Page 151 of Run
Ari’s voice, as quiet and shaky as the first time she ever spoke to me, sitting on the rocks by the creek, speaks up. “Do it.”
“Count.” Axel pulls his arm back and the belt goes swinging through the air, the metal of the buckle catching the light.
“Ari, no!” My cry is drowned out by the slap of leather across her back and the shrill in Ari’s voice as she sucks in a gasp of air, and then forces out, “One.”
“Stop!” I swallow, and although my mouth is full of thick, bloody saliva, it also feels bone dry. “I said come at me! Come on, Axel—I’m all yours!” I throw my arms out to my sides to show him I’m wide open as I try to stand and stumble again, falling back to the ground.
“Again,” I hear Ari, more sternly this time.
The crack of leather against my beautiful, sweet love rings out once more. “Two.”
As Axel brings his arm back again, I push up off the floor, but before I can take a step in his direction, Ari spins and throws her arm out, and the belt wraps around it repeatedly. With Axel momentarily confused, Ari pulls her arm back, bringing Axel with it, and swings something at him. He goes stumbling to the side, clutching his head, and he stays down, groaning.
“Ari.” I take drunken steps toward her, and she closes the distance between us. I try to assess her but can barely see past the darkening edges of my vision, and the sweat and blood dripping into my eyes. “Call the police,” I say frantically as I pat my pockets and find my phone.
Ari takes it as she steadies me. “Ethan, you need to sit, you’re losing a lot of blood.” She pushes a hand against my side.
“Huh?” I feel so weak.
“Hello? We need an ambulance and police.” Ari rattles off the address as I close my eyes and drag in shallow breaths. “Please hurry, he’s losing so much blood.” Although her voice is full of terror, it’s still the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard.
“Open your eyes, Ethan,” that voice says. “Ethan!” I snap my eyes open as Ari crouches in front of me, placing a palm against my face. “Just stay alert until the ambulance gets here, OK?”
I nod, bringing my hand up to hold it against the one she has on my face, and my eyes catch something behind her.
ARI
Ethan’s eyes widen before his free hand grabs my upper arm and shoves me to the side, and I trip over the old snowmobile parts and fall backward. I hear gritting and grunting and crashing as I scramble back to my feet, and see Ethan and Axel wrestling on the ground. I look for anything that’s close, seeing the blow torch and the small propane tank it’s attached to. I grab it and charge at the mass of limbs and bodies entwined, and make sure I connect with Axel’s head.
He curses but doesn’t go down. Instead, he spins on me and rips the tank out of my hands, and immediately I feel the heat of the flame as he stands back, blowing it in my direction. “After everything I’ve done for you.” He slowly advances on me, and I retreat. “I gave you food. Shelter. I taught you how to shoot a rifle, how to change a tire. Hell, I even taught you how to throw a punch.”
He keeps walking toward me, the flame bringing sweat to the surface of my skin before he lowers the torch and looks at me with tortured eyes. “If I can’t have you, no one will.” He turns and blows the flame on an old burlap tarp sitting on the workbench, and it goes right up in flames. Next, he catches the old, tattered curtains covering half the window, and flames quickly start licking up them too.
Before he can do any more damage, Ethan lunges at him and they both go rolling, but Ethan breaks away and scrambles to me. “Ari, we have to—” A flash of metal crosses Ethan’s face as his voice is cut off and his eyes go wide. On his knees, his hands go to his throat, and I see a chain pulled tightly against it. Standing behind him, Axel has the chain wrapped around his fists as he pulls it tight around Ethan’s neck.
“No!” I try to go to them, but a line of flames quickly travels across a patch of grease in the garage, and I jump back. “Axel, stop! Please!” I watch Ethan’s fingers dance around his neck, trying to find a sliver of an opening around the chain.
The heat from the flames is intense as they rapidly spread across the garage, but I hear sirens in the distance and know we just have to hold out a little longer. The fire keeps spreading and the warmth and the sound of it sucking up the oxygen is intoxicating. I look at Ethan. His face is red and veins are bulging out on his neck and forehead as he struggles for air.
Axel pulls tighter.
“Ari,” Ethan is able to barely spit out. I look around, panicked, searching for a way out—for both of us. “Red,” I hear faintly, and look up and into Ethan’s eyes. His fingernails are broken and bleeding from tugging at the chain, his left eye is swollen shut and his nose crunched, and his shirt is soaked in blood. Tears stream down his face. “Run … Ari, run.”
Clarity hits me like never before. “Ethan.” His good eye barely settles on me. “I told you, I will never run from you again.”
The tears fall down his face as I sink to the floor as we accept our fate.
Suddenly, the door to the outside swings open and a uniformed officer appears, covering his mouth with his forearm. “Is anyone in here?”
“Yes!” I jump up, coughing, and the officer looks through the smoke toward us, taking in the scene. “Please, help!”
He sees Ethan on his knees, with Axel behind him, strangling him, and the officer pulls out his gun. “Drop the chain!”
Axel doesn’t waver. The flames get bigger and hotter, and the air grows black as the officer warns again. “I said, drop the chain!” When Axel still doesn’t obey, the officer curses, then charges at them and smashes the butt off his gun against Axel’s head once, twice, three times until Axel finally relaxes his hold and falls to the ground, unconscious.
Ethan gasps as he sucks in a gulp of air, and the officer helps him unravel the chain. “Ari.” Ethan is still gasping, pushing the officer off him. “Get her … out …”
Without hesitation, the officer jumps up, looks around, runs back outside and returns in an instant with a tarp. He bats at some of the flames with it, clearing them just enough for me to jump through, and the two of us half-drag a stumbling Ethan out the door. Once the three of us are outside and a good distance away from the garage, we all crumble to the dirt. The officer speaks into a radio on his shoulder, “I need backup. Fire, EMS, additional officers.” As he gives the address, I notice his arm is covered in ink. A set of paw prints tattooed on his forearm sticks out, and my eyes snap to his.
