My heart lurches painfully, like it’s trying to claw its way out of my chest.
Butch is beside me, breathing hard. “Help me get her up!” he snaps over his shoulder.
Delaine is grabbing me by the arm so hard I gasp. I didn’t even see them come in. I try to resist, but it's futile.
I can’t even hold myself up.
As they pull me up, my legs fold beneath me. Delaine swears.
“Fuck, she’s useless,” he says, trying to haul me upright.
The room tilts. My vision swims. I’m upside down. We’re moving.
I try to find my voice but all that comes out is a rasp. “Please—don’t?—”
Delaine slaps me. “Shut up. We’re not dying because of you.”
The hallway is chaos.
The sound of gunfire is so loud it punches through my skull. I feel like there’s a bullet ricocheting around in there. There’s yelling all around me. Doors slamming, boots pounding. Magazines falling to the floor.
What is happening?
“Gideon said transport should be waitingfor us.”
My stomach twists. My throat closes. They’re here for me. Whoever “they” are.
I try to kick to get free. I can’t let them take me to the transport, wherever it is. Someone’s here for me. I’d rather be anywhere than here. My sudden movement causes Delaine to drop me.
I hit the ground and pain shoots through my body. Sirens are blaring, smoke creeping under the ceiling lights.
“Pick her up!” Butch demands.
“You pick her up! She’s like dead weight!” Delaine grunts, trying to lift me again.
My head lolls back.
Everything feels far away. Like I’m underwater. I’m trying to stay conscious, but my eyelids are heavy. I’m fighting the dark but it’s a weight tied to my ankles, pulling me under.
“STOP!”
I’m dropped to the ground again as Butch and Delaine are shooting behind us. They grab my arms, dragging me along. I hear them muttering curses.
Hope blooms again in my chest. Someone’s trying to get me away from them.
It sounded like...
But something inside me screams not to believe it.
Not to hope.
Hope hurts.
The shots beside me are deafening.
I think I’m against a wall? I try to open my eyes again, but my lids are glued shut and weighted down. I will for my limbs to move. To crawl away from them. Anything.
But nothing happens.
