Page 108 of The Demons We Hide

“Fine.” I stiffen as the driver’s voice grows nearer. “We’ll finish the job, but you owe us another twenty grand. If you can’t pay, well, that’s not our fucking problem, is it?”

I roll to my knees and using my still bound hands, press down onto the ground to leverage upward. I stand with a crouch, my legs shaking as I hurry down the line of the train car as I hear the driver approaching. My sneakers are quiet on the hard dirt as I slip to the opposite side and take a glance around.

There’s no sign of the others that had attacked me, but I’m not so naive as to think that they aren’t here somewhere. All around us is little more than a train car graveyard—Trail Head Train Tracks. Dark, smoky air clings to the night sky and blankets the entire area. Surrounding it is little more than thin, spindly trees several miles deep.

What I remember of this place is one thing—there’s really only one way in and one way out for vehicles. If I can get to their van then maybe I can take off and leave them stranded.

My heart thrums an unsteady, frantic beat in my throat. I sway on my feet and sag into another train car’s side. Just like before when they’d held me down and stuck me with a needle, the world grows fuzzy at the edges. I’m half afraid that I might pass out again.

Thankfully, though, the fuzziness fades after a few deep breaths. Then, I hear more masculine cursing.

“God damn it, V!” The driver yells. “Kilo! Get your asses back here. She’s gone!”

Staying low, I stick close to the train cars, hoping my dark clothes will help me blend in better. It’s hard with my hands tied together, but I manage to pull my hood up over my blue hair as the sound of responding footsteps approaches where I’d previously woken up.

I pause, thinking. If I want to steal their ride, then I’ll need the keys. Things might be different if I’d had one of the guys with me—they could hotwire a car no doubt—but,no!I shake my head. The guys aren’t here. I am. They’re not coming to save me because they have no fucking clue I’m gone. No one does.

Even if they did…

“What the fuck did you do?” I jolt at the sharp bark that no longer sounds like the driver.

“Me?” the driver responds. “I didn’t do shit! I was on the phone with?—”

“You were supposed to watch her,” the other man says.

“She can’t have gone far.” The third man finally speaks up. I close my eyes and try to place what names I know for each voice. I think the second man is V and the third is Kilo.

A shudder works through me, cold and something else, something I really don’t have time for right now.Fear.

Maybe it would be best to leave them searching for me. Maybe I should try my chances with the woods. I begin to back towards the tree line, keeping my eyes scanning the train car graveyard in front of me. I strain my ears to hear more of their conversation, all the while edging farther and farther from them.

Step. Breathe. Step. Breathe. Each movement I take is precise and planned. On the twentieth step back, though, my sight begins to dim again. I stumble and nearly go down.

Everything becomes impossibly loud—as if it was all muted before and someone has popped the cork to release my senses and it’s overwhelming. My head spins and my stomach clenches. My throat seizes and I turn, silently pleading with my own body not to retch. Not here. I won’t be able to control the sound, and they’ll know where I am.

“What did the client want?” That voice, it sounds like Kilo’s.

The driver responds with a deadpan tone. “They want the girl dead. We’ve added twenty grand to the pot if they want that done.”

A low whistle slips into the air as the words circle my head like some sort of fucked up cartoon.They want the girl dead. They want the girl dead. They want the girl dead.

I gag and then slap a hand over my mouth.

No, no, no.

I take another step back.

“So, we kill her then?” Kilo’s tone is merely curious. There’s no reaction to the possibility of murdering a teenage girl they have no connection with.

I’m almost there. The trees growing closer with each movement I make. Unfortunately, to get all the way there, I need to leave behind the last train car I’m using for cover and sprint the last fifteen or so feet that have nothing beyond. No way to hide. No cover. Just empty open plain and discarded tracks and metal barrels where the people who come out here to fuck around and party—the loners and stoners of Silverwood—likely hang and burn shit for warmth.

Acid sits on the back of my tongue. I’m dizzy and sore, but I’m also determined. I did not bear the last six months in Silverwood as the town pariah and punching bag to let some knock off killers strike me down here. Oh no. I’m going to find out who wants me dead and then I’m going to pay them a little visit.

I am not a victim. I will never be a victim again.

A hand reaches out of the darkness and latches on to my wrist, and I nearly scream at the sudden sensation. Whirling towards the figure, I bring my foot back and then stop at the face that peers down at me from a dark hood pulled up.

Though his face is half shrouded in shadow, I know this isn’t one of my kidnappers. At least, not the ones that are planning to kill me. All at once, I sag against him and Lex catches me easily, pulling me into his chest as he wraps his arms around me.

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