Page 58 of The Players

She was psycho and looked the part. The need to rush our escape only increased.

I turned back to Gram, digging at the duct tape with frantic fingers. “We need to get this off of you. If you can help, please try.”

Gram struggled to move pinned arms and legs as I pulled, yanking away strip after strip.

A hand grabbed my hair and yanked me back.

I stumbled back while whirling around. The knife flashed up as I reached a hand to block it. Luckily, I hit her wrist instead of a knife blade, but she came at me again, the knife slashing as I dodged.

“You are a feisty one,” she said, taking a low crouch as she gripped the knife. “I can see why Easton likes to toy with you.”

“Easton was never as crazy as you,” I said, blocking her view of Gram. I’d gotten some of the tape off. Maybe now she could get free.

“Easton doesn’t have balls like me. He doesn’t have the killer instinct.” She licked her teeth, smearing blood across them. I had to hand it to her. She did look the part of a killer.

Behind her, the fire was raging, eating up the packaging and roaring along shelves. I kept expecting the sprinklers to come on, but then realized she’d probably thought to disable those. The fire raged unchecked. Smoke was already clogging the air. The fire would be here soon. We were running out of time.

Behind me, Gram was struggling with the tape, but a glance back let me know her hands were free. She could get out, I just needed to give her more time.

“You’ll never catch me!” I shouted, turning to sprint away. When I glanced back, my plan had worked. She tore after me, knife in hand.

I turned right, running down the pet food aisle. In a split-second decision, I hauled a bag of dog food off the shelf and hurled it at her. The bag bashed into her, making her stumble, but she was back on her feet again. I grabbed another bag and threw it, then another. Kibble was strewn across the floor, but it was slowing her down. I grabbed another bag and whirled on her, but she had had it. Instead of giving me time to throw the bag at her, she threw the knife.

I watched it whirl through space butfelt itbury into my flesh.

Direct hit, I thought.

Then I fell into the shelf and slid to the ground.

Chapter twenty-four

Iblinkedthroughthesmoke that seemed to be growing thicker by the second. Then I turned my gaze to my shoulder. A knife protruded from the meaty part of my upper arm.

A knife. I blinked at it twice, trying to process it.

Savannah had thrown the blade, and it had embedded itself in my flesh. The blood was spilling the cut, down my skin, and soaking into the fabric of my dress. The pain was dull right now, but I knew it would be raging soon.

How bad was the cut? How much blood had I lost?

However, I didn’t have time to worry about thatorthe blood because I was still under attack.

I heard her before I saw her. Suddenly, Savannah burst through the smoke. A cloud of acrid air billowed around her as she charged at me. Her hands were clawed and her expression was crazed. She wanted me dead, and she would do it by hand if necessary.

I had a second to think as she charged. With the arm that wasn’t stabbed, I reached for the blade, ripped it out of my flesh, and pointed it upward.

Screaming, she fell heavily on me. She made anoomphsound, followed by a wet crunch, a sound like wood breaking. The blade went slick in my hand.

Blood.

Her weight was instantly suffocating. Savannah went limp on top of me as if she’d suddenly fallen asleep.

Limp… like dead?

But that couldn’t be true.

I waited for her to pop up and tear at my eyes, but I couldn’t wait long. Between her weight and the smoke, I could barely breathe.

Heaving my body to one side, I slid her off me and onto the floor. She rolled like a log, like adead thing. But the smoke was smearing everything into burning gray images. I couldn’t tell if she was dead or just injured.

---