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Grace shook her head slowly. “I-I don’t know. One second, he was team us, and the next he was team them. How could he just flip like that? He went from scared to homicidal in the span of seconds.”
I didn’t have an answer, but she wasn’t really expecting one. Rapidly approaching footsteps had a groan of disbelief escaping through my parted lips.
“It’s me,” Mel announced moments before coming into view. She sounded just as out of breath as we did, but hearing her voice had relief as I’d never known washing over me. As she got closer, I was able to see her top was saturated.
“None of that’s yours, right?”
She looked down as if she was just now realizing she’d been covered in a decent amount of blood. “No. This belongs to one of those masked fuckers that tried to drag me deeper into the woods.”
Her delivery was so nonchalant I couldn’t determine if she’d killed this person or inflicted enough damage that they were lying somewhere wishing she had.
“What happened to you?”
I thought she meant my arm but she reached for my hand, and I realized there was blood on that part of me too.
“It’s not all mine.”
She visibly relaxed. “You can fill me in later, we’re getting our asses outta here.”
“Are you the only one that’s left besides us?”
“Max is gone, that clown reeled him like a fish. Dion, that fucking redhead, and Hayven already took off. I wasn’t leaving without you two.”
“How did you know where we were?” Grace asked.
“I didn’t. I knew you guys ran the other way and was hoping like I’ve never hoped before you figured out the paths were traps from the very beginning.”
“Lana did,” Grace divulged.
Mel glanced back at me. “You were right about which way to go too. Life? Yeah. That was a shitshow.”
“And where exactly are these people now?” I asked as we reached the scarecrow we’d separated at.
“That is an excellent question. Let’s haul ass so we don’t find out.”
We navigated our way back through the cornstalks, an eerie type of silence settling in the air now that everyone else had seemingly vanished. The barn had been closed up. No music played and Elizabeth’s body was nowhere to be found. There weren’t any traces of blood either. It was like the past twenty minutes didn’t happen.
We weaved through the next part of the maze, each of us keeping our eyes and ears open. My mind raced ahead, wondering what would happen once we passed through that final gate. I couldn’t imagine us being able to simply walk away from all of this. People were just sliced up and murdered for fucks sake.
Mel slowed and looked over at us, her expression somber. “If things start to go bad, I want you two to try and get away. I’ll cover you.”
“Um, excuse the fuck out of you. This isn’t COD, Mel. I’m not going to let you cover us.”
“Are we supposed to say screw you and run off hoping you fare for the best?” Grace seconded with angry sarcasm. “There are actual murderers somewhere.”
“All we have to do is get through the small stretch of woods between here and Sainte’s backyard,” I reasoned.
“You make it sound so simple,” Mel deadpanned.
I ignored her and mentally walked the path in my head. It wasn’t that great of a distance to cover, realistically, but as Grace had pointed out people were trying to kill us.
I wondered if Hayven and the others made it. Surely, we would’ve heard more screaming if they hadn’t or some signs of an ensuing struggle.
We came upon the entrance to the cornfield and passed through the arch. The gate slammed shut, prohibiting us from going back. Straight ahead would be a clean shot if it weren’t for the small group of masked men waiting for us off to the right.
I stopped dead in my tracks and reached for Mel’s arm, prepared to pull her behind me. She shook me off and positioned herself in front of us as the men began to fan out, blocking any path of escape. The clown was here along with the person that slit Cooper’s throat. So, there had been another way out. He wouldn’t have beaten us here otherwise.
A guy sporting a black mask that glowed neon green was the first to speak. “I will be the first to say I’m somewhat impressed. You three didn’t do half bad.”
“They were scrappy at best. There’s room for some much-needed improvement,” someone replied objectively.
When one of the men in a black and white mask stepped forward, we instinctively moved back, earning a few amused chuckles.
“I think they’re afraid,” another asshole goaded.
A guy with the Devil’s cross marking his mask glanced at who had spoken, and then back at us. “Liliana isn’t. She said so herself.”
Holy shit. I blinked as his voice registered. Grace and Mel turned their heads and looked at me with what I’m sure was confusion.
