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Maddie’s throat bobbed as she swallowed. “What’s going on?” she whispered, and Saff wondered if some part of her already knew but refused to believe it.
Saff watched her, studying every tiny detail of her face. And she realized then that she’d done it countless times already. Even before they’d kissed the first time. She’d already traced every detail in her mind, burning it into her memory.
“He got a shot off at the same time you did,” Saff whispered.
Then she watched the color drain from Maddie’s face.
And even as Maddie asked, “What does that mean?” Saff knew she already had the answer.
Saff swallowed, watching the beautiful eyes before her darken.
“He didn’t miss,” she whispered.
Maddie shook her head violently.
“No,” she declared, as if that one simple word could undo what had already been done. “No.”
The tears that instantly welled in her eyes came rushing out.
“No,” she said the word over and over again, her hands cupping around Saff’s face as if to keep her there. To keep every part of her there.
“We can—we can get you to the safe zone,” she said, her breathing ragged as a sob came out with the panicked words. “They—they’ll help you. It’ll be okay. You’ll be okay.”
By the way she said it, Saff knew that she needed to believe it. And she wanted her to, so that she’d focus on getting out—on getting to the coast.
“You’ll be okay,” Maddie said, more to herself. “You—“ Maddie continued, her words breaking around her breathless half-sobs, “You’re going to be okay.”
Saff swallowed. “We need to go,” she whispered, barely listening to the string of words that tumbled relentlessly from Maddie’s lips like a mantra.
“Maddie,” Saff said, her voice as sharp as she could muster. “Get your pack on. We need to go.”
Maddie nodded, as if in a trance. But her hands fumbled on the ground around her, frantically grabbing everything. “They—“ she continued, “they have to have things—a doctor there—“
Saff couldn’t hear her anymore over the blood rushing in her ears as she pushed as hard as she could, sliding up the wall.
She let out a moan of pain that seemed to pull Maddie out of the panic she’d fallen into.
Maddie threw the rifle strap over her burned shoulder, not so much as flinching when it scraped over the bandage.
Saff panted hard, scanning for her backpack.
But when she saw it, she realized there was no point in taking it. She wouldn’t need it anymore. And she definitely didn’t need the added weight.
All she needed was to make it far enough to get Maddie to the harbor.
She swallowed, her hand dangling down to grab the rifle instead.
By the time she’d pulled the strap up onto her shoulder, Maddie was already at her side, hands running over every inch of her, as if needing the reassurance that she was still there—still breathing.
“You’re gonna be okay,” Maddie repeated, with so much conviction that Saff wondered if, in that moment, she really did believe that lie.
Saff took a shaky step, her body objecting to every inch of the movement. But she forced another, then another, with Maddie holding her arm.
They went around the small edge of the wall, and Saff glanced each way before they moved toward the end where Mike’s body still lay, now completely lifeless.
As her boots scraped through the bloody puddle, she cast one last look down at his mangled face, eyes still slightly open.
Even in death, his features still held a disturbing, almost feral look.
