Page 35 of Echo
“I’ll do you one better, take me to jail.” I could get a lawyer and get out. Aurelio would surely help me. But priority one was to get the fuck out of here alive.
He ripped me to my feet, not giving one fuck when he popped my shoulder in the process.
“You’re an asshole.” I grit my teeth as he dragged me over the threshold. I’d be sure to wash my own mouth out with soap, for ever considering a cop would help me.
As soon as we were on the porch, a roar echoed off the trees and the shadows moved eerily on the ground. Every nerve in my body responded. Some parts of me trembled with fear, and one traitorous portion of me felt something else entirely. I squashed that part the best I could, but if nothing else, the imposter could fuck.
“Wait. He’s out there.”
“It’s a bear. I’m not going on a wild goose hunt so you can escape.”
“You’re making a mistake.” I dug my heels into the porch, but ultimately, accomplished nothing.
My eyes laid on sage growing in patches around the steps, I dropped my weight, leaned backwards, and grabbed a fist full, as I plopped onto the step, then ripped the plant when Reed wrenched me back to my feet.
“You have the survival instincts of a newborn, you know that?” I grunted when my skin pinched around my wrists.
I put up the best fight I could, but eventually he tossed me in the back of his car, making me bonk my head on the door frame and nearly shutting my ankle in the door. After some maneuvering, I righted myself and noticed the dark shadow slinking over the land like an omen. It killed any illusion that I was safe in the daytime.
The cop finally showed an ounce of situational awareness and stopped in front of the car. Which was the wrong time.
From inside the car, I could feel the bone-deep chill settling in the air that hadn’t been there a few moments ago. The dark aura that was becoming increasingly familiar was sucking all the oxygen out and making it hard to breathe.
All the other times, the thing must have just been playing with me, because the sudden understanding that the cop was nothing more than prey hit hard in the chest. This man, or whatever it was, had every intention of claiming that young man’s life.
“Run!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.
Something crashed into the windshield, so fast I couldn’t see it, hard enough to shake the vehicle and make the axles groan.
“Reed, report,”an older, deep voice said on the radio up front.“No one goes up to the Rinah property alone. And you’ve been out of training for a week, you must have a supervisor with you in the field. You know that. Report.”
The cracks in the windshield made it impossible to tell what the dark thing on the windshield was, but it was picked up and slammed into the windshield again.“I mean it, son, don’t do anything stupid. You aren’t from here, you don’t know what you’re getting into. Wait for me to get there.”The older voice broke as the force caved in the glass completely and crushed the radio.
I wrangled my cuffed hands under my ass and wriggled them further down, until I managed to get my hands in front of me. As if that would help any.
When glass gave out, I found Officer Reed shaking. His entire face was busted up beyond recognition. The only reason I knew it was him was because of those gray eyes staring at me.
He sobbed as he was ripped off the hood. Now that I knew what it was, when the length of his body hit the side of the door like a sick baseball bat, I had to resist the urge to throw up. I plugged my ears, but it didn’t stop the thump against the driver’s side vibrating against the seat, or the shaking as Reed was relentlessly beaten against the car.
Deep breaths, Madison. It’ll be okay.
In what fucking world would things be okay?!
But I repeated the mantra anyway, even though I didn’t believe it. Because I didn’t know what else to do. I was locked in the back of this car, with bars separating me and the front. All I could do was what I’d always done, and that was to keep moving forward. There was a joke in this somewhere that would probably make it easier to stomach, but I couldn’t think of one.
An awful sound of metal screeching made it past my makeshift earplugs, and a fresh wave of cold air hit me like a typhoon. I opened my eyes, that I didn’t realize I’d closed, and found the passenger side door was gone.
“She’s mine,” a horrifying voice bellowed, grating against every sense I had. I barely kept my bladder from emptying itself all over the shitty torn up leather.
A piece of me couldn’t fathom refuting what was being said. Whether that was because of the clenching in my core or the fact he used a grown man as a blunt weapon was up for interpretation.
My fingers clenched around the sage in my hands, unsure of how much it could protect me.
“You can come out, Little Rabbit.”
I couldn’t see him, but I suspected he was standing beside the driver’s door where the crushed glass would hide him.
What a predicament?
