Piper
Dead.
Lucie and Theo are dead. So are Owen and Matt. So much death.
This place is pure poison.
The warm wind whips around my face as we run with everything left inside of us. It’s hot today, so the breeze is welcome. Every step is getting me closer to my parents. The only problem we have is that we’ve run deeper into the woods, rather than toward the road. We had to. If we’d gone the other way, we would have ran past them and that was too risky.
It’s a miracle we got away at all, but as soon as Evan focused on his friends—if they can be called that since he showed no mercy when he shot them—we had to go.
Hazel is holding one of my hands and Priya the other.
“Which way?” Hazel asks, panting.
“We need to circle back and head to the road,” I reply.
Priya gasps and lets go of my hand. She doubles over and holds her chest.
“Priya, we have to keep moving,” I tell her. “I didn’t hear them come after us, but I don’t think they’ll be far behind.”
“Sorry,” she rasps. “I can’t keep going at this pace.”
“Then you’ll die!” Hazel snaps.
I glare at her and turn back to Priya.
“Okay, we can slow down a little, but we can’t stop.” I look around us, turning a full circle. “I can’t see or hear them yet.”
It’s now three against two, since Evan shot half of his sick and twisted team.
“Doesn’t mean they’re not seconds behind us,” Hazel whines, tugging on my arm.
“Okay! Come on, Priya.” I grab her hand and pull her forward.
Among the trees are patches of thick bushes. We could hide in those if we really need to, but stopping and letting them catch up to us is the riskiest plan. I don’t want to play hide-and-seek, I just want to get out.
We run and run until my thighs and calf muscles cry in pain. I plant my feet as we come to a circle of grass where the trees have all been cut down in the middle. It’s small, so probably not enough to raise alarm if anyone were to see this from the sky.
“What is this?” I whisper.
Hazel and Priya get a few steps closer before they come to a stop.
It looks like they’ve made a circle of seats from tree stumps and in the middle is a burned patch of ground.
What do they burn here?
Who do they burn here?
I can’t think about that.
“Come on,” I say, and run across the circle and out the other side. We’re back in trees. But we’re not running for long.
Priya lets out an ear-piercing scream that sends a shiver down my spine.
My eyes bulge, and my hand flies to my mouth. Bumps in the ground, lined up in a row, all looking like grave sites. And Kevin.
He’s been torn apart. Naked aside from boxers, he’s lying on the cold, damp ground, palms in the air, chest sliced beyond recognition.
How many stabs?
They were getting ready to bury him when we set the fire; that’s why they were slow to react. But who killed him?
My blood turns to ice. Evan. He’d been gone for longer than usual in the last few rooms he’d done.
“We need to go right now,” Hazel snaps, tugging a sobbing Priya sharply. “Wait, shh,” Hazel hushes, splaying her arms out so I stop, too.
I clamp my mouth closed and focus. In the distance, I can hear footsteps. My heart sprints faster than we were.
“Where are they?” I whisper, turning around and around. If they’re gaining on us this quickly, we’re going to have to hide, but we don’t know how to disguise ourselves.
“Piper, come out, come out wherever you are,” Evan sings.
I whip my head around to the direction I heard his voice. It’s past us. How has he gotten farther into the forest than us? Unless we changed direction without knowing.
“Piper,” he calls again.
My heart drops.
Oh God, he sounds like he’s right on top of us.
I whip my head around. “There!” I say, pointing to a large, thick collection of bramble bushes and overgrown weeds. “Behind the bush!”
I dig my toes into the damp ground, trying to go as quick and quietly as I can. We crouch down and shuffle into the bush. The brambles scratch at my face and hands, but I shove myself in farther. Priya and Hazel do the same, and we huddle together, making ourselves as small as we can.
The thick trees block a lot of the beaming sun, so it’s not too bright down here, but it’s nowhere dark enough to guarantee they won’t see us behind the bush.
I duck my head and watch through the leaves as Evan comes into view.
Only Evan.
Where is Caleb? I didn’t hear another gunshot, so he’s probably not dead.
There are so many graves here.
I can’t help but look at them as I search for Caleb, too. Subtle bumps in the ground. If you didn’t know what was going on here, you probably wouldn’t notice at all. To us, it’s glaringly obvious.
“Piper,” Evan calls, drawling out my name like this is some sort of game.
To him, of course, it is. He has some delusion that I could actually still like him after this. How delusional is that? I hate him for what he’s done to us all. And I hate him double for making a fool out of me by getting me to care for him.
Well, that’s all over. I don’t care what happens to him now, though it would be perfect karma to watch him be locked up.
Priya sobs, against the palm of her hand.
“Hello, girls.”
My blood runs cold. Hazel takes off, Priya screams, and I slowly turn around. Caleb is standing above us.
“You might want to go with Hazel,” he says with a chuckle.
I grab Priya’s hand and drag her up with me. We take off back in the direction we came since that’s where Hazel is sprinting. Two sets of footsteps thunder after us.
I move faster, my legs like jelly after all of the exertion.
“Piper!” Evan shouts, his voice hitching up. He sounds excited. This is what they wanted when the doors were left open. This could have been me and Theo.
I push harder, my lungs burning, throat dry as a desert as I pant. A stitch stabs into my side, but I press on as fast as I can.
We dodge trees, I plant one foot to spring my body around a tree, and then another and then another.
“There!” I shout. Ahead is the clearing and beyond that is the building on fire. And flashing lights.
Flashing lights! The emergency vehicles are here.
“Run!” Hazel screams.
I push my legs harder, asking the impossible of my tiring body.
Priya’s hand is ripped from mine as she falls to the floor.
Gasping, I reach down and grip her upper arm. She pushes herself to her feet as I help by tugging her up. We run again, my body aching from the burst of exertion. I dodge trees, plating my feet as carefully as I can around roots and fallen branches.
We get closer. I reach my hand out, but the next thing I know, I’m slammed into the floor. My face hits dirt, moss, and twigs.
“No!” I scream.
“Shh,” Evan hisses.
We’re too close. Hazel and Priya run ahead.
Hazel turns around, her eyes wide as she spots me on the ground with Evan. Caleb stands above us.
“Go,” I yell at her. “Go!”
She mouths sorry and turns and runs with Priya.
I watch them cut through the trees, and then they’ve made it. I can’t see anything now. They’re too far away and the fire is raging. But they’ve made it!
“Up we go,” Evan calls.
I roll over as he gets off me. The first thing I notice is Caleb holding the gun down by his side, pointing to the ground.
“They’re getting away!” Caleb snaps.
“We’ll catch them, stop stressing!” Evan shouts. He’s losing his cool with Caleb, eyes wild and pinning his equally sick friend down.
They’re distracted.
This is my chance.
With my heart beating so hard it’s all I can hear, I push myself onto my feet and leap up. The gun is loose in Caleb’s hand, his fingers not even curled all the way around it. I snatch the gun and yank.
I have it. I have a gun!
Taking a step back, I aim. “I will do it,” I growl. “Back up.”
Evan’s eyes widen. He holds his hands up. “Piper, give me the gun.”
I walk toward the sirens, and they take steps back, keeping a distance from me. “No chance. You are going to walk back there with me right now, or I will shoot you both.”
“Do you think that will stop us?” Evan asks.
“I’m done listening to you.”
Caleb clears his throat. “We can’t go there, Evan.”
“Shut up, Caleb!”
I point the gun over their head and shoot. They both flinch, almost falling to their knees.
“Let’s follow the lady, Caleb,” Evan says with a goofy grin.
What’s he doing? He wants to be caught?
Don’t overthink it.
I don’t need to get them to do anything because all of a sudden, there are cops running toward us. They got here quick.
Probably due to the fire department finding four dead bodies.
They storm in and grab Evan and Caleb. One stops beside me. “It’s okay now. Can you hand me the gun?”
Gladly!
With trembling hands, I gesture for her to take it, and she quickly removes the gun from my grip. Another cop wraps her arm around me, but I can’t focus on me because Evan’s dead eyes are staring me down. His gaze is full of a promise that makes my stomach churn.
“Get me out of here,” I say.
Then I’m whisked away.