I didn’t look back, grabbed the handle of the door, and pulled hard. The heavy metal groaned, but it was barely audible past the gunfire.
I ran into the darkness beyond. Six’s screams cut off as soon as the door slammed shut.
All the chaos outside was muted in here. The slapping of my feet on concrete ricocheted around me.
Another explosion rumbled through the walls, and I fell to my knees, covering my head with my hands.
Nothing happened. No hole was blown in the wall, no men in black rushed in.
I pushed to my feet, my legs almost giving out beneath me they were shaking so hard.
I just needed to get to the end?—
The door behind me burst open, an angry shout reverberating around me.
“Three! You little fucker, get back here!”
Dread ripped through me. I burst into a sprint, my pulse roaring in my ears.
Hayes fired a shot into the darkness, the bullet so close I felt it whizz past me.
He fired another shot, then another and another, but I was already at the end of the hall, yanking the door open and flying out into the yard.
All those muffled sounds became unbearably loud, but whatever fight was happening was on the other side of the building. But Hayes?—
He’d see me if I just ran straight out into the yard. The distance to the fence was too far to cross in time, so I ran along the side of the building and pressed myself into the concrete, stepping deeper into the shadows.
The door slammed open and Hayes swept his rifle left and right across the yard. Looking forme.
I sucked in a breath. Held it. Crept toward the corner of the building. Maybe I could?—
Three of the intruders melted out of the shadows just beyond the building, their guns aimed at me.
One of them held a hand up, and they all stopped and lowered their guns.
“Easy. We’re not gonna hurt you.”
The crack of a rifle came a split second before the man flew back into the other two.
I dropped to the ground when they started shooting at Hayes, caught in between two evils.
The other men in black went down in less than five seconds.
I needed tomove.
“Fuck, what a rush!” Hayes’s wild laughter was drowned out by nearby gunfire.
I curled my hands into fists, ripping up grass, then pushed to my feet.
A shot rang out. The bullet embedded itself in the dirt right next to my foot.
“You stay right there. Don’t make me fuckin’ chase you, Three.” Hayes approached me slowly. “That’s right, just stay there. Be the good little dog you are?—”
The glint of metal caught my eye, and I looked down at the gun lying near me.
“Don’t you fucking dare. Don’t you do it. You leave that there.”
And let him take me? Kill me? No, I wasn’t dying without a fight.
