Page 53 of Screwed

Finally I collapsed against Brutus’s office door, elbowing a scrawny Kingsnake out of the way as I juggled the keys I had stolen. The door opened with the second key I tried, and I closed myself inside the small office – exactly how I remembered it.

The window was still there, draped in those horrendous polyester curtains. Stacks of newspapers, a wall of books, and the nasty-ass drapes begging to be torched.

Brutus had no idea he was hoarding the perfect catalyst for a house fire. I uncapped the bottle of rubbing alcohol, pouring it liberally over the curtains, moving on to the newspapers, and grimacing as the last of the liquid drizzled on the books. Bottle empty, I tossed it to the side, and took my lighter out of my pocket.

The light that seemed so useless on my own in the woods might now be my salvation. I struck a flame and held it to the edge of the curtain. It lit up immediately, sparking enough to catch the first stack of newspapers aflame. I didn’t stick around to watch the books light up, but the crackling that followed me out the door told me it was a success.

Chaos still ensued in the common room, and it took me longer than I would’ve liked to get back to Ray and the girls.

Thankfully, they were right where I left them, the girls glaring at the row of Kingsnakes blocking the exit.

Neither party was making a move, and I was confused why the brothers weren’t approaching him when they easily had him outnumbered. Then I saw the fury in his eyes – the determination to save his sisters. And me. Everything made sense. Ray grabbed my hand. “Well?”

I nodded. “Now we wait,” I yelled.And cross our fingers. I grabbed the backpack off Avery’s shoulders, hoping to relive her tiny frame of some weight.

It took less than two minutes for me to return, but it wasn’t long before smoke was billowing into the common room. One of the girls screamed. “Is something on fire?”

I looked over the crowd. I could picture thick, black smoke was pouring out of the edges of Brutus’s door, before the flames took over, inching out. I smiled in grim satisfaction. Apparently, the newspaper-covered wall didn’t take long to burst into a raging inferno. The heat blew across the room in seconds. Everyone screamed. Ray looked at me. “What the hell did you do?”

“What I had to do!”

The fire was spreading along the walls quicker than I could’ve imagined, catching on newspaper and wallpaper alike. The whole motel became a huge tinderbox ready to burn. And as soon as the Kingsnakes guarding the door realized what was happening, they were the first to turn tail and run.

Which meant, our exit opened up. I grabbed Avery’s hand, and Ray grabbed Ella’s. The narrow hall filled with bodies trying to escape, smoke flooding the air. I couldn’t see, and I could barely breathe, but I refused to let go of Avery’s hand. It only had to be a couple more feet. Just a few more. I followed the bodies, pushing our way out. Eventually, the smoke lessened, and a spark of daylight lit my path. A few more steps.Just a couple more.

And then we were outside. I sucked in a deep breath of clean air before turning and making sure everyone was still with me. Avery was still clinging to my hand. Ray was behind us, clutching Ella and herding us away from the quickly growing blaze. I scanned the crowd as we spread out, looking for one girl in particular. But I didn’t see her red hair anywhere. I grabbed one of the girls as she ran past me, fear in her eyes. “Have you seen Hannah?”

She shook her head, and pulled her arm out of my grasp. “I haven’t seen her since this morning at breakfast.”

Fuck. Surely, she had gotten out safely. I had given her the keys and explicit instructions to get the pregnant women out, and more than enough time to get out of the motel. I couldn’t have been the last to see her alive.Could I?I stopped, and turned to face Ray. All around us the fire crackled, wood snapping. Girls were screaming, trying to find one another. It was a mess. I cupped my hands around my mouth, pointing back at the motel. “Hannah!”

Ray frowned. “What?”

We didn’t have time for this. “Hannah!” I screamed at him, trying to be heard over the mayhem. “Hannah is still inside! I gave her the key to get the pregnant women!”

We couldn’t leave her, or any of the other women, behind. I started to shrug off the backpack, passing it back to Avery, but a hand stopped me.

“Take them to the forest!” Ray yelled. “I’ll get Hannah and the rest of the girls!” He stuffed his watch into my hand, the watch he was never without, and I didn’t want to think about what that meant.

“You promised,” I whispered, knowing he wouldn’t be able to hear me. I shook my head, trying to convince myself the wetness building in my eyes was from the smoke, not from the idea of leaving Ray behind.Again.

I should be the one to get her. I was the one who had started the fire. This was my mess to clean up. But Ray was already pulling the backpack back into place on my shoulders, yelling directions to his sisters. He kissed me hard on the lips. “Run, Mila!” he shouted. He turned and disappeared into the flames and smoke.

I couldn’t do this again. I couldn’t. My feet wouldn’t move, but little hands pulled at me, tearing me away from the motel, into the boggy field that would lead us to the forest. My feet moved without my permission, tears pouring down my face. Smoke burned my eyes, and I was certain I had burns on my hands and legs from setting the curtains aflame.

Run, Mila.Olivia’s voice in my head, begging me to escape and leave her behind.

Run, Mila.The girls I needed to protect ahead of me, screaming for me to keep up.

Run, Mila. Ray’s broken command, a thousand unkept promises hidden in those two words.

Run, Mila!

So I did. I ran as fast as I could, keeping up with the girls, and hurrying us into the edges of the forest.

I knew we should keep going, to put as much distance between ourselves and the Kingsnakes as possible, but those assholes had bigger problems at the moment.

So once we ran into the treeline, I did what I hadn’t done the first time I’d left town. I looked back.

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