Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 69098 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 345(@200wpm)___ 276(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69098 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 345(@200wpm)___ 276(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
The screams I’d heard before. Not my dreams. Real life.
Dawson.
He’s not even a year old. If something happened to Mom and Dad, he’d never be able to get out on his own. Cursing at what I have to do, I rush around to a part of the house that’s not quickly burning to the ground. With my elbow, I bash in the glass and then jerk the window up so I can crawl through it. A burst of heat surges out the window, causing me to groan.
This is going to suck so bad.
Dawson’s howl of terror has me hoisting myself through the window without further thought. The smoke is thicker inside and the heat is fucking unbearable. I’m instantly drenched in sweat and overcome with a coughing fit that makes me dizzy. Blindly, I stumble through the house in an effort to steer clear of the kitchen and dining room area that seem to be where the fire started.
I make it to Declan and Kota’s room first. When I burst inside, I’m happy to see both their beds are empty. Maybe Dad grabbed them and got them out of here already. Next, I fling open the door to Destiny and Raegan’s room that’s our current infirmary. Kristen is gone, of course, but now, so is Stacey. The only one remaining is Carter.
“Carter, man, we have to get you out of here,” I boom, rushing over to him. “What the fuck?”
A knife is planted deep in the center of his chest.
He’s dead.
Someone stabbed him.
Panic swells up inside of me and I race down to my parents’ room. Their bedroom is closer to the living room that’s quickly being overtaken by the inferno, so when I touch their doorknob, it burns the hell out of my palm.
With several hard kicks, I knock the door in and it flings out of my way.
“Mom! Dawson!”
My baby brother wails from the other side of the bed. The bed that’s empty. Where the hell are my parents? I practically hurdle myself over the bed in an effort to find my brother. What I discover has me freezing in terror.
“Mom?”
She’s covered in blood and has Dawson in her tight grip. Her eyes are wide and her lips are curled into a vicious sneer. When I go to reach for my brother, she swipes at me with a knife, tearing through the fabric of my T-shirt. A fucking knife!
“Mom! Stop!”
“You can’t take my baby!” she screams at me. “You can’t take my baby!”
This time, I anticipate the knife swipe and grab hold of her arm. Easily, I wrench it away from her and throw it out of her reach. Then, I scoop them both up together.
Dawson’s screaming is interrupted by a coughing fit that has him gagging. And all the blood that’s on Mom appears to be hers based on the moans of pain that escape her as I move.
I have to get them out of here.
Stepping into the doorway, I feel the intense heat of the flames inching closer. Thankfully, I can head back the way I came from without running into any fires. I run as fast as my legs will carry me while holding two people, and eventually make it back to the window at the end of the hall.
“Here!” a deep, familiar voice barks. “Hand her to me.”
I feed Mom and Dawson through the window into the arms of…Rowdy. As soon as I see my older brother’s familiar face, I choke out a relieved sob. He takes over the physically demanding task of getting Mom and Dawson away from the house that’s perishing quicker than ever.
As soon as I’m out of the house, I quickly scan the smoky yard, looking for the others. I need to find Dad and Kota and Declan. I scramble all over the place, searching by the campfire and then where the tents were erected.
Nothing.
The tents are gone and so are the people.
Wild and Chet show up to where Rowdy is kneeling to look at Mom’s wounds. Wild crouches to pick up Dawson. Both guys are wide-eyed and wearing matching bewildered expressions.
“We have to find Dad and the other kids,” I tell them, voice nearly gone from all the smoke. “I’m going to grab Ronan and Raegan to help. Meet me by the gate.”
“I got this,” Rowdy assures me. “Find our family.”
I take off in a sprint back toward the cabins, choking on the thick clouds of pungent smoke. Finally, I reach Ronan’s cabin and burst through the door.
“Wake up,” I holler at them. “Everything’s on fire, Mom’s been stabbed, Carter’s dead, and half our family is missing!”
Nothing.
A poisonous seed of dread takes root in the pit of my stomach.
“Raegan! Destiny! Sadie!”
Still nothing.
If I find my sisters and brothers stabbed like Carter, I’ll fucking die.
I scramble over to Ronan’s solar-powered lamp and twist the knob. Yellow light illuminates the space. No dead bodies. Thank fuck.