Take Me Tomorrow

Chapter 33: Shoot Them

He pushed my face under the water. I squirmed. The creek bed shifted against my back, and the water became foggy. He sat on my stomach. He held me down. He weighed too much to fight him off of me. Then, as suddenly as he had taken me down, his presence was gone.

I sat up, my head spinning. My legs twitched. My fingernails never left the muddy bottom. Next to me, Rinley hit Anthony across the face with a rock, again. He fell sideways, his moaning echoing. He wasn't unconscious, but he was down. I was up, but I hadn't moved a single limb.

Rinley scrambled to her feet before pulling on my shirt.

"Wait," I croaked out, my hands skimming the river. My knife was inches away. I picked it up and swung it into my wet pocket. My legs followed mechanically, and we were off, running, tripping, coughing up water. Wondering how I got here.

Lily's white hair swung in the distance, and I focused on it as I ran, my neck burning from Anthony's fingertips. It was as if he was still on top of me, drowning me, and the dogs weren't far behind. Their snarled barking were closing in as sirens suffocated any air we managed to breathe.

My eyes burned. Tears formed and spilled over the bottom of my eyelashes before I even realized I was crying. I tried to force them away by shutting my eyes. I didn't have the time to cry.

"I can't see," Lily screamed from behind me. Apparently, I had passed her.

I forced my eyes open and stared at a thick gas as it floated off of the city streets and into the ravine. That explained the crying, the burning.

"Climb," I screamed as my feet stabilized on the shaky ground.

I stumbled upward, my vision continuing to fog over in a delirious haze. Solid objects became shadows. Soon, the blackness became the only thing I could see. Reaching around for anything to put my hands on, my fingers grasped cloth. I tried to move away. But hands gripped my arms and yanked me toward them. A person.

I shouted, ready to fight again, as they let go, only for a black blob to wave in front of me. Five shapes extended from it, small but familiar. A hand. The face of a watch flashed through the haziness of my vision. Broden? I pictured my best friend, only to have my vision slowly clear and reveal a totally different face. Noah. His lips moved as he spoke, but I couldn't hear him. He was already so far away. He was gone.

"Sophie." He shook me so softly that I barely felt it. "It's me. Noah." His fingers moved to my neck, and I winced. The sinking pressure had crushed my collarbone. "What happened to you?"

I blinked, and my vision cleared, but he was no longer looking at me. He had focused behind me, and I turned my head around, still in his grasp.

Rinley had caught up, but only her blue eyes had color. Everything else was covered in mud. She froze a yard away, unable to move, and Noah dropped his hands from my arms.

He left me and rushed over.

Rinley's arms were up before he ever reached her. She clutched onto him when he finally did. Her fingers dug into his sage-colored coat, and she buried her face into his chest. Even with the sirens, her sobs were heard.

He laid a hand on her short black hair as if he couldn't believe her long blonde strands were gone. "You're okay, Rinley. I got you."

"Noah," his sister cried as I pressed my hand against my lips, trying not to cry myself.

"Hold it together," Noah ordered softly, pulling her back to look at her. "We aren't safe yet."

She sniffled and rubbed her nose on her black jacket. The mud rubbed off. "I thought—I thought you might be dead."