Page 92 of EverGreene
Travis chuckled at what had to be the fury etched on my face as I processed just how I could have allowed myself to have been duped by a woman who thoughtLegally Blondewas a documentary.
“Look, babe. She’s speechless.” Travis looked behind his shoulder to talk to Shelby, inadvertently giving me the opportunity I was waiting for. With Travis preoccupied, I pulled theknife out and rushed at him, missing the vital parts of his body and nicking his arm when he dodged my blade.
Even though I’d missed hitting something vital, my attack was still enough to take him off guard and make him stumble into Shelby, giving me enough time to run to the back door and throw it open. A burst of cold air rushed at me with knives of its own, but I didn’t have time to dwell on whether or not I was going to get frostbite as I ran through my snow-covered yard to whatever neighbor would open their door for me. By this time, Travis had already recovered and was hot on my heels.
“I didn’t realize the kitty had claws,” he said, running out my back door.
Snow had piled up quickly and had seeped into the flats I’d worn for the trial. A numbness, only brought on by extreme cold, had already crept into my feet, making running awkward.
“I’ve always had them. I just use them now,” I called back at him, making the mistake of looking over my shoulder. There was no way around the fact that Travis had longer legs than me, and the speed at which he was making his strides was going to enable him to catch up to me in a matter of seconds. If I was going to have a chance, I would have to get help somewhere fast, but the closest house to me that wasn’t abandoned was still a half a block away, leaving me with only one option: letting out a blood-curdling scream.
“Music to my ears,” Travis called out to me.
I increased my speed, running as fast as I could, but I knew even that wasn’t going to be enough to outrun him. With any luck, it would buy me more time for someone to look out their window, see the source of the scream, and call the police. What I should have bargained for, though, was my innate ability to trip over just about anything in my path and my foot finding something hidden in the snow, catching it, and me tripping, tumbling to the ground. The impact of my body striking theground knocked the knife out of my hand, causing it to fly in the air and hit the ground, where it was swallowed by snow.
Get up or die,my brain screamed at me. Legs shaking, I leapt up to feet I could no longer feel and tried to take off again, only to be thrown back down to the ground by Travis, barreling into me, striking my back with what felt like his elbow. Dazed, I rolled onto my back to see him crouched over me. His legs were positioned on each side of my body; his knife was positioned in his hand, hovering over my heart.
“You put up an impressive fight. I thought this was going to be easy. But you know what,” he leaned in closer to my face, whispering in my ear, “I kind of liked hunting you.”
“Fuck you,” I said, trying to free myself. Between his legs caging mine together, my shoulder where Travis struck me having gone limp, and the cold stinging my extremities, he easily fought me off.
“I’d love to for old time’s sake, but unfortunately, I’m in a hurry.”
“You’re not going to get away with this. They’ll know you murdered me.”
“Who? Who even knows I’m here aside from Shelby, who’s so far up my ass she could give me a colonoscopy? She isn’t going to rat me out. In fact, when someone stumbles on your body, she’s going to tell the police that you had a propensity to let masked strangers into your house. They’ll stop investigating your death before they even start.”
“Loche will find you. He’ll know.”
“Is that his name, then? Yeah, I don’t think a man who walks around too afraid to show his face will say shit to the cops.”
“He will. He’s more of a man than you are.”
I knew I’d sealed my death certificate with that statement, but at least I could go out knowing I’d pissed off Travis before Idied.Pettyshould be etched on my epitaph. “You know what, I’ve had enough talking. I’d say goodbye, but none of it was actually good.”
Travis lifted the knife, preparing to drive it into my chest, and all I could do was close my eyes and brace myself for the inevitable. But instead of the sensation of the sharp, pointed tip of a blade piercing my flesh, I felt Travis’s body being violently thrown off of mine.
“Ever,” Loche’s voice breathed life into my body, and I opened my eyes to see him crouched over me, concerned. “I’ve got help coming. Just hold on, okay?”
“Hold on to what? I’m okay.” I moved to get up, hissing out a breath when a sharp pain in my shoulder ripped through the rest of my body.
“You’re bleeding.”
“Fuck, he must have stabbed me in the back.” A burning pain tore through my arm as my brain was finally brought up to speed that I’d been injured, which, if I were being honest, kind of tracked when it came to my brain.
“I’m fine.” I took Loche’s outstretched hand with my hand that still had some feeling left in it and stood up on my feet. “Like Travis’s dick, I don’t think it went in too far.”
“Goddamnit, woman, now isn’t the time to?—”
“Loche, look out!”
Loche whipped around, just barely dodging the blade of Travis’s knife slashing through the air in his direction. He kicked out his leg, catching Travis in the hip, causing him to stumble back. But even though he was significantly smaller than Loche, Travis was fast and nimble. A weapon just made them more evenly matched.
“It’s all over, motherfucker,” Loche shouted at him. “You’ve lost.”
“You don’t lose until you’re dead.” Travis spat out at him.
I shrieked, watching in horror as Travis charged at Loche with his knife drawn in the air. Light sources in the area were sparse, coming from the generously spaced residential streetlamps, creating pitch-black voids and other areas of limited visibility. Travis had rushed at Loche from one of those pitch black voids, forcing Loche to brace himself. He latched onto Travis’s arm, and the two began struggling for control. Mid-struggle, Travis took a step back, losing his footing, and fell to the ground, bringing Loche down with him.
