HORNS (BoyXBoy)

Chapter 193

Author's Note: Sorry about the long wait. I... kinda had serious heart problems and wound up in the hospital for a month and a half? I'm probably not going to be okay for a while, but I'll update when I can, hopefully more frequently than before. Finishing this book satisfactorily is a priority for me, but anyway, I hope you lovelies enjoy this chapter.

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Chapter One Hundred and Ninety-Three

Cops were literally everywhere.

My pulse was pounding in my ears and temples as I lay hidden in a ditch along the side of the road, watching with enormous eyes as fifteen State Trooper vehicles with flashing red and blue lights shredded down the street, sirens screaming towards the college campus.

"Shit," I whispered, terrified to the core as I spotted several news vans speeding after the cops. I waited for a few moments after they'd vanished, then lifted my head and looked around, warily scanning the dark, swaying trees, but I didn't see any movement. 

My intention had initially been to escape and rendezvous with Luka, Sasha, and Dari, but my path had been interrupted by squads of police, news vans, police helicopters, and it hadn't helped that there had been more explosions coming from the campus. 

I was terrified for Echo, for Renee, and Jun, and Katrina, and Erika, and Kip and I couldn't erase the image of all the dead people in front of my apartment, but for right now, I had to get moving. I had to make it to safety. 

Just as I was about to get up and continue on my way, another set of sirens lit up the nighttime quiet and I flopped flat, looking down the street to see another fleet of cop cars shredding down the road toward me. My eyes went wide when I saw SWAT vehicles among them. 

"Oh, my God," I breathed, watching them speed towards the campus in horror. "If they've got SWAT teams on the way there, then... does that mean normal people know what's happening?"

Terror filled my stomach. 

With trembling hands, I dug around in my hoodie pocket and took out the phone Sebastian had given me before pulling my arms and head inside the cloth, curling up. I hoped that the fabric would hide the light of my phone screen from outside view while I pulled up my news app, but to my horror, news articles about the attack were the first thing that popped up. 

I instantly snapped my phone shut, not wanting to look anymore. 

I pushed my arms back through the sleeves and wriggled my head back out into the open air, then flopped flat on my back and stared at the dark, frothing sky overhead. I didn't even wince under the mixture of sleet and fine rain pelting my face. 

I didn't know what to do. 

"This... can't be ignored," I whispered, shivering violently as I stared at the sky, cringing as even more cops with blaring sirens screeched past me, followed by several firetrucks. "How the hell are we going to hide our existence from humanity? There has to have been witnesses."

I clenched my jaw and took a deep breath in, pulse pounding in my neck and throat. Then, I carefully rolled over and peered over the edge of the grass, looking at the dark street and towering, ominous trees surrounding it. I flicked my ears to and fro, listening.

Aside from the distant sirens, I heard nothing out of the ordinary. 

"Okay... it's time to move, for real," I whispered, carefully crawling out into the open. I nearly had a heart attack when my phone suddenly rang. I scrambled back into the bushes, throat tightening up as I fumbled with the device in my pocket and frantically pulled it out. With trembling fingers, I answered the call and put it to my ear, whispering a shushed, "Hello?!"