Page 42 of The Aftermath

“He didn’t make it!”

“Good fucking driving, Levi!” Rylan slaps a hand on his shoulder. We’re back on track, taking a few backroads when out of no fucking where the SUV slams into the side of us.

“Fuck!” I roar as the metal bends and glass shatters. I’m shoved from the left side of the car to the right, my head slamming into the window. Tires squeal on the pavement again when I realize they’re backing up to hit us again.

“They’re coming back!” I scream for the other two as I try to pull the fucking door handle. It won’t open. I can’t get the motherfucker open. I glance back over just in time to see the SUV flying at us once again. I close my eyes, not sure what the fuck to do when it collides with us again. It shoves our car across the road, metal creaking in the background.

My head is spinning. I’m not sure which way is up or how the hell I’m going to get out of here.

“Ry?” I call his name, but it doesn’t even sound like me talking.

“I’m … fuck,” he grumbles under his breath.

“Levi?” I see Ry turn his head before he really begins to curse.

“You motherfuckers! I will fucking murder every one of you!” He screams so loud it hurts my ears. They’re ringing, and my head is thumping as I shake my head. No. There’s no fucking way Levi is gone.

“Levi!” I scream his name, hoping that any God out there hears me and lets him be okay. “Levi!”

I can vaguely hear people talking as the doors are being torn open and we’re being ripped out. My legs don’t want to work, so I fall to my knees only to be pulled back up.

“Levi!” I fucking keep screaming because he has to hear me. He has to wake up. My chest feels tight as a hood is pulled over my head and pulled tight. I hear Rylan yelling and carrying on, but I can’t see shit. I don’t know if we’re okay. I don’t know what the fuck is going on. It’s all so chaotic.

I feel myself being thrust into what I assume is a van. My body hits the goddamn floor with a thud, and I groan in pain. Everything hurts. Everything.

Rylan is tossed in next to me, and he groans when he hits the floor.

“Ry?”

“Fuck, Silas. I’m fucked,” he responds, sounding as if he’s in pain, and why wouldn’t he be?

“What the fuck is happening?”

“I don’t know, Silas, but I’m going to kill them all,” he tells me. I agree. Whoever did this is going to pay. They’re going to pay with their lives. There’s no fucking way we’re letting this go.

The van bumps us around as they drive us to wherever the fuck we’re going. I gag on the vomit, threatening to come up in my throat. I’m not feeling well at all. My head is spinning, and I reach up and grab it, begging it all to stop. The ringing in my ears is so fucking loud I can hardly hear anything else.

“We’re going to get out of this, Silas.” I hear Rylan but fuck, I don’t know if we can. “Do you hear me? Don’t fucking leave me, Silas.”

“I-fuck, Ry. I’m fucked up,” I mumble.

“Me too, but we’re going to get out of this,” he says once more. I’m glad one of us is looking at the bright side of things because the way I feel right now, I’m not so sure I’m going to make it anywhere.

“Fuck, Rylan.”

“Just stay with me, Silas,” he groans in pain. That’s when it hits me. Levi’s dead. Our best fucking friend is dead. The anger sweeps over me so quickly I barely feel it until the roar rips from my throat. I scream, and I scream. I’m hurt, I’m in pain, I’m fucking devastated.

“I’ll fucking kill them!” I yell louder this time, even though it feels like I’m breaking in half. I never thought about losing one of the guys. When we did shit, we did it as a team. We did it together. We’ve always had each other’s backs, and now that’s over. He’s gone. Our best friend is gone.

I can’t process it. Or maybe I don’t want to. Maybe this is all a fucking bad dream I’m going to wake up from, and Levi will be there. Nausea rolls through me, my stomach ready to release everything I’ve had today. Darkness pulls at my conscious, begging me to just close my eyes for a second and let it take over.

“Silas?” Fuck. I could let it. I could let myself go into the fucking dark where nothing can hurt me. “Silas!” Ry gets louder this time.

“I’m fucking barely holding on here, Ry.”

“I know, man. I know you are, but stay with me, Silas. I can’t do this without you.” I try. Fuck, do I try. I blink my eyes rapidly, trying to keep them from closing. I feel them drooping and I jolt myself back to reality, back to now. He’s right. Rylan fucking needs me now. He needs me to stay awake no matter how hard this shit is trying to pull me under.

“Ry?”

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