A Whole New Crowd (A Whole New Crowd 1)

His eyes were still closed. “I’m too weak.”

“Then find something inside of you because we’re going.” I swung the door wider.

I jerked him behind me, and looked at the other doors. They couldn’t see us. I twisted around and looked up at the corners. They should’ve had a camera and there, in the top right corner, I saw one.

It was turned towards the ceiling.

Gray saw where I was looking and whispered in my ear, “They moved it when they shot someone. They didn’t want evidence.”

I went cold at that. “We are going. Now.” I pulled his door shut, then we headed back where I had come from. The alarm was going to go off. I didn’t have enough time to figure out how to disarm it. That meant one of two things would happen. They would figure it was a mistake and not bother to check the rooms again or they would break down Gray’s door and find him gone. Either way, I made sure I had a cement hold on his arm as I pushed him forward. As we went through the door, I began lightly jogging. I dragged Gray behind me. I wasn’t leaving him behind.

We hadn’t gone far when I heard the first door open roughly. Then a voice bellowed through it, “WE HAVE A RUNNER!”

The lights in our tunnel flipped on and I looked up. Right there, pointed right at us, was a camera.

They had spotted us.

“RUN!” I yelled at Gray and took off in a sprint.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

We got through the second door and the tunnel was dark again, but we took off. If something was in the way, we were going through it. I glanced back to make sure Gray was behind me. He was. A fierce expression was on his face, and I knew he wasn’t going to die. Neither of us were. As we soared down the tunnel, I began to think ahead. They would have men coming behind us, who would be weighed down by guns, vests, and anything else they had to wear for a uniform. We had a slight advantage, but they would radio ahead. Men would probably be waiting at the opening where I came in. They would try to cut us off.

We had to get there first.

A new burst of adrenalin came over me and I ran faster. Glancing back over my shoulder, I saw Gray falling behind. Our eyes met and a shared look passed between us. We had to keep going or we’d die. It was that simple. His jaw hardened and he bent lower, pumping his arms faster. He was back on my heels again.

Their truck had to leave the school parking lot. They would have to go back into town, then through two stoplights before it could turn around. It would have to circle behind the field. We could do this. We could beat them. Maybe.

Then I heard a gasp, followed by a thud, and braked, turning at the same time. Gray had fallen down. He was on the floor. His ankle was turned sideways, and he was bent over, grabbing it with a hand. The other was holding him up. He looked up, his eyes wide with panic. We both knew what this meant. I couldn’t carry him. We were losing our small window.

The blood drained from his face and beads of sweat formed over the top of his lip. He grimaced, bared his teeth, and then waved at me. It was a weak gesture and his hand dropped back to his ankle. He choked out, “Go. You can still get away.”

“No.” I shook my head.

“Taryn!”

I looked around, tuning him out. I had come for him. I wasn’t leaving without him.

“Go, Taryn. What are you doing?”

“I’m looking for something. Maybe I can use a stick to brace your ankle and you could still run then?” I was searching, scanning everywhere. The panic was burro

wing deeper inside of me, poisoning every cell of my body. My chest was tight and I knew I was panting from running, but I shoved all of that out of my mind.

The goal was to save Gray. I just needed help. My eyes kept searching for something… Then we heard footsteps in the tunnel. My heart sunk. Gray glanced to where we had come from, but they weren’t coming from there. They were coming from where I had first entered the tunnel. We were too late. They had already cut us off and there was no escape. We were trapped.

A wrangled cry ripped up from the bottom of my throat and I dropped to my knees beside Gray. I was frantic. There had to be something—the footsteps were louder, they were almost on us.

“God,” a whimper left me. I couldn’t find anything. Then I began patting myself down. Did I have something on me that I could use? My knife—Gray wrapped his hand around mine and said, so damn softly, “Taryn. You have to go.”

I shook my head. I wouldn’t leave him.

His hand squeezed mine. “It might not be too late for you. It’s too late for me. You know this. Go, Taryn. Thank you for trying.”

Oh my god. A sob tore from me, but I wasn’t crying. I wouldn’t. There had to be something. “No, Gray. No.”

“Taryn—”