Chapter 15. When Monsters Wake

Rae:

Pain blooms along my cheekbone, sharp and blinding.

Before I can recover, rough hands grip my hair and drag me across the jagged, sunbaked road.

The rocks tear through my jeans, digging into my knees, my palms.

I taste blood.

Somewhere behind me, Eliza screams my name.

They’re laughing.

Drunk on cruelty.

I let them.

Play limp.

Play weak.

Wait for it.

Wait for it—

Then—

Move.

I twist hard, slamming my elbow into the man's gut.

He grunts, stumbling.

I spin, low and fast, kicking his knee out from under him.

He hits the ground with a heavy thud.

Another one lunges.

I duck under his arms, grab a rock, and smash it into the side of his head.

He drops like a sack of rotten meat.

Eliza is fighting too now, kicking and thrashing.

She manages to grab a fallen gun — trembling, wild-eyed — and fires.

The sound cracks the air wide open.<