Page 148 of When Darkness Calls

Flashlights flicker over the heads of spectators, and people begin pushing and shoving, rushing past us.

“What—”

“Cops!”

“Raid!”

“Everyone fucking RUN!”

Hundreds of bodies rush around, looking for a quick escape, stepping over people, knocking them down.

“Dani!” Cade shouts over the crowd, but I get swept away in the masses running for the back of the building.

“Cay! Grays!” I claw at the wall of people surrounding me.

“Let her fucking go,” a cold voice seethes, parting the bodies. Red lights gleamed off something in his hand, a sharpened tip pressed against the throat of a guy who had kept pushing me away from the others.

The guy swallows, raising his hands in surrender.

Grayson steps around Nick staring down the tip of his knife at the guy. He grabs my hand, pulling me to him, wrapping me in his arms. The guy runs off and Nick drops his head to his chest, inhaling deeply. His hands fall to his side, shaking as he lifts his head to Grays.

I look to Grayson, “Is—”

“Shh, not now. We gotta get out of here.” Grayson calls for Nick, nodding to the locker room. They sandwich me between them, working through the panicked patrons, and the cops rushing through trying to catch people.

When we reach the locker room, Nick goes to a window and begins prying it open as Grayson locks the door, shoving a shelf in front of it.

Grays is grabbing his duffel bag, stuffing all his things into it hurriedly. A small ping comes from inside one of the pockets. Then immediately after another comes from Nick.

They both pause, pulling out their phones. Grays sighs in relief.

“It’s Cay. They got out. They didn’t see them.”

“Okay,” I breathe. “Okay good, thank god.”

Nick chuckles, smacking the glass of the window.

“That’s not fucking all.”

“What’s he talking about?” I ask.

Grayson doesn’t respond, packing up the rest of his stuff as Nick finally gets the old window open enough for us to climb through. The room faces the woods surrounding the abandoned storage yard.

“Grayson,” I say calmly.

He sighs, dragging a chair over for me to climb through. He taps the chair for me to climb up.

“Ethan’s gone, and as far as Cade has seen, so is Issac.”

“Okay? That's kind of good, though, right? Issac made it out?”

Nick snorts, looking at me from the side of his eye. “Yeah, but that’s not even the best part, is it Grayson?” He taunts. But Grayson doesn’t say anything, fury burning in his eyes.

“Marcus is dead.” Nick deadpans. “Fucking overdose,” he laughs. “They fucking found him by the car.”

“Shut up, Nick. We don’t need this right now. Let’s fucking go.”

Grayson nudges me through the window, and I drop unceremoniously to the ground. The other two followed quickly, leaving the window much more gracefully than I did. They weave in and out of the trees, Grayson dragging me behind him by my hand firmly in his own.