Page 113 of Sinner's Perdition

The next second, Aurora plunges a knife in his side, running toward Kieran.

Two guns go off and Aurora’s body jerks with the hit. Kieran catches her while Hayden and I run toward them.

Blood covers his hands while he holds her to his chest. I know it’s bad from the sheer amount of blood pouring from her side. Cameron slices Delaney’s throat, letting out a pained groan when he looks at his sister.

When Aurora goes limp, with trembling fingers Hayden tries to find a pulse.

“Don’t fucking touch her.” Anger burns in Kieran’s eyes.

“There’s a pulse.”

It kills me seeing my best friend grasping onto that small flicker of hope.

While they carry her toward the helicopter, I go inside and climb down the small stairs toward the engine room, where I uncap the oil filler cap, the smell of rotten eggs and skunk filling my nostrils. I take a step back and flick a lighter. Hurrying back up, I give the okay sign and climb up the rope. Soon after, three explosions erupt, breaking the ship in half and sinking it.

“We should have taken him down fucking sooner.” Cameron speaks about his father. I squeeze his shoulder.

They’re dead. We got Aurora back but she’s barely clinging to life, while Kieran holds her to his chest, whispering sweet nothings in her ear. A feeling of helplessness permeates the air. Control is out of reach. We exchange a look––for the first time, we’re left with only one thing: to hope.

Chapter 29

I don’t know how much time passes while I’m surrounded by debris and carnage. When the guard rushes out with Alessandra, I snap out of my trance, and we hop in a Jeep.

“What happened?”

“Someone has been injured.”

“Cato, Aurora?”

I try to breathe, but my lungs constrict.

“Breathe in and out.”

I do, but it’s as if I’m underwater and can’t get enough air.

A walkie-talkie blares in the car, and Hayden’s voice breaks through it.

“Aurora got shot, I don’t . . .”

My heart plummets in my stomach, and I cry in my palm.

The guard speeds through the forest, and my head thrashes from side to side. He parks in front of a compound painted green, blending in with the woods.

Kieran is carrying Aurora in his arms, her body hanging limply, her shirt soaked with blood. I yank the door open but stumble and fall to my knees. Alessandra gestures for Kieran to bring her to the makeshift operating room. I run inside, watching my friend fighting for her life.

Alessandra is over her, doing CPR, and I know it’s bad when her movements turn from rushed to defeated.

“Save her,” Hayden pleads. “Her life for yours.”

She detects a pulse, but the next hurdle seizes that small hope from my chest.

“She lost a lot of blood. What’s her blood type?”

“O,” Hayden, Cameron, and Kieran say.

“We need blood. What we have won’t be enough.”

Hayden rolls the shirt over his elbow. “Take it all if you need to.”

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