Total pages in book: 181
Estimated words: 181613 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 908(@200wpm)___ 726(@250wpm)___ 605(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 181613 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 908(@200wpm)___ 726(@250wpm)___ 605(@300wpm)
I turn to run after Silas, who darts through the trees to get to Levi first.
“Silas, stop!” I scream, swatting away the branches as I rush through the forest after him. But Elliot is on his tracks too, and he’s already pulled out a knife, ready to aim.
Shit!
Behind me, both Lana and my mom throw knives at each other while darting through the woods in our tracks. They’re all following us, along with all the dads and their kids.
Oh God.
If I don’t put a stop to this, they’re going to kill each other.
“Stop!” I shriek, but no one is listening, as shots and knives are thrown out left and right.
“If I find you, you’re dead, Silas!” Sunny screams.
We come to a clearing, the same clearing where I once found Grey strapped to a chair, and Levi is at the other side, dragging himself along out of pure will.
“There you fucking are,” Silas grits.
When Levi spots Silas, he pulls a knife from his pocket and turns around, propping himself up as best as he can for an incoming attack, defending himself with honor despite his wounds.
“Don’t touch him!” Lana shouts from across the clearing.
A knife suddenly flicks into the ground beside me, and I make the decision to pick it up and throw it right back at her.
I don’t know what possesses me. I don’t want to hurt Levi’s mom, but someone has to stop her from trying to kill both me and my brother.
“Silas, quit it!” I scream. “You’re gonna get us all killed!”
“I’m finishing what I started,” he growls back.
To my left, Kai is zigzagging through the woods, while to my right my own dad glares at him while bolting in the same direction. They’re both headed for Levi, trying to protect me and Silas, and someone’s going to die.
Fuck.
Felix pops out of the woods and jumps Nathan, who was running behind me, and he fists him in the face. But Nathan kicks him in the stomach, and they roll over. A knife flashes and Nathan cuts into Felix’s hand. A loud roar fills the woods.
BANG!
Kai fires a shot at my dad, and he strays behind in the woods, bleeding from a wound I can’t tell will kill him.
Anger fires me up, and as I catch up to Silas, I snatch a small gun right out of his hands and aim at Kai.
BANG!
The shot misses.
Silas has gotten away, and he’s already up close with Levi.
Shit!
Levi
Shots fire right above my head, and I duck, but Silas is right in front of me, swiping with a knife.
“I’ll fucking end you!”
I dodge left and right, jumping on my feet despite the pain, and I lunge at him with my own knife, stabbing him whenever I have the chance.
He hisses in agony when I cut into his shoulder. “Fuck you. I should’ve killed you back in that Shack.”
“You think you drained me of all my fight?” I growl back. “I fucking trained for this day. I won’t let you kill me in front of her.”
I punch him in the face so hard he groans and heaves, but he quickly recovers.
“Oh yes, you fucking will.” He points his bloody knife at me. “An eye for an eye, motherfucker. You will die like a miserable cockroach, along with your entire fucking family.”
He lunges at me again, and I jump backward, fighting through the pain. He swipes and swipes with the knife. Mid-thrust, I grab his wrist and knock it out of his hand, then kick him in the stomach.
“Fuck,” he grits.
Silas punches my leg in the exact spot he hit me with the bat, and I thrust my knife to answer for the pain he caused, cutting into his abdomen.
Aspen is so close, I can almost reach out to touch her.
Maybe there’s still time before I die.
Just one more touch.
One more shared breath.
“Don’t you fucking hurt my kids!” Penelope shrieks from the woods behind me.
BANG! BANG!
I groan in agony as one of the bullets lodges into my abdomen.
She shot me.
Silas suddenly jumps on top of me and forces me to the ground. He pulls out the knife I poked him with and aims it at my face, so I grab his wrists mid-air as it’s about to penetrate my skull.
“NO!”
Aspen’s scream is like a siren’s call, beckoning me to come … begging me to stay.
I can’t die. I don’t want to die. Not yet.
But if this is my time, I don’t want her to see me go down either.
“Aspen,” I murmur as I briefly glance at her. “Run.”
Aspen
No.
I can’t fucking let him die alone.
Overwhelmed by the need to protect, I grab Silas from behind and hold on tight. “Stop!”
He fights me off. “What the fuck—no! He’s a killer, Aspen! Stop fucking defending him!”
I hold on as hard as I can, pressing my full body weight into him so he can’t move.