Branches whipped past my face. My lungs burned, my legs ached, but I didn’t slow. Not once.
I ran in the direction of the last shot.
I ran towards her.
Ava.
I had to get to her.
I didn’t hear Jack behind me, only Remi’s voice yelling...
“If you’re not even going to try to protect yourself, Jack, go wait in the fucking SUV!”
Another shot.
Closer this time.
Then silence.
A silence too loud. Too thick.
The kind that follows a scream.
Or a final breath.
The glow from the fire in front of me painted everything in surreal hues: orange, red, shadow, and black. It felt like I was running through a battlefield and a nightmare simultaneously.
Every second was a countdown I couldn’t see.
I pushed harder.
Ducking under branches. Vaulting over logs. Ignoring the stitch in my side, the blood at my ribs.
“Come on, Ava,” I whispered. “Give me something. A sign. A voice. Anything.”
I burst into a small clearing... and there she was.
Smoke curled around her.
Gun in hand.
Blood on her sleeve.
Blood... everywhere...
Eyes like glass.
She looked at me… And I knew something inside her had just broken.
But she was alive.
She was still standing.
And I had never known relief like this in my life.
She choked on a sob before she dropped to the ground. I ran to her, dropping beside her and pulling her into my arms.
"We need to keep moving, Ava."
