I nodded. We traveled down the rural highway in silence until I couldn’t stand not knowing what he thought or apologizing to him again. “Hayden, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have read your file. That’s your personal stuff. “
“I would’ve told you, Em. I just didn’t know how to. I thought you’d—Shit!” He slammed on the brakes.
I jerked forward. There was a black car—two-door. Not a Porsche, but it looked familiar, and it was right in the middle of the road.
The tires slipped over the rain-soaked road, losing traction as Hayden whipped the steering wheel into the spin-out. We’d been going too fast to stop so suddenly. The car spun into the other lane, going up on two tires and we sort of hung there in the air for a second. In that pause, my brain flipped back two years.
I heard Hayden curse.
And then we were flung to the side as the SUV rolled. An explosion of white and dust threw me back into the seat. My heart stopped and my lungs seized the moment we came down on the driver’s side, then the roof, then my side. The crash jarred every bone in my body. The air flew from my lungs and my head hit the window with a disgusting thud.
A crack sounded as the SUV took another nasty flip. I couldn’ t even scream. It was like being trapped in haunting memory that wouldn’t relinquish control. My head slammed into the window again and this time the glass shattered under the impact.
Something metallic ripped and pressed into me as we skidded off the road and slid across the field, finally coming to rest on the driver’s side.
I remained still for minutes, stunned and barely able to breathe. Blood, wet and warm, trickled down the side of my head. Something poked into my right leg, leaving it numb. I tried to look around, but the movement hurt. Over the radio, I could hear the tires spinning.
Miraculously, I was still held by my seatbelt and I was alive, I was— Hayden. I didn’t hear him, couldn’t see him.
Frantic, I ignored the waves of red-hot pain and pushed at the airbag until I could see around me. The driver’s airbag had deflated. Hayden lay against the crushed door, motionless and covered in blood.
And through all that blood, he was pale so, so pale.
“Hayden!” I pitched forward, but the seatbelt yanked me back. “Hayden! Wake up! Please—oh, God.
Please be alive.” My fingers, drenched in blood, slipped over the latch.
He didn’t move. I couldn’t even tell if he was breathing, and I couldn’t get the seatbelt undone. Panic poured through me, screams filled my ears. Someone had to help us, right? Hayden had to be alive— he had to be.
This couldn’t be happening again. No. No, not all over—
The passenger door yanked open, startling me. I stopped struggling, stopped screaming. Someone was here to help. Everything was going to be okay.
Arms reached down, wrapping around my waist while a hand felt for the seatbelt. I was too relieved to even think about what would happen if they touched me. I couldn’t tear my eyes off Hayden to even look to see who was pulling me out of the car. I was hoisted into the air for a second, and rain beat down on my face, mixing with tears. “Please help him! Please!”
Then nothing was holding me.
I hit the wet, unforgiving ground hip-first. Fresh, new pain stole my breath. I rolled onto my back, squinting through the sheets of icy rain at the dark shadow towering over me. Slowly, I lifted my head. I recognized the body—the face—as someone I trusted, someone who would help us.
“Please help him,” I whispered, crawling onto my knees.
Without any warning, a booted foot connected with my head. Everything went white, then black.
Chapter 27
When I came to, I noticed two things immediately. I was freezing—so cold my teeth chattered and I couldn’t feel my toes. And I couldn’t move my arms.
I opened my eyes to see nothing but darkness. It was hard to distinguish anything until my sight adapted. Once it did, I delved headfirst into freak-out mode, which didn’t help the pounding in my skull.
I was in a cellar of some sort—an old one used to store things no one wanted. The walls reflected a slimy sort of surface. It took me several seconds to realize water dripped down the blocks, pooling along the floor, soaking my jeans. The thin tank I’d thrown on before leaving the house now clung to me like an icy sheet. I had no idea where my hoodie was.
I really started to spaz out then.
Kicking my legs up, I tried to stand, but couldn’t get my arms out from behind me. They were tied to something—a thick, cold pipe cut into my back. Metal sliced my wrists as I struggled wildly to get them undone. All I succeeded in doing was tearing the skin open, spilling more blood.
A squeaking noise came from one of the dark corners, then the sound of something scurrying across the room.
My heart lodged in my throat. I stopped moving, staring blindly into the shadows. Two beady eyes became visible. I shrieked and yanked my legs up, knocking my shins against something—several coarse, hairy little bodies.
Rats.
I screamed, really screamed, until my throat felt like it’d ripped open. Rats hurried back to the corners, their claws clicking across the cement. I pulled against the pipe, thrashing until my fingers turned numb. Terror consumed me, eating away at the thin grasp I held on sanity.
Time came and went. I lost track. My throat was so hoarse my screams sounded more like moans. I peered into the gloom, sure everything moved—the rats, waiting until I passed out to start nibbling on my skin. A hysterical laugh escaped me—little did they know that the first bite would kill them. My mind started playing tricks on me. I was sure I heard movement above me more than once, but no one answered my cries. No one came. Was this how I would die? By rats or blood loss? Or by freezing to death, because I was pretty sure hypothermia was setting in. At one point, I swore the shadows whispered my name— called to me like some sick chorus of death.
Above me, a door opened. With the sound of a thrown switch, a bulb overhead came on, sparked once, and then dimmed. Footsteps came down the stairs. Boots first, then jeans, leather-covered hands, a heavy sweater rolled up to the elbows… and then any hope I had that this was a good thing crumbled and died.
I squeezed my eyes shut and pretended to be asleep—or dead.
The footsteps neared, stopped, and poked my curled toes. “I know you’re awake.”
I didn’t move, didn’t dare breathe. Not even when the buzzing droned to an intense pitch.
A sigh came. “Ember, I can read your thoughts. I know you’re awake. Don’t make this harder on yourself, or me.”
My eyes snapped opened then. I hadn’t realized how close the monster was to me, but only inches separated us. “Why?” My voice came out hoarse and weak.
Mr. Theo gave me a smile—the same one he wore when he lectured in class. “I’d think it would be obvious at this point.”
But it wasn’t. “I don’t understand.”
“Sorry to make you wait so long. I had to finish up school.” He picked up a rat by its tail. “Dirty little things.”
I swallowed back the taste of bile. His words gave me a hint at the timeline. Hours had passed if he was done teaching.
“You look cold.”
“I… I am,” I whispered.
He tossed the rat aside and rested his hands on his knees. Theo sighed. “You could’ve avoided this. I tried to make it fast before.”
My gaze fell back to him. “I don’t understand. I thought… I thought you liked me. That—”
“That I related to you? With my sad, sad story about a sick mom and kids who hated me? Sorry. Not particularly true. My mother was a cold-hearted bitch who thought her kids were nothing but freaks. She shipped me and my sister off to the Facility when I was only six. Really, this—all of this—isn’t anything personal.”