Page 13 of After the Burn

I went down hard, breath punching out of my lungs.

The floor was slick.

I didn’t want to know why.

“Get up,” someone said, low and urgent—Beck, I think⁠—

Or Adrian.

Or both.

They blurred together.

Everything did.

Another sound⁠—

Not a scream.

A choke.

Cut off too fast.

I turned⁠—

Too slow.

Too late.

A shadow moved where it shouldn’t.

Inside.

Again.

Wrong.

So, fucking wrong.

And then⁠—

Ben.

Standing in the doorway.

Blocking it.

Not looking at me.

Not looking back.

Just holding the line.

“Go! Get her out of here!”

He spoke as if he had already decided.

As if it had been decided long before that moment.