Page 108 of Sawyer

I almost want to laugh, to bark out a chuckle at the absolute ridiculousness of the last few hours. I jinxed myself earlier when I thought that this day couldn’t get any worse, and yet here we are.

What the hell are we supposed to do now? And what does he mean we are being hunted? By what?

What could be out here stalking us aside from betas?

Rumor begins to slowly work his way through the thick woods, the rest of us following close behind. My eyes stray to the silent forest, and I try to see past the branches and bushes. I just want to glimpse what he’s referencing, but there’s nothing out here for me to see.

Although the glasses allow me to see the shapes of the trees and the lines of the bushes, the color hurts my eyes, and focusing too hard causes a spike of pain in my head.

All I can do is move forward and hope that Rumor can get us somewhere safe—or as safe as possible, given our circumstances.

Trusting him comes easily. It mitigates just how dangerous the situation is and how badly things could go, and I know he means well when he promises to keep me safe.

Something tickles my hand a moment before I feel a slight pinch, and without thinking, I flick my hand, and a little gasp leaves my lips. Sin grabs me, slapping a hand over my lips and dragging me backward. My breathing hiccups, and the glasses get knocked to the side, leaving me to see with one eye in green and the other normally.

Shaking my head, I dislodge the glasses, because that’s even worse than only being able to see one way or the other.

I can feel Sin’s heart slamming against his chest, but he works on evening his breathing to keep me calm.

That’s when I see them. I didn’t even notice them with the glasses, yet as the moon shines overhead, I see the eyes that peer at us from ten feet away, crouched and silent.

Fear spikes inside of me, and luckily, the suppressants work.

“Move,” Sin says.

My entire body shakes as I follow Rumor once more. This time, I leave my glasses off as I crawl through the woods. My hand aches where I felt the pinch, but I need to keep moving.

Every now and again, I see eyes peering at us, but they don’t move. They just watch. One creeps closer than the other, and I can just make out the outline of an enormous beast. I quickly turn away and scramble after Rumor.

We don’t hear any others, not a guard, not even a walkie-talkie.

I don’t know why we’re still crawling, but I don’t dare stand. I just follow Rumor until we hit a clearing. Darkness stretches ahead of us, and those eyes still watch us silently. Some dare to creep closer, while some remain farther back.

They don’t attack, though, and I’m not sure what that means.

Inch by inch, we step into the clearing and rise.

As gravity presses down on me, my hand hums. I can feel my heartbeat in my thumb, so I cradle my hand as I stumble forward.

Rumor tucks me against his side, and we walk into a cave together.

I trust him to lead me because I can’t see a damn thing, nothing but darkness.

Sweat beads on my forehead, and my arm aches. “Rumor,” I whisper, not wanting to feel like I’m in distress, but I’m pretty sure something bit me.

“I know, baby girl, I know.” There’s worry in his voice, but I don’t think he knows about my hand. “Sit here.”

Ever so slowly, I lower to the cold, damp ground, unbuckling my bag as I go. Exhaustion slips through me, and I lean heavily on my pack as I take a mental evaluation of my body.

I’m tired, probably because of the spikes of adrenaline and being watched the entire way here, but even more is the ache in my hand and the way it pulses painfully.

I need a healing elixir.

Light beams at me from the cave entrance, and I squint against the blinding light. I don’t miss the way the walls scurry, and that makes me want to vomit, or it could be from the way my arm burns.

“Cave spiders, they are harmless.” Bryn kneels before me, putting his small flashlight in his teeth as he reaches for my hand.

With the light on it, I can see the bite. It doesn’t look like much, just two little dots in the middle of a raised red circle. Bryn lifts my hand to his nostrils where he sniffs. He does so again, then a third time.

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