Page 115 of Lunar Crest University

“No,” he grits out. “I’m going to get you out of here. Get you some help before that happens.”

I swallow thickly. “The door is…locked.”

“We’re getting out of here.”

“There’s smoke. So…much smoke?—”

“Stop it!” he yells, and I don’t even have the energy to flinch. “I listened to you. Now you listen to me. I’mnotleaving you here.”

I hate seeing him like this, so worried sick that he’s crying and sweating and trembling. So instead of fighting anymore, I nod feebly as I stretch out my fingers, hoping he’ll take my hand. Any ounce of warmth sounds better than the ice pulsating through me. His lips press together as he grasps my hand so tight, I’m scared he’ll break my bones.

His other hand wraps around the blade of the knife as gently as possible.

“Okay,” he pants. “Ready?”

I shake my head.

“You have to be ready, Finn. I need you to be ready.” His voice shakes as his hazel eyes lower to meet mine. “Please don’t give up on me.”

“O-okay,” I say. “Okay.”

My body feels weak like I could pass out at any second, and I know it’s because of the blood loss. I might be wearing more than I have inside me at this point. My breath comes in slow pants, and the smoke that permeates the air doesn’t help. What energy I do have, I’ll give to him.

Which is why, instead of screaming as he dislodges the knife from my leg, I hold my breath enough to where a choked wheeze escapes me. There is pain, but it’s a numb kind of pain. Sharp, but soft around the edges. Stinging, but swallowed by the cold.

That can’t be good.

Blood pools out of my thigh faster than the wound on my stomach, and that can’t be good either.

Levi saws at each binding until I’m free before snaking his arm around my waist to hoist me up and out of the chair. It’s not until I try to stand that I realize how dire my situation is. My legs give out from under me, and as I go to collapse to the concrete floor, he braces my fall.

I’m so tired.

“No. No. No,” he whines. “You have to stand up.”

“I…can’t.”

“Fuck!”

Scrambling to the metal door, he grabs the handle and pulls on it a few times. Harder and harder, he pulls until he’s yelling strings of curses. The door doesn’t even make a sound. He bangs his fist against it—nothing. Kicks it—nothing. There’s a point where he throws his whole body into it, but again—nothing. We’re stuck here.

Gunfire echoes out in the hall.

“Fuck! Fuck!Fuck!” He kicks the door as hard as he can with each word, coughing from the smoke that continues to build in the air.

I press my face against the floor, shivering. “Levi.”

“Goddamnit! Open the fucking door!”

“L-Levi.”

Turning on his heel, he peers down at me as he puts a hand over his mouth while gripping his chin simultaneously. The turmoil is evident in his eyes. I know how badly he wants to get us out of here, but we’re not.

“Please…” I pant. “Come lay with m-me?”

I don’t want to spend whatever time I do have left watching him exhaust himself trying to open a door that isn’t going to budge.

He doesn’t hesitate to lie down on the dirty concrete floor beside me, scooching as close as he possibly can as he takes my hand in his. He’s so warm, sweat trickles down his forehead, andit feels good against my freezing skin. It must not be good that I feel like ice is running through my veins, but I push the feeling aside as I give him a very tiny smile.

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