Page 115 of A Kiss From Death
Iwilldo this.
“I’ve never doubted you.” The voice is deeper this time, filled with adoration.
Hade.
With one last drag across my cheek, the shadow withdraws back to the corners of the Bubble.
“Thank you,” I whisper as I watch them disappear.
Wiping my tear-streaked face, I ready myself again for one last battle. There are eight rows left between me and the finish platform, between me and my revenge. Looking to my side, I count four rows left for Tank to get through, but his are mostly spaces marked with Xs.
Wasting no time, I launch back into motion, leaping to my next row of three. One X sits in the center, which I avoid by spreading my feet and planting them in the squares that bracket it. Wobbling, I throw my arms out wide, trying to regain my balance. The squares dance again in my vision, and the row containing one square in front of me turns to three and then back to one in a dizzying manner.
Braving it, I wobble forward with my arms still out, leaping and hoping my eyes stay true, praying there actually is one safe square in front of me. I collide with the square, but my fall isn’t graceful, and I end up rolling my ankle in the process.
The muscle strains but holds true. I don’t hear or feel any popping, but it throbs like a heartbeat, probably sporting a small sprain. It’s the least of my worries, though, as I check my progress compared to Tank. He only has three rows left.
“Fuck!” Tank bellows next to me. I don’t have time to look as I map out my next step at the same time my body sways heavily with fatigue, pain, and a dizzy spell. I can no longer tell which way is up or down, forward or back. It’s all a jumble of moving pieces, and I can’t keep up.
Somethingthumpsa space behind me, and I turn, looking over my shoulder to spot a glowing red orb of light. I can’t tell if this is another hallucination or real life. Seeing the smug smirk on Tank’s face as he looks between me and the glowing orb behind me, makes me think it very much is real life, and I need to get moving. Looking below him, I notice he’s standing on a giant X, and there’s a hole missing from the center of the square, where I assume this thing he so graciously gifted me came from.
Thismotherfuckerreally just threw his mistake at me.
Light grows bigger behind me, and I scream, launching myself forward at the same time I feel a hot explosion at my back, propelling me further through the air until colliding with a square three spaces up.
I land harshly, the air whooshing from my lungs. I wheeze and cough until the first trickle of air seeps back into my lungs. I feel blood trickle down my forehead, and my back is scorched to shreds. The course behind me is now charred black, burnt to a crisp.
But I’malive.
“You can’t kill something already dead inside!” I scream to Tank, but it comes out slurred and wobbly as I try to regain my bearings.
My back protests in red hot pain, the old burns beneath hissing to life. Whoever said wear your scars like badges of honor is not my favorite human at the moment. I’m holding on by my last thread, barely able to put one foot in front of the other.
Three rows left between me and my freedom.
I push the pain of my throbbing, bleeding head, blistered ankles, rolled ankle, scorched back, distorted shoulder, and tattered hands into a nice, neat box, leaving it there to deal with later. There’s no time for pain right now, onlywinning.
Screaming out a war cry, I grit my teeth and push on, commanding the squares to stay put and quit their little dancing charade.
I will not die today.
I leap to the next row easily, planting my feet sturdy within the spaces, each foot bracketing the center space marked with an X. Two more. The next row contains only one space, and unfortunately, it’s marked with an X. I’ll have to launch myself over it onto the last row of spaces, which I realize now has three, all marked with Xs. There’s no avoiding them.
It’s a trap.
I could pick the single dangerous space now and pray it’s the lesser of the two evils, then try to launch myself over the last row of three Xs onto the finishing platform. Or, I hop over the single space X and land on one of the three Xs on the final row. Surely, one has to be better than the other. If I jump and land on the final row, then I can try and scurry to the finish line before one of the three goes off and pray they aren’t lethal.
Deciding that’s my best bet, I bend my knees, readying myself to make the giant leap, but I freeze in my tracks when a bloodcurdling scream shreds my ears. I can’t believe what my eyes see. Tankfreefalls from his course, just one row away from the finish line, a giant blade protruding from his gut.
He tumbles through the air, his back getting closer to the ground as his arms and legs flail helplessly for purchase he won’t find. His wide eyes find me, and it’s the first time I’ve truly seen fear in his eyes. He looks like he’s seen a ghost, and as he gets eerily close to the ground, I avert my eyes before I see him splat to a million pieces.
A loud thump sounds, and then his screams turn silent.
Tank’sdead.
Gulping, I turn back to my course, staring down the final two rows. Just because Tank is out of the competition doesn’t mean I have a free ticket. I still have to finish the course.
Sending one last prayer to Theo, which I know now he’s been hearing, a phantom wind brushes against my cheek in answer, and it’s all the strength I need. I know what I have to do, and my intuition tells me I need to land on theleft square. Throwing my body into the air, I careen onto the X on the left of the three provided on the final row.
