Page 74 of House of Soot

"Sector four clear. Think I saw movement near the north wall heading to the garage." The voice doesn't sound anything like Blaise. "Yeah, heading that way now."

Static crackles through the radio. "Copy that. Teams two and three redirecting to east fence."

The moonlight catches his face as he turns to me, and I see no trace of the man who held me so gently just days ago. His features are hard, eyes cold as he scans the tree line. The gun in his hand looks natural, like an extension of his arm.

My stomach lurches. How many others has he killed? Was this what he was thinking about during our intimate moments, ways to murder Ronan and his family? The casual way he took that man's life makes me wonder if anything about him was real.

Blaise reaches for my elbow, but I stumble back. "Don't touch me. You just… you killed him like it was nothing."

"We need to move." He doesn't respond to my comment. "They won't stay fooled for long."

He urges me forward, and I continue our path toward the gate. The metal door looms ahead. At one time, I used to have a romantic notion of the doors in the walls. Like the door to The Secret Garden. Now, it’s my last barrier between captivity and freedom. Between the life I knew and whatever uncertain future awaits.

“When this door opens, you run, Jenna, as hard as you can through the woods to the road on the other side. You understand?”

All of a sudden, it sounds like I’m going alone, and as much as I despise Blaise right now, I know I need him until I’m safe.

“I’ll be right behind you, but you have to run. Don’t stop, no matter what, okay?”

Fear grips me, paralyzes me.

He rubs my arm, and for once I don’t flinch away. “You can do this.” He nods as if he’s reassuring me.

He unlatches the bolt and swings the door open. “Run!”

I do as he says. Gunfire sounds. It pings off the open door.

I sprint to the woods, my feet carrying me faster than I knew I could move. Branches whip at my face as I crash through the underbrush.

A gunshot cracks through the night, making me stumble. Another shot follows, then another.

“Keep going, Jenna.”

More shots ring out.

“Oh! Mother fucker!”

I slow to find out what happened.

“Don’t stop, Jenna. Run!”

I realize he’s running behind me on purpose to act as a shield. I try to pick up the pace, but my lungs are heaving and my legs burn.

A bullet whizzes past my head, so close I feel the air displacement. I dig deep, finding the strength to run harder, faster. Branches tear at my face and arms. But I don't slow down, can't slow down. The baby and I will die if they catch us.

Finally, I burst through the tree line. Moonlight spills across an empty stretch of road where a black SUV idles. For one breathless moment, hope surges through me. I’ve made it.

A man steps out from behind the vehicle, gun raised and pointed in my direction. I haven’t made it at all.

In this moment, suspended between life and death, I wish I could go back. Back before I learned the brutal truth about everyone I trusted. Back before I fell in love with a lie. Back before my childish crush led to so much death and pain.

But I can't change the past. All I can do is stand here, terrified and broken, as another stranger decides my fate.

30

BLAISE

“Oh! Mother fucker!”

---