing turned uneven. She coughed, choked, tried to speak, but it ca out broken.
All of it over not being able to kill .
I raised my gun.
The barrel lined up with the back of her head.
It would have been easy.
One pull and it was done.
Everything she had done. Everyone she had taken. All of it would end right there.
But I didn’t pull the trigger.
Sothing in her eyes made stop.
I did not lower the gun, but I hesitated.
Because for a second, she did not look like a monster.
She looked...human.
Broken.
Grieving.
I clenched my jaw and forced my focus back.
She was still the reason most of the people I knew were dead.
That did not change.
Aubrey glanced at , trying to read what I was about to do, but before either of us could say anything, Annie started laughing.
It was weak.
Uneven.
Barely even a laugh.
"You three are so fucking screwed..." she said between breaths.
Her voice shook, but there was sothing behind it.
Confidence.
"They’re gonna skin your asses alive."
Footsteps echoed from sowhere deeper in the building.
More than a few.
Closing in fast.
"Adrian. We need to move," Aubrey said.
I held Annie in my sights for one more second.
Then I nodded.
Lila released her and got up imdiately, already moving toward the next room. Aubrey stayed close to as we followed.
We pushed through the door.
And stopped.
Carl and Adira were inside.
Tied.
Half naked.
Their hands were bound behind their backs, rope digging into their skin. For a second, my brain tried to connect it with the bodies we had seen earlier, and it clicked.
Clothes swapped.
A fake.
My eyes lingered longer than they should have.
Adira always wore heavy gear, layers that hid everything. I had never really thought about what was under it, and now that it was right in front of , it caught off guard.
Lila noticed.
I felt it before I saw it.
Her eyes shifted toward for half a second, sothing dark passing through them.
I snapped out of it imdiately.
Aubrey moved first, rushing to them and dropping to her knees.
"Adrian."
I flinched at my na getting called.
It was Aubrey, a hand out reached to .
"Co on. We don’t have much ti." She said.
I quickly dug into my pocket and took out a knife.
With that, she started cutting,
But my mind had been elsewhere.
Part of was still in the other room. Still thinking about Annie. Still thinking about ending it.
This was what I ca here for.
This was the mont.
We still had ti, didn’t we?
The footsteps were getting louder, but they were not here yet.
I could go back.
Finish it.
Make sure none of this ca back to bite us in the ass later.
"Done!" Aubrey said.
Her voice snapped back.
She pulled the ropes free and helped Carl and Adira up. They were unsteady, but they could move.
The footsteps were right outside now.
No more ti.
No more choices.
I tightened my grip on my gun and looked toward the door.
"Let’s go."
User Comments
0 comments from readers