Page 68 of Burn Like An Angel

“Just hurry!”

At the top, Xander braces Raine to allow him to hook a leg over the barbed wire. My throat closes up as I watch both of them teetering, narrowly avoiding any further cuts or injuries.

My attention is dragged away from them by the sound of raised voices, leaking from the woodland directly behind me. It sounds a lot like orders being screamed.

“Incoming!” I cry out. “Get down, now!”

Encouraging Raine to drop down the other side, Xander watches him descend then drop to the grass beside Lennox. He barely spares his bleeding hand a second glance as he starts to descend after Raine.

“Ripley!” he thunders.

“I’m coming!”

I secure my backpack tight, already climbing up the same route the others took. The fence flexes and bends beneath my weight, the metal protesting at the violation. This is harder than it looks.

My fingers ache, pain slicing into my joints from the pressure caused by gripping such thin, inflexible metal. It’s slick too, making me slip several times, barely clinging on for dear life.

“Faster, Rip,” Xander calls from the bottom. “I see movement.”

“I’m coming! Go take cover!”

“Take Raine and run!” Lennox shouts at him. “I’ve got her.”

“No,” Xander roars back.

“Go! You need more time to guide him!”

Xander reluctantly grabs hold of Raine and makes a beeline for the woodland that surrounds the institute. Raine tries to fight against him, shouting my name, but fails to break free.

Reaching the top in record time, I swing my legs over the barbed wire then toss the torn parka down to Lennox. He catches it, checking to verify that Xander and Raine have made it to safety.

“Go!” I scream down to him.

“Not without you! Shift your ass!”

I quickly drop the backpack to free up my movements. Just a few more steps down and I can jump the rest. Preparing to move, my blood freezes into a solid mass in my veins when a voice calls out.

“Ripley Bennet!”

Teetering, I almost lose balance at the sound of the familiar sneer. I find my next footing, risking a look over the other side of the fence. Four men have broken free from the forest.

Elon’s smarmy grin hasn’t changed. It still sits proudly on his face beneath gunmetal eyes that hold no mercy and his stern, military-cut hair. The sick fuck’s even freshly shaven for the occasion.

He cups his hands around his mouth. “Long time no see, inmate!”

The three men with him are all dressed like something out of a prison escape movie. Thick, padded black clothing and stab proof vests. Holsters loaded with weapons—batons, tasers and guns. They came prepared.

“You look awfully uncomfortable up there,” he jeers. “Fancy hopping down to have a little chat with me and my friends?”

My grip on the chain-links tightens. “Alternatively you could go join your other friend, Harrison, in the Z wing. I heard he’s floating in a tub down there!”

The smirk wipes clean from his face. Elon clenches his stubbled jaw, a hand resting on the gun slotted into his holster.

“Fun’s over, Ripley. I have one job today and not a whole lot of time to do it. You’re on my list of loose ends to clean up.”

Below me, I can see Lennox still lingering. He should’ve run to safety and joined the others. Instead, he looks up at me imploringly, his hands spread wide in a clear message. I watch his lips move.

Jump.

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