Page 7 of Resist

“Ugh…shit,” he grumbled deep in his throat.

“Wes,” I yelled at him again, trying to get his attention. I knew he was hurt. I could still feel the blood on my face, but he was alive. That was all that mattered. He was alive, and we were still in a shit-ton of trouble. “Jesus, listen to me!” His eyes fluttered again as he moved around, causing my fingers to ache and lose their grip. “Wes, stop moving! I’m going to lose you!”

BANG! BANG!

That got his attention.

Wes’s eyes flew wide open, the sound of the bullets whizzing past us bringing him back into the present moment. “Fuck!” He reached upwards and grabbed my arm, relieving some of the pressure on my hand, but the weight of his body still pulled on my own. “Mara, we’ve got to jump.”

“What?Are you crazy?”

He looked past me, back up the side of the building, before looking back at me. “Let go!”

“But we’ll die!”

“We’re going to die anyway if we stay here!” His eyes were feverish, burning bright as he urged me to condemn us to our deaths.

“Oh my god,” the words escaped me as I looked up, watching the officers reloading their weapons and then back down at the ground past Wes. Maybe we could survive the fall?Crap. Who was I kidding? We were in such deep—

“On the count of three, I want you to let go,” he shouted back up at me. “Remember what I said—land on the balls of your feet and then roll into the landing, just like we trained, okay?”

“We trained being thrown, not free falling from an effing building, Wes!”

“It’s the same thing—”

“It is NOT the same thing!”

BANG!

I screamed again, the bullet flying past, startling me. That was close. Way too freaking close!

“Mara!” I looked back at Wes, and our eyes met. His hazel eyes bewitched me as they always had, holding me prisoner. And with a firm, deep voice that screamed sincerity, he said, “Trust me.” My breath caught in my chest as I inhaled, feeling my heart squeeze in fear. And then I nodded. Wes looked down at the ground before looking back up at me. “One…”

One.

“Two…”

Two.

“Thr—”

And then the rope snapped.

5: Free Fall

The scream that erupted from my lips didn’t even sound like mine. It came from deep within as I plummeted down toward my death, arms and legs flailing as I fell. But through the fear, a thought came clearly through my mind—I die, Jacob dies.And with that, I whipped into action.

Flipping my body, I got my feet underneath me, ready to roll into the landing as best as I could, watching the stone-hard ground racing up to greet me. And then…

IMPACT!

My feet collided into the ground, sending a shockwave of ache through my legs and up my spine. But I bent my knees, absorbing some of the impact, and then bent at the waist, leaning forward to take even more of the hit, saving my spine. Then, I was somersaulting, shifting my head to the side, using my shoulder to roll through the remaining energy of the fall. My legs curled as they glided through the air above my head.The speed of the roll gave me enough power to complete the somersault and pop back up on my feet, ready to sprint.

I glanced to my right as I watched Wes do the same, rolling onto his feet like a graceful mountain cat—long, strong, and limber. But the grimace on his face told me everything I needed to know. He was hurt.

“Are you okay?”

BANG! BANG!

---