Page 149 of Out for Blood
Silent tears slink down her face, one after another.
Her lower lip quivers.
And suddenly I know.
Before she says it.
Before she forces the word past her lips.
Before her eyes fill with fresh grief.
I know.
Marie swallows hard and the movement looks painful.
Her eyes drift away from mine when she speaks, her voice so faint I almost don’t hear it.
“Dead.”
The single word drives straight through me.
Everything stops.
My body locks.
The world tilts.
Everything inside me caves in.
No.
The realization barrels into me.
No.
Not Sofie.
Not her.
Images surge through my mind. Her laugh. Her smile. The way she would bounce into a room and somehow make it brighter. The future she was supposed to have. Gone.
Somewhere nearby, voices echo through the theater.
The rescue crew. Medics. Movement.
The girls from the locked room are being carried out.
A doctor kneels beside us and checks Marie’s vitals.
I hardly notice.
Someone grips my shoulder firmly.
Tyler.
He’s saying something, I know he is.
His mouth is moving.
