Cell Mates (boyxboy) (Book 1: Behind Bars)

Chapter 40: Stacks of metal.

Chapter 40

While the chaos erupted around me I could only feel the weight of Kyle's body pressed against mine and the hardened earth digging into my hands and face, as the pounding in my ears grew louder and louder. I couldn't tell if Kyle was hurt, I couldn't even tell if I was, the only thing I knew, was that I was scared stiff to the point where I could no longer open my mouth to scream.

I snapped my eyes shut, as if not being able to see the flying bark and leaves would somehow make it all go away. My chest felt tight, my nose was running and I imagined the wet stuff seeping through my eye lids to be tears. I took a shallow breath which hurt like hell and only succeeded in burning my sore throat. When I felt Kyle shift above me, my heart jumped with relief.

He was okay.

He wasn't dead...at least as far as I could tell.

"Ah!" I heard him yell right then and a moment later his weight completely left my body and I was being pulled from the ground, almost roughly.

"Come on, stay as close to the ground as you can and run!" I heard Nathan shout and I twisted around in surprise to see him right behind me, shoving me and Kyle into the direction he wanted us to go.

I stumbled a few times because I was foolish enough to look back, checking to make sure Nate was still safe behind us, and my aching chest didn't do much to make the journey any easier.

Shots were still being fired and every so often I could swear a stray whizzed past us, but with Nate's insistence I kept going, tearing through the trees as fast as I could manage, while keeping my head down and body bent at the waist. Twice I fell, injuring my already scraped up knee and I could feel the blood running down the inside of my pant leg.

The further we ran, the more muted the sounds of the shooting became, and after a while, all I could hear was the sound of our feet passing lightly over the ground and my own heart still pounding rapidly in my chest. When I peeled my eyes from the ground and looked up ahead, I spotted Eddie just as he dove behind the bark of a tree, and even further away I could see John, settling in with a guy whose identity I couldn't decipher from such a distance.

The third time I tripped, it was over the unmoving body of a man I'd never seen before and I slapped my hand over my mouth to hold in the shocked shout that was sure to burst free, when I realized  just why he wasn't moving; a shot to the head.

I watched, with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach as Nate searched through the man's clothes, managing to pull a silver gun from the waistband of the dead guy's jeans. Then we were on the move again.

Beside me, Kyle panted as we went, expertly sidestepping protruding roots and every other trap nature flung our way, but with each step the tightness in my chest grew until I felt as if I couldn't breathe. When the tingling started in my fingers and the black dots started flashing before my eyes I stopped completely, sliding against a weak looking tree and onto the ground, where I clutched at my chest in hopes that the feeling would pass.

Nate grabbed my arm, trying to pull me up again, but I fought against his hold in panic, desperately shoving him away from me so I could catch a breath.

"Run! Go to Eddie!" he shouted at Kyle who took off in the direction we had been going.

"Riley, come on we can't stay here!" Nate was yelling but even though he crouched directly in front of me, he sounded farther away.

"I can't...breathe...wa...wait." I gasped out. By now my lungs were burning, and I tore at my shirt trying to get it off me so I could breathe easier.

Nate grabbed my hands and pulled me up, but my knees buckled, and he was forced to drag me along the ground while I continued to gasp for air. I felt as though I was drowning and I fought, kicking and clawing at him so I could catch a breath.