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“Yes,” she gasped.
He kissed her on the forehead. “Close your eyes, little librarian.”
Shouts sounded from behind them, and Mark didn’t give her a choice. He grabbed her hand and opened the door, yanking her into the open air.
Immediately, the fear blazed through her mind like a flash of fireworks. She opened her eyes but still couldn’t see, the empty, vast space around her about to swallow her up.
The lab was on the edge of town, intentionally far away from everything else. “We can’t get to the bus,” Mark muttered. “If the robots are smart, they will have blocked it off.”
They ran. She had no idea where they were going. She was stumbling along behind Mark, letting him pull her toward the sparse pine trees that were scattered in front of them.
Trees.
Bark scratching against her skin.
Bright yellow eyes in the darkness.
Howling wind and freezing cold.
She stopped running and yanked her hand from Mark’s, putting her hands over her ears in an effort to shut out the voice in mind. It didn’t help. She couldn’t breathe.
She heard a gunshot from behind them but couldn’t escape her own nightmare enough to care.
“Get to the trees!” Mark shouted, pushing her forward with a hand on her back. He pulled up his gun to fire and let loose three shots before he was with her again. She’d barely been able to make it five steps without him.
The very air was weighing her down. Everything was dark. The streetlights were behind them now, and in the trees were only shadows and the barest hint of moonlight.
She couldn’t move any farther.
Mark wrapped an arm around her and yanked her against his chest. He somehow walked, protecting her with his body, while firing back another round at their pursuers. He pinned her to him, dragging her deeper into the woods. Her mind was shut down, and only fear remained.
She was going to die. Garrison would really win his bet this time. She would be dead by morning, and he would find her body half eaten and broken. Then he’d kidnap someone else to do his dirty work.
A whimper came out of her mouth as Mark pushed her against another tree, holding her there with his body. “Stay with me,” he murmured. “You can do this, Jenna. Stay with me.”
Why was Mark here? The flash of confusion in her brain rocketed her back to the present where there was nothing but adrenaline and pain, every nerve firing too rapidly, wretched, aching tingles crawling over her skin like live wires.
Mark stepped away and fired his gun, emptying the magazine before once again yanking her against his chest and moving them. They were in the dark, but she could hear the men coming for them.
More importantly, she could hearMark. He was here with her. She had to keep the past and present separated, or she and Mark were both going to die.
“I’m out of ammo,” he said. “Hiding is our only option.”
She clutched at his chest and shoulders, trying to remain focused on the present and not let the past drag her under. Mark was here with her.
Mark was here. She repeated it in her mind like a mantra.
He kissed her on her forehead. “Keep quiet.” He pressed her face into his chest then wrapped his arms around her, pulling her deeper into the trees, then crouched down behind one. “Hopefully they’ll think we kept running. We’ll be okay.”
But they both knew the chances of that happening were slim to none. Jenna kept herself pinned against Mark, trying to think through the panic and help him find a way out of this.
They were here for her. They wanted her alive. If they wanted them dead, they would’ve just blown up the whole building or something.
“They’re after me,” she whispered. “I-I can surrender, and you can run—”
Mark yanked her closer. “Not going to happen.”
“But—”
