Shiver

“I’m telling you, Reed, she doesn’t understand him or you. Look at her. Look into her eyes. Do you really see acceptance there? I don’t. I see nothing. Like she’s doing her best to hide what’s going on in her head.”

Reed didn’t speak. Just stood there, face flushed. He flicked me a quick look and then sighed. “I’m going to find something I can use to splint her wrist with.”

That was the Reed I knew. When he didn’t like what he heard, he put his mind to a task. That worried me, because it meant that Ricky’s words were making him question his own judgement.

“Watch her, but don’t touch her,” Reed warned him. He cast me a brief glance and then disappeared behind the altar.

There was the sound of a door clicking shut, and then Ricky turned to me with a smirk. “He wants to take you home with him, Kensey,” Ricky taunted, walking toward me. “Wants to keep you for himself. He says it’s to protect you and so he doesn’t have to kill you. But you know it’s more than that. You know what he’ll do to you.” Reaching me, Ricky leaned forward and drew a line along my neck with his finger as he added, “Just like you know you’d never put out for him unless he held a knife to your throat. He’d do that. He would. It wouldn’t matter to him if you died while he raped you. No, Reed likes to fuck the dead more than he likes to fuck the living.”

The blood drained from my face. Sickened to the core, I almost gagged.

Ricky laughed. “You should see your face, Kensey. You should—”

I rammed the blade into his trachea. I wasn’t going to lie, it was hard and turned my stomach but … “Rather you than me, Ricky.” I twisted the blade so the wound wouldn’t close and then yanked it out. He staggered backward, trying to take jerky, panicked breaths. Then I bolted.

Shoving open the wooden door, I sprinted down a set of stone steps and right onto a paved driveway. My heart leaped as I saw Reed’s car. I yanked on the handle. Locked. Well, that was what came of living in a shitty neighborhood—you never left anything unlocked.

I dashed to Ricky’s truck and pulled on the handle. The door flew open. No keys. I punched the seat. Goddammit.

Turning toward the tall gates at the end of the drive, my heart sank at the sight of the bulky padlock. Thrusting a hand into my hair, I twirled. There was nowhere to go except for the shabby cemetery. And when I heard Reed’s curses echoing inside the church, I knew I had no other option. I took off.

With adrenaline pumping through me, I ran through the rusted iron archway and through the overgrown grass on shaky legs, ignoring the compulsion to look back. The rain had stopped, and weak shafts of sunlight broke through the occasional break in the dark clouds. There were no scents of rot out there. Just wet stone and damp earth. I would have greedily inhaled it if my entire being wasn’t so focused on simply fleeing.

Beneath the sounds of birds chirping and tree branches creaking, I could hear boots pounding down the stone steps.

“Kensey!” roared Reed.

Fuck. I put on a burst of speed. Even though my muscles ached and it felt like my brain was bouncing in my skull, I didn’t stop. Just ran aimlessly, no destination in mind, through a maze of crumbling statues and discolored headstones.

Although I was faster than Reed, he could still catch me. After all, I wasn’t exactly in tip-top shape. And I was betting that Ricky wouldn’t be far behind him. Oh, the guy would be having some trouble breathing without pain, sure, but I doubted that one single stab wound to his trachea would have killed him.

I tried putting on another burst of speed, but it was hard while the grass was so thick and lush. Also, my wet jeans seemed to weigh me down, rubbing at my skin like sandpaper. Still, I kept going. There had to be another gate somewhere, right?

My pace faltered slightly as a cramp began to prick my side. Shit. My throat burned with every frantic breath, and I was hoping to the high heavens that I didn’t go into a fit of coughing.

Questions rattled around my brain …

Were they far away?

Had I left a trail?

Could they hear me?

Surely there had to be another goddamn gate, didn’t there?

It wouldn’t—

I tripped over something and tumbled onto my hands and knees. Agony rocketed through my broken wrist. Black spots dotted my vision. For a few seconds, I stayed there, heaving air into my lungs. My sore body didn’t want to get up, but I didn’t have time to rest or recoup, I needed to move.

Get up, I told myself. Get fucking up.

Realizing I’d dropped my blade, I glanced around, but it was lost in the high grass. Silently cursing, I blew away the stray strands of hair from my face and grabbed a nearby crumbling headstone as I got to my feet. Still breathing hard, I pushed on.

Ignoring its protests, I forced my body back into a run and skirted through the trees toward the rear of the wrought iron fence. Branches and wild shrubbery occasionally snagged my T-shirt or abraded the skin of my face and arms.

Honestly, I was surprised that neither Ricky nor Reed had caught up with me yet. My pace was slowing, and the aches in my body were becoming too much. My lungs now burned just as badly as my throat, and the cramp in my side panged with every step. My muscles seemed heavy and jelly-like; it felt more like I was wading through sludge than running—

I tripped over some bracken and fell to my hands and knees again. Motherfucker. Pain once more ripped through my wrist. Eyes tearing up, I choked on the agonized moan that built in my chest.

“Kensey!” Reed.

I tensed. He was close, but not too close.

“There’s no point in running, Kensey! We’ll find you! There’s only one way in and out of this cemetery, and you’re nowhere near it! Just stay still; we’ll come find you!”

Gritting my teeth against the agony searing through my wrist, I scrambled backward on my butt until I hit a tree. Using the thick oak for support, I slowly stood upright, chest still heaving.

As I struggled to control my breathing, I listened hard for sounds of Reed and Ricky. But all I could hear was the wind whistling through the high grass and making the tree branches groan. Then again, it was difficult to hear anything while my heart thumped so hard in my chest that it was like a drumbeat in my ears.

I pressed down on my breastbone with the heel of my good hand as I took deep, shuddering breaths. The faint sheen of sweat on my forehead was dripping down my temples, making the slash there sting. I was just thankful that the damn thing wasn’t dripping blood like a tap.

Grass rustling.

Covering my mouth with my hand to muffle my rasping breaths, I held myself very still. The sounds had come from behind me, and I couldn’t tell if it was one person or two. My lips and chin trembled. No, I wasn’t going to die here. Not here. Not like this.

There was a horrible sound. Like someone struggling to breathe through a Darth Vada mask or something. Ricky. And he was coming closer. And closer. And closer.

Soon, he was sidling up to my tree. He wasn’t moving fast enough for me to slide out my foot and trip him up as he past, but … I slowly and quietly lifted my arm, getting into position. He took another step forward and, before he had the chance to spot me in his peripheral vision, I rammed my elbow into his throat.

Eyes bulging, he slapped his hand to his neck, making a horrid choking noise. I backed away, ready to turn and run. My heel caught on something and I landed awkwardly on my back and elbows. Then Ricky was on me, wrapping his hands around my throat and squeezing hard.