Page 39 of Love Bleeds Red
“Wait,” I say. “Shouldn’t we call 911?”
War rages in her eyes. She’s reluctant, just like me. “They’ll arrest Cat for attempted murder. It’s too risky.”
Cat storms into the hallway, dressed in layers. “What’s going on? Why aren’t you getting up?”
Maybe it’s the resolve on her face that snaps me into action. Or maybe it’s that I don’t want to be an accomplice to murder. Either way, I find the strength to stand and run for my shoes.
“You’re staying?” she calls to Elise. “I can’t protect you if you do.”
She slides down the wall, crying into her hands. “Just go.”
When I get back with my shoes on, Lydia’s turned away from me, speaking quietly into the phone. I glance once more at Erik’s still form before stepping around him and following Cat down the stairs.
She heads straight for the front door, but I put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. “Should we grab anything else? Maybe go get the phone from Lydia or raid the kitchen?”
“They can track us on that thing. No, let’s go. We’ll find the nearest house or store or something and ask to use a phone.”
“To call the cops?” I ask, panting.
Her face falls. “I don’t know, B.”
Her way of saying no… She won’t talk to the cops. I guess I can’t blame her. She just stabbed a guy.
Cat twists the deadbolt and darts out the door. At the first touch of cool air against my cheeks, I shiver. It’s been so long since I’ve been outside. It smells like smoke and pine, so crisp compared to the staleness inside the house. I suck in a mouthful of cold air, willing it to reach my chest. Cat calls my name. Tells me to follow.
But I can’t move.
My feet are frozen at the threshold, and I realize one of my hands is gripping the doorframe hard enough to hurt. The yard stretches out in front of me, so vast after weeks of cramped rooms and narrow hallways. All that open space should feel like freedom, but instead it feels exposed, dangerous. My chest tightens as my breathing becomes shallow and quick. Too much sky. Too much space to run, too many places to hide, too many ways this could go wrong.
Where will we go? What if they find us?
I’m hyperventilating. What the hell is wrong with me? Cat’s voice sounds like it’s reaching me through miles of water.
Then she’s there, grabbing my hand and pulling me forward. “B, it’s okay… I’ve got you.”
“Yeah, okay,” I mumble.
It must be dusk, judging from the setting sun peeking through the muted gray clouds. I force myself to focus on the solidness of Cat’s hand in mine and the way our footsteps scrape against the long gravel driveway.
“Where?” I ask as we get closer to the end. There’s nothing but heavily wooded forest surrounding a dirt road—pine trees and bare oaks. We’re in the middle of nowhere.
“Road’s too risky,” she pants. I follow her pointed finger toward the trees. “Through there. We can follow the road from the woods until we reach help.”
I nod, too out of breath and shocked to vocalize anymore thoughts, but they swim through my head in waves.
We actually got out.
But we might have killed a man.
I can see my family.
Just a little further, then we’ll be safe.
I’m a killer. Or may as well be.
No.I shake the image of Erik’s blood out of my mind. It’s not the first body I’ve seen here, but now we’ll be safe. It’s over. I can move on. I just hope Elise and Lydia are okay.
We’re only a few yards from the tree line when I hear it. The roar of an engine growing louder. “Cat?” I can barely get the word out with fear choking me.
