Page 92 of Madness & Mayhem
Bang.
Blood flies through the air, hair and brain matter splatting across the ground, the walls, and across everyone’s faces. The shotgun was powerful, to the point it wasn’t a bullet to the head, but a bomb exploding inside of his skull.
He no longer has a head.
Only a mashing of what used to be one.
The gun drops to the ground, and footsteps pound as everyone rushes toward me. I’m lifted into Reign’s arms, and he looks me over.
“I think I’m dying,” I whisper, feeling as if the bullet was filled with flames and it’s ripping through my body.
I’m tossed around as my clothes are removed, and Reign presses his finger against the bullet wound.
“Ow!” I bellow.
He lifts me up a moment before settling me back into his arms. “If you wouldn’t have moved when you did, your entire chest would have exploded. Luckily for you,” he presses against the wound again, and I glare at him as I cry out, “it’s off to the side, and it went straight through. You’ll survive, Lakyn, but you're going to be in a shitload of pain for a while.”
“It doesn’t feel like it,” I whimper.
“Archer, get me something to wrap it with.”
I hear the unzipping of a bag and shuffling around. The sound of fabric ripping reaches my ears, before Reign tilts me to the side, wrapping around my shoulder and armpit area. Tears flow down my face, though Reign seems emotionless as he works to wrap my arm tightly.
“That’ll have to do until we get to Canada, Lakyn. You’ll be fine. It went through and out. We don’t have any more time, though, and we have to go,” Reign says, lifting me to a stand.
I wince, and Archer comes up to me. I pull shirt back over my arm and slide my coat back on. “It hurts, Archer.”
He wraps his arm around me. “I know, baby Lake. But you’ll survive, you always do.”
“The police are already on their way! You best stay put!” a woman’s voice screams from far away.
My eyes widen.
“We have to move,” Archer barks, and we all rush at once, running to grab our bags and hauling them over our shoulders. We rush out of the barn and back into the cold. The wind has picked up, snow whipping across our faces as we make a dash back toward the winds. Heading north.
A fight against time. A fight for our lives.
Chapter SIXTEEN
REIGN
We don’t talk.
None of us do.
We keep our faces buried in our coats as we trek through the snow. How long it’s been, I don’t know exactly. Though I do now the sun is due up in a couple of hours, and we should be able to make it to the border right when the sun is up.
Or right after.
Which isn’t good news. Once there is daylight, we’ll stick out like a sore thumb. In the dark, with each of us encased in the darkness of the forest, we are nearly invisible. Camouflaged into the night. We’ve heard sirens in the distance, looking for us endlessly for hours upon hours, but they’ve never come close enough to raise concern. They won’t find us, at least not now.
Once the sun comes up, that’s another story.
“I can’t go anymore,” Posie whimpers. “I’ve literally got no strength. I don’t know how much longer I can be outside. Everything is numb. I can barely speak. I feel like I’m about to collapse,” she gasps.
Archer turns around, his own face red with wind burn. He walks up and turns around once he’s in front of her, crouching down. “Get on my shoulders, Posie. It’ll be easier.”
She whines as she grabs onto his shoulders, and he wraps his hands behind her thighs and lifts her into his arms. We keep moving, and I stare at Posie’s face as her head lobs on his shoulder. She looks exhausted, her eyes falling closed quickly.