Page 84 of Through The Woods

Blade leaned down. “What’s that, ‘honey?’ You’re gonna have to speak up.”

He didn’t wait for a response before hauling me back into the trees. I labored through another breath as he dug through his pockets, producing a small vial and a syringe. He measured out the liquid and jammed the needle into my thigh.

His teeth clenched together as he watched me struggle for air. Within seconds, the pressure on my chest eased enough for me to take several deep breaths, but something was still off.

The ground beneath me rumbled as the bikes pulled up to the lodge and the leaves began swirling violently in the breeze, as if even they were afraid of what was to come.

“Neve?” Twitch called out as the bike shut off. I knew that he’d seen the broken window and the door left open. His boots moved quickly from the gravel onto the porch steps, but we remained hidden in the trees.

Realizing I only had one shot, I took a deep breath and screamed—using every ounce of air in my lungs to do it.

Blade brought the butt end of his gun down on my forehead and wetness ran down my face, blurring my vision and staining the world red.

“Neve!” Twitch called out as he moved closer, panic evident in his voice.

He’d fix this—if anyone knew what to do, it’d be him.

Blade thrust his palm against my face, covering my mouth and nose in an attempt to keep me quiet and I struggled against him, trying to gain a breath. Just as the edges of my vision began to go dark, he removed it and stood up, firing off a shot.

Twitch let out a groan of pain, before firing back. When Blade raised his gun to let off a second shot, I threw my body into his legs. Exhaustion hit me like a freight train almost immediately, but I had to believe it had saved Twitch.

Blade raised his gun again as a bullet whizzed past us, striking a tree a few feet away. “Fuck!”

He tried to drag me further back into the trees, but I fought him with what little I had left, scrambling to get to my men. Another bullet flew by, grazing his ear, and he roared in frustration before taking off into the trees.

I used my forearms to pull myself toward safety. Joker caught sight of me just as I reached the clearing and I collapsed in relief. When I lifted my head up, a scream burst from my mouth. Twitch was lying on his back, the ground stained red beneath him.

No.

Joker was by my side within seconds, pulling me into his arms, even as his eyes scanned the tree-line. He quickly signed, ‘How many?’ and I managed to hold up one finger before my body began seizing.

My eyes rolled back into my head and then everything went dark.

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