Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 120230 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120230 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
There was nothing.
I’d break their backs dragging them down the stairs.
And though the snow had stopped falling, and I’d put them on the landing instead of beyond it, it remained bitterly cold. Ash would die before dawn, I was certain of it. As for Aaron . . . hypothermia could kill, and his system was already vulnerable, depressed by the drug that had stolen his consciousness.
I dropped my hands from my eyes, a half-eaten granola bar in my grip.
Spots of blood had bloomed on the towel I’d taped to Darcie, and while Grace’s remained white, she hadn’t stirred since she went down.
I didn’t have to be a doctor to know that wasn’t a good sign.
Vansi and the woman with Bea’s face might be all right if they hadn’t been overdosed, but Kaea’s breathing was so shallow I kept expecting to hear it stop altogether.
Giving up on the food, I gulped the sweet soda that stuck to the back of my teeth, and I made my decision: I had to try to get help. I couldn’t live with doing nothing and waking up to at least two dead friends, likely more.
If I decided to head out into the snow, it was only my own life I’d be putting at risk. They’d all still be in the same position as if I’d sat on my hands. Bleeding. Freezing. Dying.
My gaze landed on Grace and Darcie once more, flicked to Vansi and Kaea.
Shit. I couldn’t leave Grace and Darcie here. I didn’t trust either of them. What if the one behind the horror of the past days woke while the others were still unconscious? What if that person managed to escape their bonds?
I could wrap them up even tighter, but what if Vansi woke and they talked their way out of their bonds? What if the wrong one talked her way out? Leaving V a note wouldn’t be a slam dunk—especially as time went on, and her soft heart began to bleed at seeing badly wounded people incapacitated on the floor.
All good reasons, but the real one was that I couldn’t walk out the door while these two remained with my unconscious, vulnerable friends. I’d panic halfway down the drive, turn back.
As for her.
Leaving her behind had never been an option.
“None of it matters unless you can get out, Luna.”
Maybe the sugar in the soda rebooted my brain, but the first thing I thought of was the farm vehicle Aaron had mentioned. I didn’t know what “farm vehicle” entailed, but it was time I found out if I could drive it out of here.
45
Iwent to Kaea’s pack.
I’d need more than my jacket if I intended to go outside.
Kaea didn’t let me down. He’d packed thermal gear, including gloves. After stripping off to the skin but for my bra, I used a spare towel to rub off any remaining bits of sweat, then began to layer on clothing as he’d taught me once, prior to a snow-tramp.
I even wrapped a scarf around the lower half of my face.
The last thing of his I used was a thin woolen cap. After pulling it on, I shrugged into my jacket and flipped up the hood over the cap. My face was flushed, my skin prickling with heat, but that wouldn’t last once I stepped outside.
I checked one more time to make certain neither Grace nor Darcie could get out of their bonds. Logic said I should tape up the woman in the bloody white dress, too, but I couldn’t do it. Not when she had Bea’s birthmark and when she’d called me “Nae-nae.”
As it was, when I checked on her, it was to find her respiration and pulse unchanged. She was as unconscious as Vansi. Vansi, who was helpless. If I was wrong and this woman did wake, this woman with so much blood on her dress . . .
Just think of her as an unknown, Luna. Don’t look at her face. Don’t think about her birthmark.
Dry sobs racked my frame as I made myself turn her, tape her hands together behind her back.
Mind threatening to crack and breath jagged, I headed into the kitchen, grabbed what I needed. My next stop was the back door.
Taking a deep breath, I pulled it open.
The cold bit like a ravaging beast, but with most of my face protected by Kaea’s lightweight scarf, I didn’t hesitate.
“Hesitation kills you dead in cold weather, Lunes.” Kaea, zipping up my jacket during that long-ago trip. “Think on your feet and keep moving.”
Tugging the kitchen door shut behind me, I went down the steps and found the bright pink rope that Kaea and Ash had used as a guideline.
When I tugged, it held firm.
No way for me to grip it securely, however, and still hold on to my flashlight well enough that it didn’t end up lost in the snow. Tucking it into a pocket created the same problem—and it seemed a pointless risk when the light barely penetrated the sleeting darkness.