Page 145 of Remnants
The dirt disintegrates a little beneath my hands.
Fuck. Focus.
I use my grip to push myself back, throwing my weight in the other direction until I fall away from it.
Too fucking close.
The same guy is clutching his foot, his boot already gone. My heart’s pounding a mile a minute as I catch my breath from almost falling into his pit. But he’s in reach. I grab his arm and light him up with my gift, finishing the kill in seconds.
A gunshot fires. It’s so loud, so close, that I think I go deaf from its echo in my ears.
I look up and find Aiden standing in front of me, blocking my view of where the gunfire came from.
“Aiden, what—”
Another shot rings in my ears.
Aiden’s body jerks.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Four.
He falls.
I dive to catch him, my arm slipping beneath him at the last second before he hits the ground.
His eyes are closed.
No.
I shake him. “Aiden.Aiden.” My chest constricts tight enough to hurt. To make breathing sharp and cutting.
No, no, no!
This isn’t real. This isn’t happening.
He was just here. Ordering me around.
Pulling my hand free, I stare at the crimson color staining it. My world narrows to that vibrant, glistening shade.
“I promise, we’ll be old and gray one day.”
He can’t be gone that fast. He wouldn’t give up. He wouldn’t lose.
“I’ve never seen anything, anyone, and felt even a sliver of what I feel when I look at you, Raegan.”
I reach for his face with a shaking hand, spreading his blood on his cheek as I try to tell myself he’s only been knocked unconscious. He isn’tgone.
“I’ll give you whatever you want, whatever you need, if it means you’ll stay.”
“Aiden. Wake up. I…I need your help.” My voice cracks, and tears swim in my vision, distorting his face until all I see is red from the blood soaking his shirt. I angrily blink them away, pushing them free to track down my face. Anything, so long as I can see the moment his eyes finally open. “Get up!”
“No matter what happens, the five of us will prevail. I swear this to you, Raegan, on Gordon’s corpse.”
