Page 5 of Queen of Ruin

I shot them both.

Out of fear for my life. That’s okay, right? That’ll stand up in court, won’t it?

My brief wobble about prison vanishes from my mind as the woman on the ground coughs and chokes. I drop the gun, scramble to my feet, and sprint toward her, then crash down to my knees when I land next to her.

“Oh, my God.” Her face is bruised and covered in blood, her hair turning dark from being soaked in it, and each blink is sluggish enough that fear enters my heart. “C-Can you hear me?”

I need to call an ambulance. The cops. Someone.

“Shit, where’s my phone? Fuck, don’t worry, okay? I’m gonna call for help. I’m gonna call the police, okay? You just stay!” Scared to touch her, my hands hover over her bloodstained clothes for a few seconds. Then I turn on the spot and glance around at the carnage, praying my phone somehow ended up on the road with us.

Just as I move away, her warm hand seals around my wrist with surprising strength, given the weak nature of her body. “N-N-No…”

“No?” I turn back and my heart begins to race. “You need a doctor. A hospital. You need help. Real help!”

“No!” Panic surges through her voice and her eyes widen. “N-No cops,” she gasps. “C-can’t trust—can’t—not th-them, please.”

No cops? The pain barely hides the sheer panic in her voice and something cold crawls down my spine. I glance at the two bodies spread out on the road.

Were they cops?

Did I shoot cops?

But what kind of cops would beat a woman like this? Or run me off the road?

“O-Okay.” I breathe deeply, fighting to calm my racing heart. “No cops. But I have to call an ambulance!”

“W-W-W—” The word catches and her eyes close, then her grip on my wrist tightens and she forces her eyes wide again, wild like a rabbit caught in a wire. “We… will…” She gurgles, and blood dots the corner of her mouth. “We… die… no c-cops… no one b-but… soo⁠—”

Her eyes flutter and she gazes up at me as if trying to pass something to me through the power of her look alone, then her eyes flutter and her grip fades. She slumps down against the ground, still and silent.

“Ma’am?”

No response.

“Hey! Hey, it’s probably not a good idea for you to sleep right now! Hey!” I shake her shoulder as much as I dare and pat her cheek until my fingers are sticky with blood, but she doesn’t wake. She doesn’t even make a sound. She just lies there, pale and drenched in blood that continues to weep from various wounds across her body.

The gash to her head is deep enough that she needs to go to a hospital.

But she was scared.

Scared enough to get into a stranger’s car and threaten them. Scared enough to make sure I don’t take her to places of help. What the hell is she running from?

“No cops,” I murmur to myself, shaking my head. “No cops and no hospital. Shit. Shit. Fucking shit, shit!”

This is insane. Insane.

Slowly, I climb to my feet and wince as pain pulls tight across my chest. My car remains a wreck. Carnage stretches across from one side of the road to the other, all illuminated by the lights of the pursuing car. It’s a stroke of sheer luck that no one else has driven along this road yet.

What the hell do I do?

Every thought, every idea, every possible plan ends with the very real conclusion that I am not equipped to deal with any of this, but those bastards tried to run me off the road, they nearly beat the shit out of me, and now it sounds like any authority I contact will hand this poor woman right back into the hands she’s trying to escape.

Trusting her likely isn’t the smartest idea, either, but out of the three bodies on the ground, she’s the only one capable of giving me answers.

My internal debate ends.

It doesn’t take long to find the car keys in the pocket of the man I shot in the neck. Murmuring a weak apology to him as I steal them, I then gather the unconscious woman in my arms and place her in the large SUV. After retrieving my phone from the remains of my own car, I climb into the SUV and start driving.