.:Micah:.

“Let her go!”

I yanked crazily at my wrist bonds—not like I’d expected them to come loose, but I couldn’t just watch them drag her off like that. She was in serious danger. More than she knew, at least.

“Nike, stop!”

He didn’t look back, but Jackie did. Her eyes were wide with the first flicker of fear I’d seen since she’d gotten here. She shook her head at me and limped after Nike, her wrist caught in his fist.

I’m not sure why, but the rage that slashed through my chest felt just as fire might. Adrenaline shot into my fingertips and down my legs, making them tingle like never before. Then my robot side began to burn.

Then hundreds of spikes exploded in my mind. Pain seared down my spine and I writhed from the sudden shock—my head slamming into the wall behind me.

My God, I’m going to die!

The crippling terror braided itself into the pain and I clenched my teeth to keep from screaming.

And suddenly, it was gone. Everything was just gone. I was left exhausted and panting as I leaned against the wall. My breath came short and quick and when I managed to open my eyes I came face to face with Jake.

His eyes were wide, mouth gaping, and one arm raised as though he were about to touch me.

Jackie and Nike stood behind him, both astonished.

What just happened?

We stared at each other for what seemed forever—Jackie was the first to recover. She slammed her joined fists into Nike’s neck to choke him and hopped to the side to avoid his desperate swing.

Jake jerked from his trance and spun-about to grab her.

“Jackie, down!”

Her head snapped to the side to see Jake as she dropped to the ground on one hand and pivoted on it, smacking him full in the face with both feet.

She winced and caught herself before she hit the ground.

I sighed with relief and tried to move my arms to work against the bonds, but couldn’t. Instead, I kicked Jake’s unconscious body away from me.

Jackie stood shakily and glanced down at both Nike and Jake. Nike was on his hands and knees, coughing almost to death—face red with a hint of blue crawling into his cheeks. She had done a good job of hitting the right spot on his neck.

Her hands shook as she made her way around Jake and I managed to turn around so she could untie my wrists.

She did quickly, hands bumping my back clumsily.

Why is she so scared? She already took them out, they can’t hurt her anymore . . .

.:Jackie:.

It wasn’t that I was afraid of being captured again. I knew that I’d done a thorough job of taking both Nike and Jake out. I didn’t really know what had a hold on my chest—restricting my breath. But my hands shook all the same.

But I did know that I’d just seen something more terrifying than anything in the last few days.

When Micah had started thrashing around like a mad-man, Nike had turned around, confusion bringing his brows together.

Micah had been slamming the back of his head repeatedly against the wall as he twisted from side to side, his eyes squeezed tight and teeth gritted.

Jake scrambled from where he was on the floor, staring in astonishment at Micah.

Nike had the same expression on his own face and his grip loosened on my wrist in his shock. But I was too stunned to move.

Micah moaned and his eyes were suddenly open, both of them red—the human one even. They were sightless and without pupils, the human eye a blood red, glazed over as he let loose the most bloodcurdling scream I’d ever heard.

The three of us stood like deer-in-headlights, all too horrified to say or do anything.

Then Micah closed his eyes and was still, his shoulders heaving with each labored breath.

But when he opened his eyes again, they were normal—everything just as always. As though nothing had happened.

My fingers took to a tremble that I couldn’t control, so I clenched them into fists.

“We need to—“

He stopped me with a hand on my shoulder. “We’ll be okay now.” A slow smile crossed his lips and I jerked away from his touch.

“Don’t tell me that when you know yourself it isn’t true.”

With that, I limped away from him, half expecting him to follow. But he didn’t. It surprised me most of all, really.

“But I do know,” he said quietly.

I did not look back, my heart beating like a wildfire in my chest.

From behind him, there came a groan. Then Micah’s own footsteps.

What happened to him that he can so suddenly say that we will live through this? We can’t even trust ourselves, let alone each other.

I could only hope that Leon would accept my apologies without going into a rage.

The main door was open and I vaguely wondered why, but decided that it didn’t matter. When I stepped through, someone caught my wrist.

“No!” I twisted around to face them—and was stunned to see Shane.

His eyes were huge and panicked.

I stopped mid-jerk and stared at him. “What?”

“Tico got away from me.”

Why was that such a big deal?

It wasn’t, I assured myself, it couldn’t be.

Micah stepped between us, his shoulder separating Shane’s hand from my arm.

“Where’d he go?”

Shane stared at him for a moment, then looked away.

“To finish what he started.”