Page 102 of Camera Stays On

“Mick?” I turned in time to see him rise from the roof and pause, then rush toward us. “What are you—” My words were cut off as he outstretched his arms and shoved Darius off the roof.

Darius screamed but it was cut short in an instant when he hit the ground. Silence stretched as my gaze slowly moved from Mick to over the edge, where Darius lay.

As soon as I saw him, I flinched and looked away. He must have hit headfirst. Blood and bone and brain matter surrounded him, and the rest of his body was twisted and warped in a way that told me even if his head were intact, he wouldn’t have survived.

“Why did you do that?” I asked, reaching for my knife. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Mick snickered. “You heard him. You saw him walk toward the edge. He was gonna do it. He should be thanking me. It wasn’t suicide. Now, he can get to heaven.”

I stared, dumbfounded. How could he be so cold?

He rolled his eyes and started toward the window he’d come out of.

“That’s horrible.”

“Look, we’re not all going to survive. Sawyer made that clear when he shot Gavin in the face. If someone wants to sacrifice themselves...fuck it. Let him go. I’d suggest you figure out a little self-preservation too, Ash.” He ducked through the window and popped his head back out, grinning wide. “Now, onto Juliet.”

“Why don’t you kill me?” I asked. The opportunity was right here. It would be a struggle, but if he was that determined to be the sole survivor he could have tried to push me over the ledge, too.

He laughed. “You need to be here to kill your brother. Once he’s gone, we’ll see about it. Good luck.”

Silence returned as Mick left as quickly as he’d come. Turning back to the front, where all I could see were miles and miles of trees, I caught sight of something moving just along the edges.

No, not something. Someone.

My blood chilled as I stepped closer to the edge of the roof, squinting to see who was running, or rather, limping. And then, I recognized the clothes and hair.

Bea.

Chapter 46

Asher

MY KNEE-JERK REACTION was to bolt forward, but I took one step and remembered I was on the edge of the roof on the second floor. Cautiously, I closed my knife and stuffed it back into my pocket. Creeping toward the edge, I looked down at the ground. Poor Darius, I thought, as my gaze found his body. I couldn’t look long.

I took a moment to assess the situation. Sawyer had us locked from inside, but I couldn’t reach the ground from here safely. I paced the roof, looking for options, and my eyes settled on a tree brushing up against the house. Could I climb onto it and then down the trunk?

Going to the far end of the roof, I stretched my arm out. My fingertips just barely touched the large branch. Gripping it tightly, I tested its weight, pushing on it. It could hold me…maybe.

Bracing myself, I leaped off the roof, holding tight to the branch. My muscles strained as I moved hand over hand, like monkey bars, across the branch until I reached the safety of the trunk. I climbed all the way onto the tree and rested a moment in the crook of the branch before taking the rest of the way down. I landed on the grass and looked around. I made it.

Excitement was short-lived, knowing that Andi was still inside and Darius was now dead. Regret seeped into my stomach, and I swallowed the lump in my throat. I hated to leave her, but I had to find Bea. Pulling my knife back out, I turned away and started walking toward the forest.

While Mick claimed not to want me dead yet, I didn’t trust him not to surprise me at any moment. He’d had no qualms over killing Darius. He could be lying just to catch me unprepared.

I couldn’t focus on him right now, though. I had to catch Bea before she completely disappeared into the woods. She had been involved in setting up the cameras; how much of Sawyer’s plans did she know? The more I thought about it, the more sad and confused I grew about the whole situation. I’d been raised alongside Sawyer. We’d lived together for most of our lives. How did I not see how far his obsession went with Andi? I needed Bea to fill in the gaps of my knowledge regarding what Sawyer intended to be the outcome here.

Once I hit the trees, I slowed and called her name.

“Bea!” I stopped and listened. There was rustling, but then it stopped, so I called again. “Bea! Please, it’s me, Asher. I’m not going to hurt you.”

There was a beat of silence and then the rustling resumed, faster this time. I started in that direction, calling to her, lowering my volume.

“Bea, I’m not going to take you back there. I just need to figure out what you know.”

“I don’t know shit,” she snapped from wherever she was. I turned and followed her voice. As I walked, I caught sight of another animal trap. Smaller than the one that had gotten her foot. Pausing briefly, I found a thick branch and stuck it into the trap, setting it off with a sharp clang as the metal snapped shut. I picked up another stick and began looking for more traps while speaking to Bea from a distance.

“You do. What did he have you do, and why?”