Chapter 8

Oh gosh, please no, I silently prayed.

Please, she can't be..

I couldn't finish that thought. If I let myself think it, that would make this situation real. And there is no way this can be real.

I pushed myself over to my mother and crumpled with her to the shining linoleum. Blood started to pile under her and it wasn't until then I realized she must have been shot.

Her light shirt was soaked right in the center of her chest. The stain was almost black with lighter red around the edges of the dark circle.

“No. No, no, no, it's okay. It will be okay.”

I didn't realize I was speaking until my voice started to get choked with emotion.

“Mom, it's going to be okay. You're okay, you're fine. Look at me, you're going to be okay, Mom.” I pleaded with her, grabbing her face and making her vacant eyes look at me. Her glazed eyes saw right through me.

Distantly, I heard some struggling and cursing. But I didn't pay attention.

The only thing I really focused on was the amount of blood pouring from my mother's body. There's no way anybody has that much blood in her body.

I moved both my hands to her wound and pressed hard on the small hole in the center of her chest.

“Mom, please! Come on! Mom!”

My heart felt like it had been shot, not Mom's. The shattering was almost tangible as I started at my mom's lifeless body. Clear drops fell on my hands, still pressed firmly to her shirt.

My white skin was absorbing the red and staining them with a rich crimson, but I really didn't care.

My voice was cracking again and my words were barely distinguishable. My body was starting to shake from the abundance of liquid that was leaving my eyes, but my hands stayed immobile in their spot.

I lowered my voice to a whisper now. The desperation in my voice was almost pathetic. “Mom, please. For me. Stay for me.”

An arm snaked around my waist and lifted me off the ground, raising me from my dying mother. I thrashed and scratched, kicking at the form behind me in hopes it would let me go.

“No! No, let me go! Let me go now! She needs me,” I pleaded with my captor. They only tightened their grip and continued to haul my thrashing body away from my mother's body.

“She's already dead,” the man said heartlessly, nearly mocking my pain.

I felt all the resolve leave my body as I took another look at her lifeless body.

Her eyes were glazed over and her blonde hair was stained red from the overabundance of blood pooling under her motionless body.

“No, she's not. She can't be.” I squirm in his arms again and he struggles to keep his arms around my waist. “No, she's not dead!”

I heard some wrestling distantly again, but refused to pay it any attention. Instead, I struggled to get loose again.

As if on demand, my captor released me and I crumpled to the ground, my feet unstable under me. I crawled back over to my mom, grabbing her own hand in mine. It was starting to cool and turned pale. Really pale.

Tears were coming to my eyes faster than they could fall and my vision blurred before me. My heart felt as though it was going to burst from my chest, and I knew it wasn't just from the imprint.

A jolt rang through my body and demolished some of the heartache that was eating from the inside-out. When the lightning left my veins, it finally registered that there was a cold, wet nose pressing against my arm.

I reluctantly tore my eyes from my mother's form and looked up into dark, chocolate eyes. The deep color looked absolutely distraught, and it was then I realized he was bearing this burden with me.

And it was only then that I realized the truth. My mother was gone.

She's dead.

I dropped her hand and turned to wrap my arms around Nathan's neck. His fur was rough and warm under my touch and I buried my face in his shoulder.

My sobs shook my body heavily as I sat there and drenched his fur. I felt him shift slightly and opened my eyes enough to see he was sitting. He was just waiting patiently for me to finish.

My mother just died trying to save me.

The realization hit me hard and I clung to Nathan's fur tighter, dreading this moment. Here I was, after I nearly beat my brother to death, watching my mother die for me before my eyes.

Another shot echoed around us and I finally registered what was happening. We still weren't safe. We still had to get out of here. And alive.

I pulled from Nathan and looked behind him, expecting there to be an army running for us. Bodies laid slaughtered haphazardly around the ground, at least a dozen.

Blood was spilled mercilessly on the floor, standing out brightly against the luminescent white tile. I focused on the body closest to me and noticed his throat was ripped out, thrown on the ground a few feet from his body.

I stared stunned at the bodies laid out in front of me. I felt sick from looking at all that blood, but I couldn't seem to tear my eyes from the mess laid out in front of me.

What kind of a monster did this?

Footsteps started to sound again and Nathan nudged me with his nose, urging me to get up. He knew as well as I did that if we stayed here, we would be next in line in terms of tragedies.

Nathan pushed me again, a little harder this time. I lost my balance and fell over, which jumped me to action.

I finally tore my eyes away from the massacre and placed my feet under me, pushing towards the door. My heart still felt heavy with despair, but it was a lot more functional than what it was just minutes before.

I pushed my weak legs under my eyes in a pathetic attempt to run. I felt Nathan at my heels and urged me to try and go faster, although I had no idea where I was going. I just kept running down the hall.

I felt Nathan nudge my leg, nearly making me fall from the lack of balance that came with it. I turned around, too emotionally exhausted to be angry. He nodded his head down a hall and started taking some steps, clearly indicating we should go that way.

I obliged, knowing his ability was a lot more reliable than my gut. We took several more turns, Nathan always making sure he was behind to keep an eye on me.

A large, gray steel door stood at the end of the hall and I felt a burst of adrenaline at the thought of escaping from this place. I pushed my legs harder, eager to break through the door,

I kept waiting for someone to jump out from the shadows and gun me down. For someone to shout that this was all a trick and there is actually no way out. That all of this was set up as a test to see what we would do given the opportunity to escape.

But nothing happened. We reached the door and I pressed the horizontal latch, listening to the loud 'Click' that broke through the near silence. I expected a loud alarm to go off and point our captors to where we were. Or a big, red arrow or something. But again, there was nothing.

The darkness outside was accompanied with a hard hit of coldness. I pressed my hand to my chest, feeling my skin pound with exertion. I was lucky I was naturally a runner. That has seemed to come in handy a lot lately. Regardless, I still felt overly exhausted and paused to catch my breath while my eyes adjusted to the darkness.

It was then that I actually realized what I was wearing. They seemed to decide to put me in new clothes. I was dressed head to toe in all black. Long black pants, long-sleeved shirt, belt, everything. The doctors and the rest of the place was infested with white, but they turned me the darkest and most obvious color they probably could in there. But out here? It was their disadvantage.

I desperately sucked air back into my burning lungs and launched myself from the doorway again. This time Nathan led, still in his wolf form. I scanned the parking lot spread in front of me and looked for the car I was supposed to use. To be honest, I didn't really know that much about cars, so I was guessing at every vehicle I looked at, looking carefully at the brands and tags attached to it.

I spotted a gray Camry in the parking lot and went for it, trusting it was the one my mom was talking about. My throat constricted again when I thought about my mom, but I pushed it away, knowing this wasn't the time or place to be thinking about.

Although the car was still newer, it didn't seem like it. The paint was starting to peel off, making it look older than 2007 as I approached it. The right back door was smashed from a previous accident and it was painfully obvious that this car has been driven a lot.

I swerved from behind Nathan, hitting the car to get his attention. He turned around and ran to me, not questioning my sudden means of escape. I yanked on the handle, finding it unlocked, and jumped in, realizing my assumptions about whether this was the right vehicle or not were correct. The keys were still left in the ignition and I twisted them roughly as the machine rumbled and burst into life.

I reached over and opened the door on the other side, nearly hitting Nathan in my frenzy. He jumped in the passenger seat, his huge frame barely fitting. I leaned over and closed the door before hitting the gas and backing out of the parking space.

I grabbed the map from the glove compartment and saw some directions written on it. Other pieces of paper fell out when I pulled the map out, but I could care less about the mess right now. I squinted in the darkness to make out some faint scribbles and a highlighted path on the map.

I pulled out of the parking lot, all the while keeping a firm eye on the rear-view mirror. I expected to see someone racing out here after us, begging us to stop the car and come back. Or writing down the license plate number. But what I saw was much worse.

There was nobody there. Not one bloody soul.

And that unnerved me more than people chasing after us with guns would have.

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