A sinking feeling settles over me, mixing with shock, fear, and a gut-twisting feeling brought on by Chloe’s choked-back sobs. The towering trees look identical whichever way I turn,and the almost-gone sunlight and low battery on my phone only make things worse.
“We’re lost,” I whisper.
36
Carter
The last fucking thing I need after a twelve-hour drive from Chicago is Lakeside College drowning in a sea of red and blue lights. Shadows dance over the old asylum walls, mixing with the yellow light from inside.
A crowd have gathered on the manicured lawn, murmuring between themselves while the dean talks to the police.
If I didn’t know any better, I’d think the three squad cars haphazardly parked by the main building were called in to bust up an illegal rave... but the two ambulances tell a different story.
My first thought isJensen, but it’s highly improbable he could crawl back here. I left him seven miles out. No compass, no phone, no map, and strapped to a chair.
It’d be pretty fucking impressive if he freed his broken wrists and found his way to campus with both eyes swelled shut, and at least three bones in his face broken.
He was soaked in his own blood—a scent that quickly attracts wild animals. I knew that when I left him.
“Nash!” someone calls out as I move through the shadows toward the dorm building. “Nash, wait!”
I pause, turning around just as Levi approaches, Amari following suit. Their wide eyes, jittery body language, and the fact they stopped me are enough to send a chill down my spine.
The surrounding chaos, police chatter, and hum of the crowd morph from my private joke to a game of survival.
Myfucking survival.
It hinges on the answer to one question, “Where’s Hailey?”
“She’s... well, she and Chloe, I think they’re lost.”
“Lost?” I take a threatening step forward. “Lostwhere?”
“In the woods.”
I push a steadying breath down my nose, every word leaving my lips like a bullet from a gun. “Why did she go into the woods?”
“Jensen’s been missing since Saturday, so we all went looking for him. We’ve been back for hours...” Levi points between himself and Amari, “...but Hailey and Chloe are still out there...”
“What time did they go in?”
“Around ten this morning. We were supposed to make sure we got back before sunset.”
“Fucking reckless,” I snap, pulling my phone out. “Do you know where she went in?”
“By the derelict building. I can show you in the morning.”
“You’ll show me in ten minutes. Wait here.”
I turn back around to grab a few bits from the trunk of my car, going through a mental tick list of things Hailey might and might not have thought about. I’m back outside the main building a moment later, shoving a flashlight, a can of spray paint, and two bottles of water into Levi’s hand.
“You’re going with me.”
“What? No way!” Amari exclaims, instinctively stepping in front of her boyfriend like a human shield.
“No, he’s right, baby. If they’re hurt, he can’t carry them both back,” Levi explains, wrapping his arms around Amari. “We’ll be fine.”
“You don’t even know where they are!”
