Page 65 of Burn Like An Angel

“We can handle it,” Lennox answers.

I snort in amusement. “With your one working hand?”

Before Lennox can snark back, Xander intervenes. “Focus. We don’t have much time.”

We form a makeshift human chain, picking through the barbed shrubbery. Above us, spinning rotors seal our fate. We all knew the riot would end, but this doesn’t sound like a resolution.

It’s a massacre.

The last act of a crumbling regime.

The corporation has the power and reach to spin the narrative. It’s the same game they’ve been playing for decades to cover up their brutality. All the world will hear is how they liberated Harrowdean and saved the innocent hostages.

Keeping close to Xander and Raine, my head is on a swivel as we creep forward. Far-off shouts pierce the sound of helicopters flying low overhead. It isn’t long before we find our first group of patients.

Instantly, I spot Luka and his corridor hook-up among them. They seem to be searching for a hiding place, all wearing matching expressions of pure terror.

In the distance, the sound of metal screeching as entry is forced indicates the countdown to anarchy. Harrowdean’s gates are being wrenched open. The cavalry has arrived.

“They’re coming!” Kitty, one of the younger girls, wails in a panic. “We have to hide!”

Despite being adults—though some barely—they’re too young to be caught in this situation. Doomed to endure violence and persecution simply because their brains work differently.

“Over there!” I yell at them, pointing to my left. “There’s a building hidden by the trees! Hide inside!”

His gaze colliding with mine, Luka gulps hard. We’re not supplier and customer anymore. Now we’re just two petrifiedhumans, tied to the same deadly train tracks. I nod at him, and he dips his chin in respect.

They disperse to hide, allowing us to continue fleeing. Raine puts his total trust in Xander as he runs without using his stick, guided by the elbow he’s gripping hard.

We’ve passed several buildings and found the path that leads to the southern side of the grounds when the first shots ring out. Undeniably real. My pulse ratchets—we’re being fired at in broad daylight.

“Fucking guns?” Raine shouts. “What are they thinking?”

“They don’t care anymore!” Lennox yells behind me. “Go, go, go!”

The world whizzes past me in a blur of fear and shock. As more patients pour out of the manor, fleeing into the grounds to escape the onslaught, I catch a flash of auburn hair from a distance.

“Rae!” I shout helplessly.

Before I can skid to a halt, I’m shoved forward.

“Don’t you dare stop,” Lennox barks into my ear. “I’ll throw you over my shoulder if I have to!”

He pushes me again, forcing me to continue running. The brief sighting of Rae vanishes as we’re swallowed by dense trees. Harrowdean’s gothic outline melts into the forest’s shadows.

“The perimeter is through here.” Xander slows a little to help Raine dodge a tall juniper tree. “Stay close.”

Not even the forest that encases the institute in mist-soaked mystery can silence the sounds of destruction. Shouts, screams and distant cries for help still reach our ears, carried by a cold wind.

“They can’t just kill patients indiscriminately.” Raine puffs in exertion. “Surely?”

“Who’s going to dispute the lies they’ll spin?” Xander replies curtly. “The corporation has total impunity. It always has.”

“Not anymore,” I pant back. “We are going to shout the truth so loudly, the world will have to listen to us.”

I’m so focused on Raine and the death-grip he holds on Xander’s elbow that I don’t see the huge tree root jutting out of the ground until it’s too late. My foot catches, sending me tumbling forwards.

Before I can smash face first into the mossy forest floor, two strong iron bands capture me from behind. I hang suspended, cinched tightly by tanned biceps. There’s a low, disapproving rumble from behind me.

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