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Chapter 26
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Sun thrusts down rays. New wounds sizzle and flowing blood cakes, and all the while Butcher hefts me ever further from the lake's shore.
The bridge swings tumultuously from the impact of runners' feet. The distance behind clogs with black shapes.
With every breath, the space between us and them thins.
My nails burrow into Butcher's back soaked with sweat. Fear and pain mingle together and I feel as if I may faint.
With every jostle the stab of my floating broken rib rises to a higher extreme, eliciting agonized wails. Every bounce of my slack body onto Butcher's immense, bulky shoulder shoves the shattered piece of me further into some unnatural place.
The shadows move close enough that I can see their hoods have fallen away. The faces are open for all to witness. A wild scream slips from my lips. I shut my eyes, but the wild, dark image is impressed behind the lids too.
I never thought I could see something worse than death.
But I have.
And my heart bleeds.
Evil is nearly on the doorstep of our fates when we arrive at the cliff walls on the other side of the bridge. I crane my neck around and take in the panes of rock that kiss the sky. There is no way up this stone wall. All Graduates have gathered here, mouths propped open and crowded with horror. Faced with this obstacle, we all know the truth—that the end has come.
The shadows close in.
"We're going to die!"
"They've got us trapped!"
I shudder and tremble like a tree's branches in tempests. Butcher hefts me off his arm and onto cold stone. The ground seems to move unsteadily and my knees quake just before collapsing beneath me. Before I land on my tailbone a steel hand grabs me, holding me upright. There is no warmth in the touch, no humanity, only frozen will.
"Are you ready?" Butcher demands, looking down. Ready for what? Confused, I fumble for an answer. Instead of waiting for a reply, Butcher yanks me so close that our sweaty fronts are pressed together. Fearing the worst about his intentions, I'm about to struggle free until he wraps my arms around his neck and says, "Hang on."
His legs burst into a top speed sprint while I hang on like a rag doll. Eyes wide and alive with shock, I tighten my grip and wrap my legs around his waist. The others follow us with their gazes, their expressions stripped of everything but fear and disbelief.
Over his shoulder, I see the shadows cut through the first Graduates. A spear shunts through a tall Raider. She goes down, an expression of bewilderment flashing from her eyes to her sorrowful lips.
There's no time to take in the first death, to honor it with some small moment of horror. Instead, I realize what the Raider I cling to has planned. After building up momentum, he launches us both at the wall. I holler as the ground becomes farther and farther away.
He going to kill us, so the shadows can't—to bash our brains against the unyielding rock.
For the few seconds in air I cry out, fearing the soon-coming end where my body becomes a fragmented collection of bones.
That moment comes. My back slams so forcefully into the rock face that my vision becomes a scene of pulsing lights and red spots. Blood bubbles up in my nose and comes gushing down. But instead of killing us, Butcher's long fingers dig into a hollow section of fallen rock. Pressed completely into me, he reaches for another handhold above my head and hauls the two of us higher. Seconds later he finds another place to grip.
Each time he finds a new grip, my back scrapes the unrelenting rock wall, a surface riddled with jagged outcroppings. It swiftly morphs my back into a slick and raw mass. I clench my bottom lip and let silent tears roll.
This is the price of living.
By the time we're halfway up, Butcher becomes so slippery with sweat that I have to adjust my grip to keep from sliding off. Sweat seems to prime the focused power of the Raider. Despite having exhausted his arms for a height of 15 meters, he continues stronger, if not faster than the beginning. My arms weaken, however.
"I can't hold on for much more," I cry out eventually.
Butcher pauses between a new handhold and his current one, glaring down at me. Involuntarily, I shiver.
"Then let go and fall," he says. "It's mind over matter, Princess. If you really want to make it, you will."
A shudder rushes through. How could he suggest that?
Deathly fear warms me over and I glance below. Forms are strewn haphazardly all along the earth. Red pools in which life flowed seep into grass. There are no more living graduates and the shadows have now started up the wall after us. My veins chill with icy blood and I look to the Raider imploringly.
"Please, I'm not strong enough." Tears stream.
Who knew that someday I would begging a Raider to save my life?
Butcher's eyes darken. I let out a sob, knowing that there will be no mercy. But who could expect mercy from a mass murderer anyway? I'm sure he's seen plenty of people fall to their deaths without blinking.
So when his free arm comes around my waist, my eyes overflow with shock.
"You're more trouble than you're worth."
Worth? What could he mean?
Suddenly, he releases his grip on the cliff face and we free fall. I lose my breath in the descent, my aghast screams silenced in the rushing wind. The terror mounts as Butcher's chest rumbles with laughter.
Death feels as if it's got me by the throat—and by the waist.
The eternal falling ends when Butcher manages to grasp an outcropping of rock just above a cave-hole in the face of the cliff. Unlike when we were higher up, the space between us and the climbing shadows falls shorter. They are nearly at the cave's mouth too.
Butcher propels us inside after kicking his legs back and forth for momentum. We tumble on the floor in a tangled heap. Overcome with horror at the psycho that I've mistakenly chained myself to, I try to get up first and run—from both him and the shadows. The cave echoes hollowly, letting me know it goes deeper than it seems.
Just as I've managed to detangle myself and scramble towards the cave's darker depths, an iron grip seizes my wrist. I thrash mightily, but not strong enough to stop Butcher from dragging me with him.
"Let me go!" I collapse onto the cave floor, forcing him to drag all my weight. Dead weight is a burden, especially if you need to move fast. He'll leave me.
He growls as I sprawl out, yanking me up. I find myself crushed at his side, his arm pressed over my two scrawny ones, and hefted along.
Something about his loyalty to me is odd.
He's threatened to leave me twice but when faced with that possibility he relents. What trained fighter would risk himself in such a way for a pathetic tag along? And then he mentioned my worth, as if I were worth something to someone. And I can't forget, he tried to kill me at least three times before!
I need to get away.
Something is dangerously wrong. There are other motives here.
"Let me go or I'll scream and let the shadows know where we are!"
He laughs.
At the moment, I'm trapped with him. He leads the way into the darkness, stealing me along with him. I struggle still, biting and scratching even though it's as effective as pouring a glass of water on a raging bonfire. At my constant resistance, my captor gives a mighty growl of frustration. I'm released and violently shoved forward onto my wobbly knees. The force of the fall makes everything feel as if it's crumpling inwardly. In my moment of pain, Butcher seizes the space between my neck and shoulder, pressing hard.
All senses and feeling go slack, completely numb. I cannot even move my tongue. Strong hands pull my limp form from the cave dirt and shift me over a bulky arm. In the same moment, eerie, hissing voices burst in from the mouth of the cave. A sense of urgency takes over and Butcher breaks into a run so fast that the surroundings blur. We descend further into the cave's insides.
The cave twists and turns. The path narrows and widens, passing over deep pools of glowing water and winnowing through albino undergrowth. When Butcher's made a decent enough gap between us and them, he veers off the path into a mass of strewn boulders. Despite hefting another person—dead weight at that too—he manages to stealthily scamper over to a concealed leaning boulder. The space between the boulder and the next is barely wide enough for one person. However, I'm slipped down off his shoulder and Butcher forces he and my lifeless body into the skinny space. Admittedly, our pursuers will likely run past without suspecting two Graduates hide here.
In the space, my eyes grow wide. Everything of mine presses against Butcher. My forehead brushes his bearded chin and our legs entangle. It's now I notice that I was not wrong in thinking Butcher smells like death—he does.
The smell emanates metal and cold, edged with torment and wrath. I hold my breath because the smell makes me want to cry; it's so full of the suffering of innocents I'm beyond disturbed.
When Butcher notices my eyes growing wide at our closeness, the right end of his lip lifts into the barest, condescending smirk.
My eyes fall from his, focusing instead on two soft mounds protruding from my chest and, horrifyingly enough, being smashed between us. It's also the first time I've realized how little my shredded tunic covers my skin. I suppress a gasp, but the effects of the surprise still rush in. As a result, my irises enlarge again.
Butcher leans down, lips barely brushing my ear.
"Just be glad I'm not aroused."
His response, filled with unconcealed, lustful intent, rings too closely to Cuth. The suggestive statement throws me back through the years. Suddenly, touching this Raider becomes absolutely unbearable. Intoxicating terror forces blood to rush to my limbs, bringing back feeling. Despite the external dangers, I thrash out, trying to claw my way free. Butcher manages to pin me against the rock but it's too late.
The sound of black phantoms swerving past pauses. Ominous silence descends.
We both pause and my heart shoots into overdrive. Hand reaching down in slow motion, Butcher carefully pulls out a shiny black article and flips off the safety. He looks at me blankly, as if to silently blame me for the quickly-approaching chaos.
I turn away, glancing to the left.
There, where the barest of light hits, lies a crooked smile.
A shrill scream bursts from my lips. I scrape away from Butcher and flee, stumbling into open air. At my back flashes the sound of a gunshot and low, depraved groan. I flinch, not at the violence, but at the eeriness of the noise.
Clinging to boulders for stability, I rush forward, blind as to where I should go. The darkness lightens the further I move. Clothing whispers to my left—Butcher has likely caught up to me. It would've killed two birds with one stone if I could've left him behind, but at least I will escape the shadows.
I turn around, thinking I'll see his fearsome face.
Instead, I look a nightmare of wickedness beyond comprehension in the eyes.
A shadow.
Blood drains away, and in the face of pure depravity I drop into a dead faint. Before I collapse completely I feel icy claws entangle around my throat.
"Number 16,999 eliminated," a ghastly voice croaks.
A world of red and black creeps before my eyes. The world curls away.
I'm dead.
Author's Note:
Hello Everyone!! I'm so sorry I didn't update last week! Midterms caught up with me and I had to let this rest for a little.
Is anyone on Spring break right now? (I am!) I am lowkey so excited to binge read on wattpad! lol.
As always, thanks for reading.
AND WHAT THE HECK?! THIS BOOK IS AT 7,500 READS?!
~Sonny Mae