Page 4 of Run of Ruin

“Bex…” Ava’s voice cracked, trembling with shock. I barely heard her. Everything around me felt distant, the crowd, the shouts, the gasps, all of it was muffled, like I was hearing it through thick glass. My limbs felt like they weren’t mine, shaking uncontrollably as the weight of what just happened slammed into me.

Slowly, with agonizing reluctance, and trembling hands, I slid Jax from my back. He clung tighter, his small arms wrapping desperately around my shoulders with as much strength as his muscles could muster. He didn’t fully understand what the Reclamation meant, but he knew I was leaving him.

“Bex, no,” he whined, his voice high and panicked. “Don’t go.”

I knelt down, my heart breaking as I gently cupped his face. “You need to stay with Ava for a little while, okay, Jax?” I tried to sound calm, but my voice was rough, strangled.

He shook his head, tears welling in those wide blue eyes. “I don’t want you to go,” he cried, voice cracking on the words.

“I know, sprout… I know.” My voice dropped to a whisper. I pressed my forehead to his, closing my eyes against the hot sting of tears. “I love you. I love you so much… and I’m going to get you a doctor. Okay? I promise. I’m gonna take care of you.”

He nodded through his tears, but his grip on me only tightened as much as his little limbs would allow. He buried his face in my neck, shaking in my arms. I held him, squeezing him like I could imprint the memory of this moment into my skin, his warmth, the sound of his breaths, the way his hair tickled my cheek. I felt my chest crack open as I forced myself to move.

I stood slowly, holding him against me for just a second longer before meeting Ava’s gaze. Her eyes were rimmed red, her cheeks blotchy with tears. I could see how much she was trying to hold it together, for Jax, for me.

“I need you to look out for him,” I pleaded, my voice barely holding steady.

“I will,” she promised through broken sobs. “You know I will.”

I squeezed her hand.

“May the stars shine on you, Bex,” Ava whispered with a serious sort of reverence.

I nodded, thankful for the support embedded in the words, even if I didn’t recognize the phrase. “Thank you.”

“Come on, sprout,” I whispered, trying to peel him off me. He fought it, clinging to me with all the strength he had left.

“Please don’t go,” he sobbed. “Please, Bex.”

“I have to,” I whispered back, my voice breaking. “But I’m going to come back. I swear.”

It took everything in me to pass him into Ava’s arms. He cried out, thrashing, his little hands reaching for me even asshe tried to soothe him. The sound of his sobs cut through me, carving me hollow. I took a shaky step back, then another.

“Come back to us,” Ava whispered, clutching Jax tightly against her chest. “And come back in one piece. Don’t let them write the end of your story.”

I nodded because I couldn’t speak. If I opened my mouth, I’d fall apart.

“Time to come on down!” Nova’s voice rang out over the speakers again, dripping with false cheer. The impatience in her tone turned my stomach.

I tore my gaze away from my best friend and my brother, my whole world, and forced my feet to move. The crowd parted around me in heavy, reverent silence. No one spoke. No one whispered. It was an eerie, suffocating kind of quiet. It had been years since someone who wasn’t a charged criminal was chosen as a Challenger in the Reclamation Run.

But now, it was me.

I climbed the steps onto the stage, the heat of the setting desert sun pressing down on me, sinking into my skin. It felt hotter up here. Maybe it was the lights, or the glare of the cameras, or maybe it was the thousands of eyes watching me from the safety of the ground.

Nova met me at the top of the stairs, her smile too wide, too practiced. She looped her arm through mine without missing a beat and dragged me across the stage. My feet barely kept up as she steered me into place beside the other Challenger.

Ezra Wynstone didn’t even glance my way when I took my spot next to him. He kept his eyes forward, shoulders squared, calm as stone. I was grateful for it. I had enough people staring at me, I didn’t need his gaze adding to the weight.

“Join me in congratulating your Challengers!” Nova’s voice boomed, bouncing off the buildings andcarrying through the tense, heavy air. “Your elected, Ezra Wynstone and your chosen, Brexlyn Hollis!”

Side by side. One facing the death penalty. One handed a death sentence.

I stood there, blinking against the lights, my breath catching in my chest as I looked out over the endless sea of people. So many strangers. So many faces. I wondered if anyone out there was memorizing mine.

CHAPTER

TWO

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