“I think he drowned,” I say with eyes still fixed on the spot. “Jacob?”
When he doesn’t answer I turn around to find him unconscious on the ground. Blood icy, I get up and run. Jacob’s eyes are closed, his lips blue, chest unmoving.
I fall on my knees next to him and, with clenched fists, hit his chest repeatedly. “Please. Please.”
He coughs and opens his eyes. After blurting a short laugh, I help him sit again.
“That was scary. That was really scary. Don’t do it again. Please.” I hug him. I don’t care that he’s dripping wet and freezing.
“Didn’t have... a choice.” He tries to chuckle, but ends up coughing instead.
I risk a glance at his leg. The bullet went straight into his upper leg, opening a black hole with burnt edges. I cover my mouth with a hand, eyes watering.
“Looks bad, I know, but...” He wheezes, eyes rolling upwards. “We need to...”
I try to think of what Mom would tell me to do. Call an ambulance, probably. Stop the bleeding? How? With what? I look around for anything to help: there’s the small cabin nearby. I could try to drag him inside, maybe?
“Laurie.” I stare back at him at the sound of my name. “We need to...”
“Tell me what to do. We need to do what?”
Jacob pushes me gently away, his whole body shaking, eyes unfocused. “Lily. Find Lily.”
THE HUNTRESS XVI
January 23rd, Saturday, 10 pm
I wake up gasping for air as my body floats in pitch-black darkness. Where am I? Oh. I fell down... in the water.
Shit!
I can’t move my legs. Wheezing for air, I reach for my clogged throat, legs kicking desperately. I’m sinking. I’m drowning! I can’t breathe. I can’t!
Don’t panic. Don’t panic. Lily, don’t panic! Conserve energy, don’t flail around like a crazy person. Slow, careful movements. You need a way out. I look upward toward a light above. It’s my only chance. Or else I’m dead.
I’m dead.
My lungs burn from the lack of air. This is it. I’m done. I close my eyes, unable to think straight. My heart races, then slows down. I can’t feel my limbs.
Come on, Lily, dying is not an option.
Father’s voice is too soft to be real. I know he’s not here. I know I’m alone. But he would never forgive me for giving up. Our family survives. I start paddling, mind fixed on only one thing: moving my legs.
Swimming upwards takes all the energy I have left, but I do it, muscles screaming and lungs burning from the inside out. I jump out of the freezing lake, fingers clawing the ice for support. After pushing myself out of the hole, I fall on the ice above and cough hard, expelling water to breathe again. My teeth clatter and I can’t feel my lips. Every inch of my body shudders, heavy and wet.
“Really?! Fils de salope! Bordel de merde...”
Was that Lancaster? Or am I losing my mind already? I’m too dizzy to know the answer. My head hurts like hell. I need to get warm, and fast. The truck has blankets. Maybe if I run for it...
Except someone is pointing a gun at me right now, the barrel almost touching my nose. Raincheck on that blanket. I blink twice to clear my blurry vision. It’s Lancaster all right and he’s pissed, eyes wide, nose wrinkled in anger.
“You should’ve sunk like a rock.”
Just as he pulls the trigger, I grab the barrel and yank it to the left of my head. The shot goes straight through the ice and the bitterly cold water splashes on my cheeks along with gunpowder scraping my neck, the smell of burnt wool hitting my nostrils. At least my fingers are warm now. I roll to the other side before he can shoot again. I’m too weak and light-headed to stand, so I crawl away on my stomach while reaching for the hiking pole tied to my backpack.
He snags me by the ponytail, forcing my head back. “Stop moving!”
By then, my damaged, gloved fingers are already around the pole. I fling it to the side so it opens and snaps into place. Locked and straight, I bury the carbon tip into whatever limb I can reach. Lancaster wails in pain and I use the momentum to roll again, this time landing on my back. Standing on my wobbling feet, I have only a second to catch my breath, lungs on fire.
Lancaster pulls the pole out from his thigh and throws it away, his wounded leg bleeding freely. He inhales deeply, chest rising, anger flaring on his bearded face. I have no idea why he’s doing this, but he’s going down.
Using the adrenaline rush from the fight, I race toward him, leaping against his stomach. We fall. Safely on top of him, I punch him in the nose, feeling it crack under my knuckles. He tries to aim the gun again, but I’m faster: I catch his wrist with one hand and use the other to rob him of the gun.
Defenseless, Lancaster tries to reach my neck with his free hand while kicking his legs to push me off, but I know how to hold a person still, especially a skinny guy like Lancaster.
“Why did you attack me?” I yell above the roaring wind. When he doesn’t answer, I aim the gun at his face. “Tell me!”
He stops struggling and takes a deep breath, expression set. He spits on my face, daring me to shoot. Asking him questions won’t get me anywhere. But why? I frown as my mind arrives at the obvious answer: loyalty. This is about Irons. She ordered him to do this. The gun was bait and I fell for it.
Perhaps noticing my eureka moment, Lancaster starts thrashing again. Like a crazy person, he pounds on the ground with his whole body and the frozen lake, already weakened, cracks again. I widen my eyes. He wants to break the ice below us. Before I can jump out of the way, he grabs my jacket, sinking his fingers into the material.
No way I’m drowning with this idiot. With no other option, I shoot him right in the forehead. His grip loosens and I’m free to jump off and away from the fracturing ice.
I barely outrun the growing breach, my fumbling legs and shallow breathing straining my pounding heart. I fall on the snowy shore, weak and exhausted, lungs aching for air, limbs long numb.
If I don’t want to die, I need to move and find shelter, but it hurts too much. Just moving my head feels as if I’ve been hit by a brick. Slowly, I close my eyes to rest, only for a few seconds. A few seconds and I’m moving, I promise...
Crouching noises. Louder. Closer. Light hits my eyelids. I feel a hand reaching for my face, slapping it to wake me, but I’m too tired. Too tired to move.
“Come on! Come on! Wake up already. Please!” It’s a girl’s high-pitched voice. She yanks my hand up, but I’m too heavy for her. “Move!”
She hits me right in the chest and I wheeze for air, finally opening my eyes, only to blink at a bright light. The girl flails a flashlight around to wake me up. I’m dreaming, right? This doesn’t make sense.
She slaps me in the face again. Well, at least she tries; I catch her wrist before she can. She smiles in relief. “That’s better! Now get up. I’m freezing out here.”
Thanks to her help, even with muscles straining at the effort and a lot of wobbling, I manage to find enough strength to get up and keep standing on my own two feet. The girl stays close, arms extended in case I lose my balance. Not that a bony teen would help much.
Not a minute later, I fall to my knees, my tired body shuddering uncontrollably. Out of breath, I shake my head at her attempts to help me. I need to rest for a bit.
“We need to leave. The weather is getting worse. I need to take you—”
Suddenly, the girl’s presence is real to me. And dangerous. I turn my head to her small form, but as I do this, she pulls her hat downward and hides her eyes. “Who are you? How did you know I was here?”
She bites her lip and looks anywhere but at me, hugging herself. “Can’t we just leave first? It’s freezing out here.”
I narrow my eyes. Something about her feels familiar. “Tell me why you’re here in the middle of nowhere, then I’ll go.”
“I came to help you. I saw your truck and followed your tracks. You passed out next to the lake. You need to stay warm.” She takes my arm and tug
s it. “So move already. I know where we can find shelter.”
She’s hiding something, but it’s not like I have a choice. After getting up again, I pull the hood and face mask over my face and hide my gloved hands under my armpits for warmth. It doesn’t work. My clothes are still wet. Dizzy, I follow her as my head throbs with pain. As time drags on, the weather gets worse and now we’re probably in the middle of a blizzard. I can’t feel the tip of my nose and visibility is almost zero, but the girl’s pace is steady and her steps firm, so I carry on, wobbling behind her while dragging my feet and pushing myself forward against the wind, determined to survive this.
After adjusting my hood to protect my ears, I rub my hands together and search around for any point of reference. The sea or even the island itself, but I can’t see the shoreline or even the rocky tundra. I can only assume we are deeper into the country, and that’s not good news. I need to go back to Akimi and fast. Irons clearly wanted me dead and she might want Roger out of the way too.
Too focused on the horizon, I sink into a snowbank and lose my balance, ankle twisting, losing to gravity. I break the fall with my hands, but the impact reaches my shoulder and I let out a yell, snow filling the insides of my protective goggles. Shivering from head to toe, I cough furiously. My legs won’t obey me anymore and the pulsating headache makes it impossible for me to focus. The howls of the wind are deafening now.
The girl rushes to help me and together, we lift my body and I climb my way up the snow pile. I feel like I’m one hundred years old, aching and feeble.
“This isn’t working. At this rate, we’re going to die; that’s just how it is.”
“It’s okay, we’re almost here.” Maybe too tired to notice, the girl finally looks straight at me, giving me the chance to have a better look at her features. It takes me a second, but I remember the narrow eyes, the constant frown, and the small nose. I know this girl.
I grab her by the hand. “You were there. You shot Danny.”
She shakes her head and tries to free herself, but my grip is too strong. “I don’t know what—”
“How did you get here? Were you following us?” So, she was the person tracking us since Redwood, but how has she survived this far? And why would she want to be anywhere near Danny?
“You’re hurting me. Let go! We’re almost there. He’s going to explain everything, all right?”
“Who? Who’s with you? Tell me!” I scream, raising my voice above the wind as my heart races.
“Your father, that’s who!” With my gaze still fixed on her, I release her wrist and open my mouth, dumbfounded. “And he’s dying. Every second we waste here, he gets worse, so shut up and follow me before it’s too late, okay?”
Still shocked, I nod and we start moving again. I can’t believe it. It doesn’t make any sense. He left. He gave up on me. Except he didn’t. He’s here.
And he’s dying.
Being cold, being tired, it doesn’t matter anymore. Adrenaline frees me from all that. All I want is to get there. It doesn’t matter why he’s dying because I’m going to fix it. I’m going to fix it and apologize. And then I’ll hit him. That damned stubborn stupid idiot.
If every inch of my body weren’t wet and freezing, I would probably shed tears, but instead I only feel my eyes sting against the blowing wind.
An hour later, the girl leads me to the shore and we reach a small dock with no boats and a single cabin, its windows blocked by wooden boards and the logo for a fake bird sanctuary painted on its walls. Looks like people used this place to reach Akimi during summer, so we can’t be far from it.
She opens the door to the cabin and my gaze immediately seeks my father. He sits on the floor, back against the wall, eyes closed, lips cracked, beard much thicker, and a hand resting on the blanket covering his lap while the other is at his side, limp. He’s so pale and... weak. I run to him and sit by his side.
“Father?” I rest a hand on his forehead. He’s burning up. “Dad?”
I barely even notice when the girl starts to take off my jacket. I let her, unable to do anything but stare at Father’s unconscious face. He finally stirs and opens his eyes.
“Hey. Hi. I’m here,” I whisper to him. “I’m here now. What happened to you?”
A blanket covers my wet shoulders and I hear the girl’s voice nearby. “He was shot. Lost a lot of blood. I didn’t know what else to do...”
We face each other. She has tears in her eyes and it makes me so angry. So mad. This girl doomed us. She’s the reason I’m here in this frozen wasteland, seeing my father like this. She’s why I lost a friend and fought with Roger. If she hadn’t shot Danny...
If I hadn’t brought her into the school. If Maria hadn’t freed her from the handcuffs. If I hadn’t left my gun with Danny...
With my jaw set, I finally speak, “Shot where?”
She points at this lower right leg. Immediately, I pull off the blanket and the red-soaked shirt to inspect the damage. I’m not a doctor, but I know an infection when I see it. His wound is swollen with pus, and worse, his skin is hot with fever.
“How long has he been like this?” I ask the girl, who winces at the process. “Hours? Days?”
She hesitates for too long. “A day.”
I feel tears sting the corner of my eyes. That’s too much blood lost. “He needs a doctor. I need Maria. I need to go back to the base. Help me move him.”
I push him forward and hold him by the armpits, but the girl stops me with a hand. “Not the base. We can’t. They are bad people. They’re lying. We can’t go there. Jacob wanted to warn you about them.”
“It doesn’t matter. He needs a doctor.” I try to lift him up, but he’s too heavy and unwilling. “Move.”
The girl, whose name I realize I don’t know, shakes her head and pulls me away from my father. “No. He doesn’t want that. You don’t understand. They killed everyone that worked there. They aren’t who they say they are. It’s too dangerous and Jacob wanted you to leave.”
“Well, I want him to live. So I make the decisions now.”
And that’s when I feel his hand over mine. “I’m medicated. I brought—” He coughs. “I had antibiotics. Laurie gave them to me. You’re shivering. Cold. Take care of that. Then we talk.”
I nod, biting my lip and covering his hand with my free one. “You should’ve told me.” Why wouldn’t you just come with me? Why do you always make everything so much harder? Damn it, I hate you. But don’t you dare die.
He smiles, then loses consciousness again.
THE ROTTING ZOMBIE III
“I don’t think this is a good idea.”
The rocket is pure perfection. I’m pretty sure it’s big enough to propel me. I won’t be flying, exactly, but hey, the Wright brothers used a catapult and that counted, so my rocket totally counts.
“I really can’t see how this is a good idea.”
I painted it blue and red, like Superman’s uniform. I wanted to put my name on it, but that would be too vain. People don’t like arrogant inventors. Being humble is cool now. I can almost see the headlines: “Small-town inventor, Danny Terrence, who is cool and humble, totally invented a rocket machine to advance human flight!”
“I’m going to get Mrs. Terrence. Keep an eye on him.”
Roger climbs down from the roof using the metal stairs. Clank, plank, and then he’s gone. Too bad for him Ma’s in Whitefield, working at the soup kitchen today. Did he really think I was stupid enough to do this with Ma anywhere near the house? Amateur.
I place both my arms inside the backpack straps, take out the duct tape from my pocket, and use it to glue myself to the straps.
“Lily, help me out here. I want to duct tape my chest to the rocket.”
“No friggin’ way, Danny. I don’t want to be accused of murder so young. I’m waiting for my twenties before killing an idiot.”
I roll my eyes and shove the tape into her arms anyway. “Then you’re really dumb, because if you kill someone when
you’re a minor, the penalty is lower. Besides, you would be accused of assisting a suicide, not actually committing a murder. You really should learn these things if you want to be a criminal.”
She stares at me. “Not. My. Point.”
“Come on, just do it. Before Roger comes back and ruins my experiment.”
Lily sighs and tosses her ponytail back but complies. I spin as she pulls the tape around me. There! I’m a bit dizzy, but it’s done. Next, time to light the fuse. I position myself on the edge of the roof, sneakers squeaking against the tiles.
I glance back at Lily, who now has her arms crossed over her chest. I give her a sheepish smile and lift the matchbox.
“Are you kidding me? No. Do it yourself.”
“Please. Pretty please. Please with sugar on top. Do it for the awesomeness. For the human race.”
“If the human race depends on you, everyone’s doomed.”
I stick my tongue out at her, then frown. “I’m going to tell Roger you stole the answers for Mrs. Anderson’s test last semester. That A he was all proud of? Totally fake. It’s going to crush his little heart. Crush it.”
Ha! Her face. She’s all red. Lily widens her eyes, frowns, and then pouts. My smile turns into a smirk. One, two, three... Four...
She marches toward me and yanks the box from my hands. “If you die, go haunt someone else. Hear me?”
“Pfft. There’re loads more interesting places to haunt than stupid Redwood. So yeah, I promise.”
Lily opens the box, takes out a match, and looks at me for confirmation. I nod. She lights it, takes a few steps back, and puts it to the fuse.
I remember seeing the ground get bigger, smelling burnt hair and barbecue. I remember the blood rushing to my head, my feet tingling from low circulation. I remember Roger’s yell from below. I remember fireworks exploding all over me. I remember the pain, my hair on fire, and my skin black with burns. I remember the nausea, the anger, and embarrassment.
But that’s not how it happened. The rocket failed. It didn’t explode. But I jumped off the roof and Lily grabbed me before I fell flat on my face. She and Roger pulled me back to safety. Ma had me grounded for a month, but I didn’t get hurt.
Those Who Remain (Book 3) Page 20
