Judging from the cold, determined look in Theo’s silver eyes, he’s come to the same conclusion. I lift my machete, and he raises his shotgun, and together, we turn and begin the gory, grim task of killing.
All while hoping we’ll eventually find Ollie alive.
Olivia
He’s going to killme.
Panic bursts in my chest as Luke clamps my airway shut and I struggle to breathe.
“Fuck keeping you or anyone else alive,” he growls with a demented grin as his eyes blaze with insanity. “You’re going to die today, bitch, and I’m going to watch it.”
His hands tighten.
My lungs scream for air and my brain grows fuzzy the longer he strangles me. I claw uselessly at his wrist while my other hand flails on the ground beside me, desperately trying to locate my knife.
But I can’t find it and my time is running out.
The edges of my vision darken and my lungs burn. My mind feels like it’s been filled with cotton wool, the panic from before dissipating into a strange kind of peace.
The grin on Luke’s face widens, turning monstrous, and he leans down until our noses are almost touching. It’s like he wants a closer look at the life leaving my eyes and to make sure that he’s the last thing I see before I die. The thought disgusts me, but just like my panic, that floats away just as quickly as it appeared.
The roar of fighting around us soften, sounding distant as the pounding of my blood fills my ears. I drift, the pain squeezing my throat and in my chest lessening until it’s nothing more than a memory. Maybe death isn’t so bad…
Until I hear the pained curse of Theo.
The sound of his voice sends a bolt of adrenaline through me. Awareness stabs through the cotton wool wrapped around my brain, ripping it back as more pierce my ears. Rhys cursing and Alex growling. Tobias shouting at someone and Rachel calling back. Harlow’s snarls and barks. Ketchup’s caws and squawks.
The people I love. Myfamily. The people I’d leave behind if I gave up.
That thought gives me the strength to fling my arm out and search for the knife. Luke barely registers the movement, his eyes intent on mine, eagerly awaiting my death. My jaw clenches as my hands continue to find dirt and grass.
Until…
Yes!
Something solid and rough fills my palm. Not a knife, butsomething.My fingers tighten around it and with as much strength as I can summon, I slam the solid object into the side of Luke’s grinning face.
The object—a rock, from what little I can see—collides with his temple with a sickening crack. His face goes slack, the smile gone from his face a second before he falls sideways off me. His hand releases my neck, and I gulp in large lungfuls of sweet, sweet air. My throat is raw, each breath feeling like shards of glass, but I don’t care.
I canbreathe.
Unfortunately, the fight isn’t over, and Luke is already recovering from my hit. My hands are shaky and my body is still recovering from the lack of oxygen as I flip myself onto my front and crawl in the dirt. My vision wavers, bringing with it a wave of nausea that has me gagging, but I keep going.
Behind me, Luke groans and mutters something, but it’s hard to hear over the din of fighting. Knowing he’s going to come for me has adrenaline and terror shooting through me. I crawl faster, eyes scanning the ground for the dropped knife…
There.
My fingers close around the handle just as a hand wraps around my ankle and yanks me backwards.
“You’re not getting away from me that easily,” Luke slurs as he once again flips me back onto my back.
But I’m ready for him this time.
As I slip, I stab wildly in his direction, still half-blind and nauseous from being almost strangled to death. It’s a shot in the dark, but Luke isn’t expecting it. The blade of the knife sinks into the soft flesh of his stomach just as he’s climbing on top of me, halting his movement.
Shock flickers across his features, the insanity in his eyes clearing for a second as he looks down at the knife. Blood wells up from the wound and soaks into his jacket.
But that madness soon returns, and his features twist into a deep, dark fury that has terror bolting through my veins. “You’re going to regret that. I’m going to make you suffer, make you scream until you’re begging for death.” He goes for the knife.
