Total pages in book: 41
Estimated words: 38738 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 194(@200wpm)___ 155(@250wpm)___ 129(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38738 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 194(@200wpm)___ 155(@250wpm)___ 129(@300wpm)
She hit the ground and stared up at the person cocking their head to the side as they looked down at her.
“Please don’t. I’m sorry, I’ll never do it again.”
Her plea had me wondering if she knew this person. It didn’t seem to matter if that were the case. Without uttering a word, the man stepped forward and raised the ax.
CHAPTER FOUR
The blade lodged in the center of her face. A crack that reminded me of an egg being broken preceded pure chaos. The music started to play again, cloaking the screams and shouting that erupted.
The three of us helped Dion get Max on his feet as everyone else ran for the exit. We veered left while they went right, keeping as much space as possible between us and the man crushing Elizabeth’s chest with a solid black boot as he removed his ax from her face. Her body folded to the ground, a gaping split revealing bone tissue and muscle. She was still twitching when I took my final look at her.
The back of the barn was surrounded by more stalks that lined a dirt path. Simple geography was enough to know it would be leading us away from the maze that brought us all here, but there was no time to stop and debate what to do. Another masked figure came around the corner, forcing us to either keep moving or face off with them and the ax-wielding psychopath.
Dion held onto Max and propelled him forward. I cursed and kicked my heels off, running alongside Grace and Mel. The path curved off to the right. We followed the bend until we came upon a small clearing that split into a T. Despite reaching this point before us, the others were here still, waiting like mindless sheep.
A scarecrow had been placed here for this occasion. Arrows hung from each of its arms, one pointing left and the other right, painted red with life or death.
It was plain to see whichever route you chose would be leading you right into the woods that lacked any traces of light.
“Which way?” Max rasped.
His breathing was labored, the run causing more harm to his already weakened state. Things were looking grim for him, and I had a feeling we weren’t done running yet. The shirt Dion used as a tourniquet was saturated already. If we didn’t get him help soon, he would bleed out.
“How do we find the way out of here?” Jessica asked, worriedly glancing over her shoulder.
“We already know the way out. The gate is in the opposite direction,” Mel reminded her.
The sound of laughter and taunting catcalls carried from somewhere within the cornfield. The stalks were so high it was impossible to pinpoint where they were coming from.
Dion readjusted his hold on Max and moved him a few inches away from the husks. “We’re sitting ducks right here. We gotta keep going.”
“What’s the move? Death?” Grace asked me as if I held the answers for our salvation.
With a nod, I swallowed and glanced between the two arrows. “Life is logical and easy. We need death.”
Jessica made a sound of disagreement and stepped in the opposite direction. “How do you know that’s not what they want us to believe?”
“I obviously fucking don’t.”
A body crashing through the stalks with enough momentum to cause a wave-like effect interrupted our ill-timed debate. We came together in a huddle, all eyes trained on different sections of the cornfield.
More than one person was lurking in the stalks. They made it impossible to tell where.
A few mere feet away, the clown I’d crossed paths with earlier burst into the clearing with something clutched in his frilly gloved hands. Jessica whimpered loudly at the sight of him, a violent shudder causing her to sway on her feet.
The clown grinned as he slowly let a chain unravel into a lasso of sorts. Tiny pieces of spiked metal were woven between the links. He began to twirl it in the air, sending the loop towards our huddle after it had gained enough speed to make a whizzing noise.
Jessica screeched so loud I reflexively shoved her away from my ear. My push had her bumping into Cooper, saving him from having his head roped like livestock. The clown laughed at his miss and lunged forward. Mel was forced away from us to keep herself out of his reach, getting swept away by everyone else’s terror.
Jessica practically climbed on her back as she ran away. Cooper was the only one that charged in the opposite direction, knocking me down in the process. His shoulder slammed into mine and sent me to the ground with a hard thud.
Grace grabbed hold of my wrist and all but dragged me away before I could attempt to get back on my feet. Once I finally managed to get my legs beneath me, we entered the woods.