Page 3 of Splintered Security
The tears escape, rolling from my eyes, over my cheeks and nose, and onto the cold, wet, slime-covered floor. My chest heaves, and my body wracks with the force of trying to breathe through the dread.
He’s found me.
Or he’s killed me.
That last one can’t be right. I’m alive.
Alive enough to scream and to cry.
Alive enough to fear.
Alive enough to know that I have to move or I’m fucked.
I arc my arms like I’m making an upside-down snow angel, seeking the most available space, and scramble. Using everything I have and everything I am, I pull my body to slide out from whatever has me pinned. My shoulder wrenches in the worst possible angle, and I groan at the pain.
It doesn’t matter.
I can cry and keep going.
I can hurt and keep moving.
Pull, push, slide.
Roll, shimmy, jerk.
Aside from slicing my own legs off, nothing is off limits.
The sweat pouring from me brings me back to reality. It’s slick and sticky on my back. I heave, trying to slide out from the source of what pins me, but my hand skids on the sweat, and I slip.
“Fuck. Shit. Dammit.”
“Mouth.”
Um, what? I’d be insulted, but I’m so relieved I can hear that the tears flow again. I reach up to brush them away, but red fills my vision and everything stops.
Blood.
“So much blood.”
Talking to myself is nothing new, but hearing a response is utterly unexpected.
“Yours or mine? And, are you okay?”
“Ren?”
“Yeah, Squirt.”
“Oh my God, Ren.” The sobs come again in earnest. “Are you okay?”
“I asked you first.” His voice is muffledand far away.
I pause before answering. I need the time to reassess. The weight above me is solid as his warmth suffuses my clothes in a cocoon. There’s a rhythm to the rise and fall at my back.
“I’m…. I don’t know. I thought I was dead. Then I realized I was pinned and started fighting to free myself. I can’t see much, and my shoulder is screaming. The blood is new. You?”
“Well—” There’s a grunt, and cool air hits my back like air conditioning on sweaty clothes. “Don’t move,” he says as a hand roams gingerly across my back.
I try to roll, only to have a hand clamp down at the base of my neck.
