Page 97 of Vicious

We have a little bit of a lead on the men behind us, but not enough of one for her to stop and rest. They’d be on us in minutes, and I have no delusions about our chances if they catch up.

“You’re going to pay for all of this!” Jake shouts behind us, far too close. “I don’t even care if your parts are usable anymore!”

May gives a half-laugh. “How nice of him.” She stumbles over a branch on the next breath, and I quickly grab her to steady her.

The flimsy sneakers she’s wearing aren’t great for running in the woods, but I’m not equipped with high-end hiking boots either.

“Come on,” I say, directing her toward a large tree. “Behind here.”

May follows me, and we both crouch down behind the tree. It provides some cover, and we both take a moment to catch our breaths.

We’re both stock-still when we hear rustling close by.

“They’re around here,” the goon says. “Look, there are footprints in the leaves.”

Well, fuck. I hadn’t counted on them being actual outdoorsmen.

May’s eyes widen in fear, and I quickly put my finger to my lips. She nods, although we both already know the importance of keeping silent.

“I should just sell your corpses to one of those weird art freaks,” Jake says loudly. “The ones who like putting dead bodies on display. Or maybe some necrophiliacs. That would serve you right.”

I grimace at that thought. The rustling gets closer.

I reach out and find a broken branch near my feet.

“You can’t hide from us,” the goon says, just as he rounds the tree trunk.

I swing the branch and get him in the knees. He cries out and falls over.

“Leg it!” I shout, grabbing May’s hand and pulling her along.

May lets out a muffled scream as I yank her to her feet, pressing her bloody hand against her mouth. She stumbles, and I can see the fatigue pushing her harder and harder as we run.

I didn’t buy us much time, but the trees are thick enough to where Jake can’t get a good shot off.

He tries, though, again and again, too lost in fury to calculate better—which is good for us.

At this point, I don’t know what direction we’re going anymore. I think I can still see the building through the trees when I glance back, but Jake and his goon are hot on our heels, and I can’t think of how to circle back to where we need to be. Right now, the most important thing is our survival.

“Maybe they’ll run out of bullets,” I say to May. She only grimaces in response.

As we run—with May’s steps flagging and faltering more and more—I notice the sound of something familiar.

I pause just for a second to get my bearings, and I spot the source of the sound. A river, just a little offset our current course.

“We’ll swim across,” I say to May, pointing at the river. “They won’t follow us then.”

“Swim…” May says, her voice a little feeble. “Chase, I can barely swim in your pool. There’s no way I can manage a river. Especially…” She looks down at her stomach, where she’s bleeding freely through the bandage now.

“You can.” I take her hand and guide us down to the river. “You have to. Before?—”

Another gunshot whizzes past us.

The river is at least twice as wide as my home pool is long, and there’s a decent current. Not so much that I think it’s too dangerous for us to swim across, though. I let go of May to remove my shoes, and she bends down to do the same. I see her bite back another cry, but I can tell she’s doing the best she can.

I find my phone, and after a few seconds of consideration, I pull my shirt off and wrap it tightly around my phone, in as many layers as I can manage.

“There they are!” Brad shouts. He doesn’t shoot, and I hope that means he is out of bullets, but he’s also a lot larger than either of us.

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