Before they even breached the edge of the woods, Andrew abruptly yanked her down behind a massive, jagged boulder.

Without taking a second to catch her breath, Emily grabbed his shoulder and forcefully spun him around.

"Your back got sliced open, didn't it?"

She pressed her hand to his jacket, her fingers violently trembling.

In just those few chaotic minutes, the hemorrhage had aggressively worsened. He was soaked.

Andrew let out a soft breath. "Looks like it. I'm totally fine."

She delicately ran her fingers over the torn fabric and froze as she hit something rigid. It felt like a massive, jagged spike driven straight into his flesh.

The horrifying realization made her hands shake uncontrollably. She checked his arm next; the crude bandage she'd made had slowed the bleeding there, but the fabric was still damp.

"You're in this state, and you're still telling me you're fine," she hissed furiously.

She laid down the law. "We're done running. Your body is going to shut down."

There was absolutely no way she was ripping that spike out of his back-he'd bleed to death in minutes. Their only play now was to wait for his backup to find them.

Through the gloom, she saw him slowly turn his head to look at her.

Frowning, she glared at him, fully expecting him to argue. "Did you hear me? You sit down and don't move."

Trapped in a pitch-black forest, severely injured, with a squad of killers hunting them down, Andrew actually had the nerve to laugh.

"Emily, I really wish I had a light right now."

Emily pursed her lips. "What are you talking about?"

Lighting up the night would be a giant beacon for the mercenaries. Only an absolute idiot would want a flashlight right now.

And she knew damn well Andrew wasn't an idiot.

But clearly, she completely missed his point.

"If I had a light," Andrew murmured, "I could clearly see the look of pure panic on your face over me This is a once in a lifetime show. I'm going to regret missing it." fo FindNovel.net

Emily snapped, her patience vaporizing. "Are you out of your mind? We're about to die."

Andrew let out a muffled chuckle. "Relax. No matter what happens, I've got you."

Emily's expression froze for a split

second before she aggressively

looked away.

"You better pray your

team gets here in record time. With

the army, Benjamin unleashed,

only a matter of time before they

stumble on us."

Andrew tilted his head, studying her profile. "Are you praying my team finds us, or are you hoping Tristan gets here first?"

Emily completely froze.

The brutal winter night dragged on. With the colder months setting in, dawn was delayed. It was already 5:30 AM, yet the sky remained an absolute, suffocating void. Tristan tore through the darkness on the bike, the freezing wind whipping fiercely against his face.

The guy riding on the back pegs gripped the phone, staring at the flashing red dot. His eyes lit up. "Tristan! They stopped moving again."

Tristan locked his breathing. "How many miles out are we?"

"About twelve miles," the guy yelled back over the wind. "We're closing the gap fast."

From the moment he hit the pedals, Tristan had been riding like a man possessed. Blasting through the icy gale he hadn't decelerated for a single second. At this insane pace, they'd breach the target zone in

roughly half an hour.

In fact, upon hearing the distance, Tristan somehow managed to crank the velocity even higher.

The man on the back clung to the metal frame for dear life with one hand, desperately struggling to stay balanced while keeping the phone steady.