Page 177 of Broken Breath

Green.

She’s ahead.

Of course, she is, even in pain.

Then the camera feed switches, repositioned to catch her when she rounds the next corner. Any second, she’ll be leaning into the berm, carving time out of the clock like she always does. I hold my breath for it, but she doesn’t come. The seconds tick by, five, ten, fifteen…

The trail remains hauntingly empty.

The tension in the tent spikes until someone near me curses under their breath. The feed shifts to drone footage, scanning the narrow section of track carved out of the hillside before the corner. Mud is churned deep, the roots look like veins under the earth.

And then I see it.Her bike.

Alaina’s blue frame is just lying there in the mud, halfway toward the edge of a steep drop-off. The front wheel is still spinning slightly, like it hasn’t realized she’s no longer on it.

My blood goes cold.

“Shit,” someone says behind me, but the sound barely even reaches my ears.

No.

I’m moving before my mind can catch up, boots skidding in the sludge and branches slapping my arms and face as I run as fast as I can, veering off the trail and down the mountain. Course tape rips across my chest, and someone yells behind me, but I’m not listening. I can’t.

My fault, my fault,my brain chants as I replay her riding too fast.

I pushed her. I touched her. I…

“Al!” I shout into the storm, my voice raw as I tear down the course. My legs threaten to give, but I don’t allow it. Ican’t.

Ihaveto get to her.

Please, baby girl, be okay.

Give me the chance to make this right.