Not here.
Not while they’re still running.
Not while children are still crying somewhere behind us.
Not while Russ—
“Olivia!”
His voice snaps through the darkness again.
I force my eyes open just enough to see him looking down at me.
Fear flashes across his face so quickly I almost think I imagined it.
Then his jaw locks hard again.
“Stay awake,” he orders.
I try.
God, I try.
Because the way he’s holding me—
Like letting go isn’t an option—
Makes me want to fight harder to stay.
10
Russ
There’s too much blood.
It soaks through Olivia’s jacket, through my hands, dripping dark against the rocks beneath us while Lucas and Clay secure the perimeter.
The sight hits harder than the gunfire did.
“Here,” Hannah says, dropping beside me. “Lay her down.”
I don’t move immediately.
My arms tighten around Olivia on instinct.
Like letting go of her is somehow a bad idea.
Like the second I do, something irreversible happens.
“Russ.”
Sharp this time.
I lower her carefully onto the blankets Hannah throws across the ground.
Too carefully.
Olivia winces anyway.
