Page 29 of I Will Save You

“Fuuuuck,” he whispers under his breath. “You broke it in multiple places.”

“You’re lucky all you have is a broken nose.”

“The word lucky doesn’t fit into my day.”

“If you want more bad luck, keep talking. In fact, shutting your mouth overall is a fine strategy for better luck.”

“You won’t get away with this.”

“I’m taking my queen to a safer place. It is clear the people sworn to protect her aren’t doing their job.” I lean in closer. “And you lay a finger on her again, I re-animate The Basher’s corpse and give him all his tools to play with your still-breathing flesh. Or better yet, I find his cousin. I hear the guy has the same particular set of tastes, except heloooooovesmen.”

“Get out of here. Now.”

“No problem.”

Paigelynn comes to my side, and we leave the room, the entrance I came in to the right. We slip outside, and I direct her to the stolen Subaru, where Winnie pops up from the front seat and starts barking.

Paigelynn bursts into tears.

“You saved her!”

“Yes. Her mean old owner threw her into traffic.”

“I did no such thing!”

“You practically threw me into traffic.”

“And what – what is this car?”

“Our new ride,” I tell her, the long explanation too much to try to roll out.

As we pull away from the church, I make a series of turns to get away, using a maze technique designed to figure out if I’m being followed, After seventeen turns and pulling over once to pretend my GPS needs a reboot, I don’t see signs of being tailed.

Rooney and I have a mutually-assured destruction thing going on. The people we’re both intwined with don’t know how deep our experiences with each other really are. Yes, they know we were both part of Gaia. For Rooney, that’s a plus: the families who created this project wanted someone with cult experience, charisma, and a big, highly public smokescreen.

They got one in Makiah Rooney.

What they wanted from me, well... that’s for a different day.

The dirt I have on him isn’t just what he did – or tried to do – to Paigelynn. Our grudge match goes way deeper.

So deep it’s buried in a coffin.

“Where – where are we going?”

“To a safe house.”

“And then?”

“I’m not quite sure.”

“I’m so sorry, Cam!” She’s stroking Winnie’s fur and kissing the top of her little head over and over and over. “I shouldn’t have done that to you. I was afraid you were lying to me.”

“Running to Rooney was an interesting choice.”

“I had no reason to think he would do – do that to me! The Makiah Rooney I know is a man of faith. Of spiritual journeys. One who walks with us on our road to the prophecy. He gave me my mark in my ceremony that elevated me! He is supposed to be a good man. The Mother always taught me to trust him. So – so when I saw his face on that sign, I – I - ”

“Shhh. It’s ok. I forgive you.”

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