Page 50 of Fourteen Years

“No, it cuts from the windows.” I whispered back, shakily.

“I heard gunshots.”

“I killed them.”

Trevor’s green eyes shot up to mine, shocked.

“WHERE ARE YOU, CONNOR?” Richard’s voice was moving through the house, coming towards the back, to the kitchen where we were located.

Moving towards a hallway at the back, Trevor shoved me through.

“I think this wraps back around to the living room.” he whispered. “There were two entrances. We can come out from behind him. Get through the front door.”

I nodded, trying to stop crying, trying to calm myself again.

Trevor squeezed my hand.

“It's almost over, just be brave a little longer for me, yeah?” he spoke softly, gently.

I tripped over the flooring going back into the living room. The door was feet from me. Escape. The sirens were louder.

“Not so fast, you dumb bitch.” Richard’s voice came from my left, and Trevor shot, firing the gun as he knocked me to the side out of the way.

Richard cursed and tackled him. I couldn’t even tell if he’d been hit, and I was screaming at Trevor to shoot again. Standing shakily, I moved to the side, panicked, as Trevor got to his feet, Richard following, slower.

Trevor reared back, punching him in the jaw as hard as he could, and the floor where Richard fell gave under him causing some flooring to fall and shift.

“TREVOR!” I screamed, terrified the entire room would cave into the basement.

Trevor stepped back towards me and Richard lunged, grabbing his ankle. I scrambled to pick the gun up from where it had fallen and shot one more time, hitting Richard in the hand as he screamed and rolled to his back.

I watched in slow-motion as the floor gave way under him and he disappeared through it, into the basement, screaming for Trevor as he jumped, lunging to avoid going in after him.

Flames suddenly ignited, trailing all along the floor where the gasoline had spilled and spread. It was still running from the cans that had toppled over, some still stacked and full.

“Fuck!” Trevor said, bracing his hands on my waist. I cried out from the cuts, finally feeling some of the pain from crawling through the window, the gasoline that had poured on me stinging them.

“Go,” Trevor ordered. “We need to get the fuck out of here. This place is going to blow.”

Scrambling with him right after me, we cleared the front door as the rest of the floor caved in. I froze, staring at the gaping hole, as flames shot higher from the gasoline canisters. Trevor tackled me off the front porch and onto the lawn as everything went black.

Right before losing consciousness, all I saw were orange flames engulfing the entire Paxton farmhouse.

Chapter 31

Ifelt the heat of the blast behind me as I curled myself over Monica, protecting her. Feeling her body still underneath me, I panicked, getting on my hands and knees.

Staring down at her unconscious form I yelled, “Monica!” My hands, covered in dirt, shoved her hair off her face, her ponytail long gone. She was too still. I moved, shoving the sweatshirt she was wearing up and off along with the shirt under it. Both were sodden with gasoline and blood and I wasn’t positive she hadn’t been shot and wasn’t just blocking it out.

“Baby, come on.” My voice was breaking, even as I heard tires spinning on the gravel, sirens blaring. Help had arrived, but at what cost?

Her lower stomach and sides were bleeding badly, lacerations from the broken glass in the window. I cursed, yanking my own shirt off to lay across them and applied pressure.

“Fuck. What the fuck happened?” I heard Lucas’ voice even as he hit his knees beside me.

“Richard, Mike, and Chuck.” I rattled off. “They’re all dead. Jackson is dead. Monica’s hurt.” all my training was out the window. I couldn’t even focus on giving details. Someone grabbed my arm to pull me back and I swung.

“Jesus. Dude. Stop. They need to help.” Nick’s voice broke through my terror. He stood, pulling me with him, to watch as EMTs swarmed the woman I loved.

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