Everything was wrong.
He was in undeniable pain.
And that pain had a terrifying consequence.
“I-I’m not dying, but I am…going to pass out,” he managed. With each word she felt him become heavier. Eve let go of her shoulder to try and help somehow, but Darius’s remaining bit of strength went to him pushing her hand right on back.
“Keep pressure on it.” He slid off her and hit the ground before Eve could stop him.
“Darius? Darius!”
In the dim light Eve saw his eyes close. They didn’t open again.
Panic as pure and solid as the ground beneath her feet grabbed ahold of Eve as she grabbed ahold of Darius. There wasn’t much she could do other than keep him from falling over totally, and even that was met with half success. He was lying more than sitting. And so still.
“I’ll get you help,” she told him, whispering as she fumbled to get the phone back on. There was no service, but she sent out the phone’s SOS, meant to go through whenever it did come backon. It would put a tracking pin on their location and alert the authorities.
Eve glanced back down at Darius.
She knew she had taken a shot, but now she wondered if Darius had too. Or had the fall been enough?
“I’ll get you help,” she repeated.
A feeling of déjà vu mingled with her rising panic as she found the gun again and switched hands. The pain in her shoulder was starting to turn her stomach. Her side hurt too. So did her head.
Who was after them?
Why?
Was it Scott?
Was it people who worked for him?
Was it Gary’s killer?
There was no time to figure it out.
Eve hovered in the cross-section of the pathways. She needed to get out to get help, but neither direction had light or sound coming from them. The way to the right might lead to the woods and an exterior exit…or it could dead end. For all the times her father had spoken about his work, Eve herself had never walked the mill to know for sure where every entrance and exit was.
The way to the left went in the direction of the heart of the steel mill… But wouldn’t that mean the way out was probably farther away? And who was to say it was even accessible? Was where they were now even open to the general public, or had bad luck shown them a forgotten series of rooms?
There could be help in either direction, or there could be nothing, and Eve would have wasted Darius’s time.
Eve turned back toward the way they had come.
Escaping into the darkness then had been about getting cover.
Now it was about getting out.
Eve flexed her grip around the butt of the gun. She tossed Darius’s cell phone on the ground next to him.
“Don’t die,” she ordered him.
Then Eve ran full-tilt toward what she hoped was a good choice.
RAFE WAS DEAD. Dead as dead could be.
Lana moved along the old brick building and paused by its door, glancing in the direction of where the man lay prone. His gun, a thing that looked as old as the mill they had been circling, was at his side, but there were no signs he was going for it.
