Epiphany

Chapter 31 Part 1~Get

“We’re leaving,” he said and I felt a heavy rock settle itself on my heart. “Now.”

Instead of being compliant, as I expected, I found myself shaking my head.

He didn’t get it. He’d never get it. She couldn’t be left alone at all in this state. I was adamant to get us both out of here alive.

“We go to Julia and I’ll go with you,” I said in a commanding tone, despite a tiny hint of insecurity in my voice.

I hoped he didn’t catch it though.

My fingers that were jiggling with the hem of my sleeve were freed, and I hoped that my body didn’t show any signs of timidity that would lead to him not taking me seriously.

“No.”

I scowled, not believing him!

This little f—

“She isn’t my goddam business.”

My lower eyelid almost twitched upon hearing more words coming from him.

“She is, you murderer!” I shouted, not able to hold the burning feeling inside anymore.

This little sh!t.

The face he made showed me that he was about to lose it too. His brows darted upwards and his jaw tensed. I could almost see the veins running through his jaw from the amount of force he used to clench his teeth together.

Rather than shouting back at me, he simply toughened his face again and returned to his calmer state. He said, “I’m on my way back now, and the shortest route doesn’t pass by Elijah’s house. So, whether I agree or not, we won’t be seeing her.”

He turned around and continued, “If you don’t follow me, I’ll tell Gunther that you came here.”

The anger turned to fear here and now.

I curled my fingers to hold myself from either jumping at him or tearing up.

“He’ll come looking for you with some of Boss’ friends and either you choose to escape or not, they’ll find you.”

With that, he started trudging ahead—without passing a glance at me.

A rumble was produced to express the hopelessness I felt. If what Chase said wasn’t enough to make me follow him, the rain definitely did.

The light pattering quickly turned to rough rattling as each drop grew in size and speed. With each drop that landed on my skin, it mildly stung. Given where we were, it was easy to predict that the rain wouldn’t be so gentle. In the midst of the wilderness. If we were lucky, the rain wouldn’t turn into a storm.

I wanted to roll my eyes. Of course, it would turn to a damn storm. I was a bad omen just like he said.

When I started tailing behind, my feet almost slipped on the thick, funky mud, but I regained my balance again.

The cold, combined with the breeze and beads of water, made me shiver. The rainwater was already accumulating in my hair and falling from the tips of my short strands. I rubbed my shoulders and arms to keep warm while keeping my gaze fixed on his back.

He stopped in his tracks and turned his upper body to the side to look at me.

“We need to start running!” Even though he yelled at the top of his lungs over the drumming rain, I couldn’t hear him, prompting him to repeat himself. “We need to hurry the hell up!”

He began jogging, and with a final glance at the distant wooden shelters and my surroundings, I followed suit.

The atmosphere scared the wits out of me. It resembled that of a nightmare.

It was dark and the grey woolly clouds showered the place with thick beads of water. Each blob pattered against the leaves, causing the endless drumming noise across the terrain. Just by managing to reach us and hit us with its light blow, this showed that the rain was strong enough to pass the various obstacles and layers of leaves to reach us.

I couldn’t imagine what it would be like if we weren’t inside the forest and protected by the leaves.

As I kept running at a gentle pace, I became aware of how cold my body was. My fingertips had gone numb and I couldn’t feel them. I hoped they’d warm up after a minute of running.

My lungs began to burn and the sweat droplets on my neck started to form even though I wasn’t running at full speed.

I noticed Chase slowing his pace a bit, glancing at me several times to make sure I was still behind him.

After covering a good distance, Chase decelerated and then abruptly stopped dead in his tracks, but it was too late as I collided face-first with his back.

I backed away, cupping my nose as it stung a little.

“What’s wrong?” I groaned and moved forward to stand by his side, one hand cupping my nose.

“Shh!” He raised his right arm, blocking me from moving forward.

I followed his gaze and when my eyes met the black moving vehicle in the clearing, rotating around the house, my hand dropped to my side.

“What are we going to do?!” I screamed, increasing the burn in my already blazing lungs. “Chase! They arrived before we—”

“Lower your voice!” he snapped.

I was sure they wouldn’t hear me over the clattering rain and the thrumming of the engine, but I lowered it anyway.

“What are we—”

Chase’s impulsive action cut my words off as my eyes slowly widened. He grabbed my aching fingers and with a strong tug, I was pulled out of our hiding space and into the clearing. I sent him a horrified expression, not believing we were out here and away from the protection of the wilderness.

One glance behind them and we were toast.

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