Page 275 of Primal

The knife plunging in—

Again.

And again.

I ran. Like a coward.

Lana. Jessica. Both dead.

A sob claws up my throat. I choke it back. The tears come anyway. My knees buckle. Every time I blink, the knife’s there. Glinting behind my eyelids.

Keep moving. Don’t stop. Don’t think.

Left. Right. Straight.

Kristy. Find Kristy.

Branches whip my cheeks. Good.

I fucking deserve it. Every sting.

I pick a direction. Doesn’t matter where. Just forward.

Because if I stop, I’ll remember how Lana fought.

How I let her die.

No.

Keep going.

I follow the glow sticks, the only thing that makes sense. Left. Right. Deeper into the trees. Every shadow looks like him—every snapped twig is the knife plunging into Lana again.

“Kristy … Kristy, where are you … Kristy …”

Footsteps. I dive behind a tree.

“Payton?”

Neon shorts.

I step out. “Kristy!”

“Hey, girl,” she breathes. “I just—”

I crash into her. “Lana ... Lana’s—”

Vomit splatters the leaves between us. Acid and fruit punch and the last of the stupid fucking candy I ate in the car.

Kristy stumbles back, her phone’s beam shining up at me. “What the hell?”

“Ghostface killed her.” I swipe my mouth with the back of my hand, trembling. “Right in front of me. He—he stabbed her. Over and over and—”

Her face goes slack. Then she laughs. “Did Lana put you up to this?”

“No. Fuck, no.” I grab her shoulders, shaking her. “I saw it. There was so much blood. He—”

My stomach heaves again. I double over, gagging. Nothing comes up. Just the burn in my throat.