Page 96 of Unnatural
Mark’s hands rarely shook, but they did now as he returned the files to the drawer, leaving the file cabinetwhere it lay, another piece of broken furniture in a room full of destruction.
As he moved toward the door, his foot hit the edge of an open laptop obscured under a pile of loose papers. Mark picked it up and pressed the keypad. The home screen lit up, displaying an open email message. He began to scroll down to what looked like the top of a photo, but right before his eyes, the message blinked out, disappearing, just before the entire screen appeared to digitally melt. Had someone just remotely scrubbed the computer?Holy hell.Mark set the piece of equipment on the desk. Maybe computer techs would find something on it later, but he had a feeling it had been rendered useless.
Chapter Forty-Three
Autumn stood at the window, staring dispassionately—and mostly unseeing—out at the bleak, gray sky. Her moodreflected the weather.I miss you. Where are you?
Jak and Harper had taken Eddie for a walk on the shore to hunt sea creatures (per Eddie), and they’d be gone for a while. She had a feeling they’d left as much to hunt for the elusive Loch Ness Monster as to give Autumn some time alone, and she appreciated it.
She’d failed to convince Sam to stay and let her—and Jak, Harper, and Mark—help him. She’d tripped all over her words, grown desperate, gotten ahead of herself, pressured instead of relieved. She clenched her eyes shut, wishing she could go back in time and do better, say the things that would have brought him comfort, hope, instead of making him flee.
She pulled in a big breath and let it out slowly.
Regardless of whether Mark was able to find Sam or if he appeared on his own, it was time for Autumn to figure out her own life and whether she could return to it.
Which brought both happy anticipation and immense pain. Because she’d likely be returning without him.
He thinks he’s a monster.But he wasn’t a monster. Far from it. What had been done to him was monstrous.
He was a human being. Deserving of the same love, the same respect, the same personal liberty as anyone else, regardless of whether he had someone there to advocate for him when he was born and immediately cast aside. And he’d been treated as no more than athing.She didn’t know how to help him accept that level of betrayal. She was still attempting to accept her own. And she had love, family, and community. He’d never had anyone. Not a single soul.
You have me, Sam. Please remember you have me.
She saw movement at the sliding glass door, a massive figure, and for the whisper of a moment, the thought that he had returned made her gasp with joy, taking a step in that direction.
But it wasn’t Sam. The beefy man who stood there smiled, his flat face breaking into a menacing grin. A flood of adrenaline made her body jerk. Autumn screamed, turning again and running through the house, grabbing Jak’s keys from the kitchen counter. She headed for the front door just as the window next to it shattered, a hand reaching in to turn the lock.The alarm. Why is the alarm not sounding?She’d set it herself after Jak and Harper left. They’d disabled it, but how?
She skidded to a stop, letting out another scream as she pivoted and then ran to the back room. She heard more glass shatter as another window broke.Oh God, oh God.Sobs rose in her chest.
She slammed the door to the bedroom she and Sam had shared and rushed to the half-open window. Another man was approaching, and she let out a yelp as she flung herself forward, attempting to shut it before he could grab the edge.But she wasn’t fast enough, and his meaty arms shot out, and though the window slammed down on his hands, he simply grinned, pushing and opening it once more.
Autumn stumbled backward. She heard heavy footsteps in the hall, her head whipping back and forth between the locked door and the window where the man’s head was now coming through. She sobbed, backing up, plastering herself against the wall as the door handle jiggled. The man’s shoulders appeared in the open window as he gripped the sill, ready to hoist himself through.
Please don’t kill me. Please don’t kill me.But she had a feeling that was a given.
She thought of Sam and Bill and Ralph, Veronica, and Caitlin and all the people she loved so much, the ones that had brightened her life in ways big and small. She opened her eyes, staring at the large man who was going to kill her, her vision blurring, but she blinked the tears away.I’ll fight with my fists and my teeth.But like once before, either way, she vowed to go with her eyes wide open.
But suddenly, the man was pulled backward, a grunt falling from his mouth as his chest hit the sill. His eyes widened, face registering shock, as he fell out the window. She jerked with surprise, panting as she leaned forward to see what had—
“Sam.” The word was a breath and a sob, mingled as one, and she ran forward just as the door behind her splintered, rattling in its frame. She ducked, and Sam grabbed her under her arms and pulled her forward. The man who had been coming in the window lay on the ground, a spray of blood around him. “Sam, Sam,” she sobbed. “You came back for me.”
He took no time to greet her, simply grabbed her hand and led her around the side of the house where another man’sbody lay on the ground, blood pooled around his head.
Vomit moved up Autumn’s throat, but she swallowed it down, taking Jak’s keys from her pocket and handing them to Sam. “Jak’s car,” she said. He pulled her in that direction, both of them ducking as they ran behind a row of hedges to the street and then to Jak’s vehicle.
Please don’t come back, Jak and Harper. Stay gone.
They’re not interested in them though.
But she had thought they weren’t interested in her either, only Sam.
Behind them, down the hill, a man emerged through the front door of the house, shouting at someone behind him as he headed their way.
Sam pressed the unlock button, and they both jumped inside. Autumn strapped on her seat belt as Sam fired up the engine and then peeled away from the curb. She turned her body to see three brutish men coming out of the house.
“You’re here,” she said, the last word ending on a sob. She could hardly believe it. She’d been preparing to die. She’d be dead. If not for him, she’d be dead.
“Of course,” he said, gripping the wheel. His hands were cut, knuckles bruised, and she stared at them for a moment. She wanted to ask him where he’d gone, what he’d done, and who had sent killers after them, but they were in a race for their lives, and she’d hear all the details ofwhylater.
