Page 34 of Escape

There was no strength left in my body, so I was convinced it was sheer mental willpower that pushed me to crawl to my purse. Every inch was grueling, and I had to stop several times along the way to rest. It took an eternity, but I eventually made it there.

I found my phone and struggled to pull up Huck’s contact with my trembling fingers and shaking hands. It hurt just to hold my phone, so I tapped on the button to turn on the speakerphone, and I rested my head back down on the ground.

My eyes drifted close again, and a moment later, it was as though I’d slipped into a dream, because Huck’s voice surrounded me. “Hey, Josie. Are you all set?”

I took two breaths, attempting to muster up the strength to respond. Then, I told him the truth.

“My plan didn’t work.”

EIGHT

Huck

My plan didn’t work.

Josie’s words echoed inside my head as my body became frozen to the spot. Time felt like it had stopped. As I gripped my phone in my hand, the room was spinning around me.

Since Brix and Kane were handling the classes this morning, I’d been working on some target practice with Greyson, doing that after I brought him up to speed on what was happening with Josie. I’d worn ear protection the entire time we were shooting, so I didn’t think I’d done any damage to my ears. But surely, I had to have misheard her.

“Josie?” I called.

The sound of my voice was enough for Greyson to stop and stare.

“Please, Huck. Help me.” I could just barely make out the words she whispered to me, and the moment they registered, I moved.

“I’m coming, honey,” I told her. “Hang on.”

Greyson heard, watching me move, and didn’t hesitate to holster his gun and follow behind me.

I raced through the building, the phone still at my ear, and out into the parking lot. My best friend hopped in my truck with me, and the second I pulled out of the lot, I said, “I’m already driving to you. Are you alone?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

“Do you need to go to the hospital?”

She groaned through her pain. “Yeah.”

I took my eyes off the road for barely a second to look at Greyson, and I saw he already had his phone out. “I’m on it,” he assured me.

“I know exactly where you are, and I’m coming. I have an ambulance on the way. What’s the number of the house, so I can relay that to them?”

“646.”

“646 Jefferson Street,” I told Greyson.

“Are you still there, Josie?”

She groaned again. It was a wonder I didn’t rip the steering wheel off; I was gripping it so tightly. Hearing her struggling so badly, I couldn’t get there fast enough. And there was no question I was racing through the streets of Steel Ridge to get to her.

“I’m going to be there in just a few more minutes. You’re going to be okay,” I told her, hoping it offered her some comfort and reassurance, even when I felt as though I was coming out of my skin.

“I think… the door… is open.” Her breaths were shallow, her voice just a touch over a whisper.

“Don’t you worry about that. I’ll get in. I’m about to turn onto your street.”

“I’m so tired,” she murmured.

“No. No, you stay with me, Josie. You hear me? You stay with me,” I demanded, feeling myself losing control.