She dropped to the road, like her puppet strings had been cut all at once. โNO!โ Red screamed, ramming her elbows down to push Oliver away.
โNo, Maddy!โ
She slammed her ๏ฌngers and forehead against the cool glass of the windshield, eyes circling the lump of her clothes out there, Maddyโs darker ponytail.
Reyna was crying. Arthur too, hands covering his face. Oliver didnโt say a word. Not a fucking word.
Red screamed again, her breath fogging up the window, a cloud to take Maddy away. She screamed, and the glass threw it back at her, echoing around the RV.
No, wait. Red swallowed the scream, forced her mouth shut. The fog receded, but the echo didnโt go, mu๏ฌed, muted, from a di๏ฌerent world. Someone else was screaming. Outside.
It was Maddy.
โSheโs alive!โ Red shouted, watching as the lump outside shifted, ponytail falling to the other shoulder. โSheโs alive!โ Red screamed, turning back to the others, to Oliver and his pale face, no longer golden.
The ๏ฌve of them stared at each other, eyes wide, for half a second, the sound of Maddyโs scream hammering at the windows. She was hurt. She was shot. Someone had to go get her. Redโs eyes locked on Oliverโs, but he looked away.
โIโll go!โ Red said, shoving Oliver and Simon out of her way. Move, for fuckโs sake. Sheโd been out there for three minutes and the sniper didnโt take the shot. Like Oliver said, she was immune for some reason. She was the one who had to go get Maddy. Her Maddy.
Red charged down the RV to the front door. As she reached out for the handle, that small voice of doubt piped up, whispering in her ear. But Maddy was dressed like Red, and heโd taken the shot. Maybe she wasnโt immune after all, or maybe the sniper somehow knew it wasnโt her. But it didnโt matter either way because Maddy was out there, screaming. She needed Red and Red would go. No time for doubts.
She slammed the handle down and pushed open the door. It crashed into the metal side of the RV as Red tore down the steps.
โHELP!โ Maddyโs scream had found its shape, lingering beyond the edges of the word. โHELP ME!โ
โIโm coming, Maddy!โ Red screamed back, the soles of Maddyโs sneakers beating against the dirt road as Red sprinted toward her and the headlights.
She jumped over the crumpled form of Don.
It was a race. Her against that red dot. Donโt think of it, donโt think of it now.
โIโm here!โ Red shouted, crashing to her knees beside Maddy, dust hovering around them both, held there by the headlight beam.
Maddy was lying there, pitched up by one elbow, face creased in agony. Red looked her over and she saw. The new stain on her jeans. Growing and growing. Around that huge hole there, in Maddyโs thigh. A gurgle of blood gushing out, pooling through the material around it. So much blood already, dripping to the road, pouring out in time with Redโs heart, battering in her ears.
โFuck,โ Red hissed, her hand hovering over the wound, bright red over๏ฌowing, darkening as it spread through the jeans. โFuck.โ
โDonโt leave me, Red,โ Maddy cried, staring up at her.
โIโm not leaving you.โ Red lowered her face so they were eye to eye. โIโm not leaving you, okay, Maddy? I promise. Never.โ
โOkay,โ Maddy cried through the pain, tears falling into her open mouth. โHe shot me. Itโs bad, huh?โ
Redโs head wavered, between a nod and a shake. โItโs bad,โ she said, โbut Reyna can help you. I need to drag you inside the RV, okay? Thereโs nothing I can do for you out here.โ
โOkay,โ Maddy said, the word swallowed by an awful scream as she tried to sit up.
โItโs going to hurt like hell, but I need to move you quickly, okay?โ Red pushed up to her feet.
โDonโt leave me!โ Maddy screamed, watching her.
โIโm not leaving you, Maddy!โ Red crouched down behind her, where Maddy couldnโt see. โIโm right here, and youโre coming with me.โ
Red slotted her arms in under Maddyโs armpits, reaching forward until her elbows were locked in.
โI donโt want to die!โ Maddy cried, her breath rattling through her throat. โYouโre not going to die,โ Red promised her. But she couldnโt promise
that, she didnโt know. That was a lot of blood already. โOkay, three, two, one, go.โ
Red raised Maddy o๏ฌ the road, her legs bent as she skated backward.
Maddy screamed and screamed, her feet dragging through the dirt.
โStop!โ she screamed, the worst sound Red had ever heard. โStop, Red, it hurts too much!โ
โIโm sorry, I canโt!โ Red said into her ear, checking the path behind her, over her shoulder. It wasnโt clear, Don was right there, but Red had to keep going.
She stepped over Don, her sneaker pressing against his empty hand, harder than ๏ฌesh should ever be. Maddyโs feet got tangled in his as Red dragged her over the body.
โRed, stop!โ Maddy screamed. โJust for a minute!โ
โI canโt!โ Red screamed back, tightening her grip. She didnโt know if Maddy had a minute left. โI have to get you inside!โ
Maddyโs hands grasped Redโs arms, nails biting in.
Heat prickled in Redโs cheeks. Was it from the e๏ฌort of dragging her best friend, steadily bleeding out, or was the red dot poised there, waiting, and she could somehow feel it on her skin?
Red checked behind her shoulder. The steps were right there, a few feet away. She looked back down at Maddy, screaming wordlessly now, a long red streak staining the road, following them wherever they went. Fuck, that was a lot of blood.
โIโve got her, Red!โ Arthurโs voice appeared behind her, crashing down the steps. โYou get her feet.โ
Arthurโs hands took over from her, slipping under Maddyโs arms while Red darted around to pick up her ankles. The blood had soaked all the way down here, wet against Redโs ๏ฌngers. It just kept coming. How much could Maddy lose before it was too much?
โGo,โ Arthur said, hoisting Maddy up and climbing the ๏ฌrst step. Maddyโs head fell back and she screamed.
Red pushed, carrying Maddyโs feet as she tilted, top half going with Arthur, up the last step now, into the RV. Red followed, bringing her legs inside.
โOver here,โ Reyna called, pointing at the ๏ฌoor in front of the refrigerator. She had a beach towel ready in her hands. โPut her over here.โ
Simon darted forward and slammed the door to the RV shut as Red crossed the threshold.
โFuck,โ he said, catching sight of Maddyโs leg, and Red looked again too. So that was what one of those bullets did to ๏ฌesh and bone. Ripped a hole right through her.
Red looped around with Arthur, laying Maddy down carefully on the ๏ฌoor, sitting up, her back braced against the refrigerator door. She was still screaming, head at an unnatural angle on her neck. Because the strings had been cut.
โI need to put pressure on the wound, Maddy,โ Reyna said, her voice ๏ฌrm but even, dropping to her knees beside her, pressing the towel down on the gushing bullet hole.
Maddy screamed harder.
โYouโre okay,โ Red told her, because Maddy had said it to her before, and maybe it was just the thing you said to people who werenโt okay.
She stepped back to give Reyna space, watching. Redโs hands ๏ฌoated up to her face to stop it from falling open. One hand was wet. Blood. A handprint of Maddyโs blood across her cheek.
Someone grabbed her, spun her around. Oliverโs pale face too close to hers, eyes swollen and red, swimming in and out of her vision like a nightmare.
โHow did he know it wasnโt you, Red?โ Oliver spat, shaking her whole body, trying to knock the answers out of her. โHow did he know?โ
โI donโt know!โ Red fought him o๏ฌ, leaving another handprint of Maddyโs blood on his shirt as she pushed him away.
โNot now, Oliver,โ Reyna said. She didnโt shout, she didnโt have to. The look on her face was enough. โI have to stop the bleeding. Does anyone have a belt?โ She glanced around at the group, eyes frantic now that Maddy couldnโt see them.
โFor a tourniquet?โ Simon asked, pulling up his shirt. โYes.โ Reyna turned to him. โDo youโโ
โI have one,โ he said, undoing the buckle and sliding the black leather belt out from the loops in his jeans. He passed it over.
โOkay, Maddy, this is going to hurt. I need to tie this above the wound, as tight as it will go, okay? It should slow the bleeding.โ Reyna held the belt across both hands, moving the towel.
โOkay,โ Maddy managed to say through gritted teeth. Her skin was starting to look pale and pallid, a tremor in her jaw.
Reyna pushed one side of the belt through under Maddyโs knee, then slid the length of it up past the wound. She hooked it around and through the buckle a few inches above the blood-gushing hole, and then she tightened it.
Maddy screamed, weaker this time, breaking into sobs.
โPlease, stop,โ she begged.
Reyna pulled, muscles in her arms and her neck straining. Tighter, digging into the jeans and Maddyโs ๏ฌesh. But that red gurgle of blood, it was slowing, bubbling over rather than pouring out as Reyna secured the tourniquet in place.
โSimon, come here,โ she said. He did, falling to his knees.
โPress this towel down directly on the wound.โ Reyna showed him, and Simonโs hands replaced hers. โHarder than that,โ she directed. โMore pressure. More. More. Okay, stay like that.โ
Reyna pushed up shakily to her feet, wiping the sweat and hair out of her eyes, a pinkish smear from Maddyโs blood across her forehead. She stepped over to Oliver and Red and it was written all over her face, in the fall of her eyes and the set of her mouth.
โSheโs bleeding a lot,โ she said quietly, under Maddyโs groans in the background. โCould have severed the femoral artery, Iโm not sure.โ
โWhat does that mean?โ Oliver croaked.
โIt means we need to get her to a hospital as soon as possible, or she could bleed out.โ
Redโs heart fell into her stomach, curdled there in the acid and the shame. Maddy Lavoy couldnโt die. That couldnโt happen. Red couldnโt let it.
โIโll stop the bleeding as much as I can,โ Reyna continued. โBut she needs a hospital.โ
Oliver shook his head, and for once, he must be out of plans. His sister was dying and he was the one who sent her out there. Did he feel that guilt, or was he leaving it all to Red? She should have tried harder to stop him, maybe Oliver wouldnโt have actually used the knife. Why didnโt Red try harder?
Reyna returned to Maddy, taking over from Simon, pressing down with all her weight against the wound.
Plan. Plan. Think of a plan to get away, to get Maddy to a hospital. Red looked around the RV, eyes catching on the pattern in the curtains, she and Maddy sitting beside them just seven hours ago playing Twenty Questions, Red zoning out, forgetting herย person, place or thing.ย And now Maddy was
dying on the ๏ฌoor over there and Red had to do something. Think. The more she forced it, the harder it was. And, remember, sheโd lost her mind awhile back.
Oliver strayed away from her, over to the sofa, dropping down, his face hidden in his hands.
Red breathed in, emptied herself out, tried to listen to the thoughts in her head, but all she found was an empty hiss. Static. The static. She turned around, the walkie-talkie waiting for her there on the counter. Red walked to it, scooped it up, the familiar weight in her hands. Her job, her responsibility. And now she had another one too: saving Maddy.
Theyโd not found any interference all night, but morning was drawing closer, maybe someone was up and working in a nearby farm or somethingโฆ anything.ย Please,ย Red begged the device in her hand. There was nothing else Red could do to help Maddy, this was her only job, the only thing she knew how to do. She pressed the + button, cycling up past channel three, through four and ๏ฌve, begging the static to go away, to give her a voice. Any voice.ย Please.
This was all her fault. Maddy was bleeding out in the middle of the RV
and it was Redโs fault. This was about her, her secret. She was the witness in the Frank Gotti trial, and now Maddy was going to die because of that decision. The men with ri๏ฌes were here to kill her, no one else. So why didnโt they? Red asked herself, spooling up through the channels, static ๏ฌickering in and out as she pressed. Why didnโt they take the shot when it was her outside? Why was she still standing, not bleeding out on the road like she was supposed to be? Why Maddy and not her? Red didnโt know, she couldnโt understand it. They wanted their secret and they had it, it was her. Why hadnโt they killed her?
Unlessโฆa thought stirred in her mind, tunneling away as Redโs eyes ๏ฌicked back to Maddy, and the beach towel steadily turning red on her leg. Red looked away and reached for the thought, pulling at it, thread by thread. Unless she wasnโt the secret herself. Not the fact that she was the witness. Because sheย wasย the eyewitness in the Frank Gotti trial, that much was true. But that wasnโt the whole story, was it? What if the secret they wanted wasnโt
just Red, it was what Red knew, the other half of the plan? Maybe they didnโt want her, not alone. They wanted the other person involved, didnโt they? The name they didnโt know, but Red did. Was that why they couldnโt kill her, not yet? Because she hadnโt told them that name? Was that what they wanted, after all these hours and escape plans and two dead people outside and Maddy bleeding out, did they want that name from Red before they killed her?
Everything slotted into place, sense where thereโd been none before. Redโs heart was back, acid-wet, hammering against the back of her teeth.
What should she do? Sheโd already let the plan go a long time ago, said goodbye to it and everything it would give her. But she swore sheโd never tell anyone, she swore, and how could she say it here, right in front of them? Cause them more hurt and confusion than they already had. But did Red have a choice? Maddy was bleeding out, surely that undid everything, all the rules of the plan? She would make the same choice, wouldnโt she?
And if that was it, the secret the sniper wanted, would he let the rest of them go? Red would have to stay behind, she understood that, but could the others get Maddy in that truck and drive her to a hospital?
She had to try. For Maddy. She would understand, she would forgive her. Red had cycled up to channel thirteen, but now she switched directions,
๏ฌicking back through the channels, toward three, toward the sniper. She was going to give him the name, she had to, if it was the thing that saved Maddyโs life. Everyone would want that.
Static ๏ฌzzed in her ears and behind her eyes, under the skin of her ๏ฌngertips.
Down through channel ten. Nine.
Red inhaled. Eight.
Static. Seven. Six.
The static cut away before her thumb pressed the button again. โโcheck, over.โ
A voice broke through the fuzz. Static.
โWhat was that?โ Simon asked, standing up by the door. โWas that the sniper?โ
โNo,โ Red said, staring down at the walkie-talkie. โIโm on channel six.โ The static broke o๏ฌ.
โYeah, the team have removed the truck and the cell tower itself doesnโt look too bad. But some of these antennas are damaged, so letโs get the engineers up here ASAP now that itโs clear. Over.โ
Static.
Redโs breath snagged in her throat. Interference.
People were talking on two-way radios and sheโd found them, sheโd found them, and before she lost them she had toโ
Red raised the walkie-talkie to her lips, pressed the push-to-talk button. โHelp, call police! Thereโs a shooter down McNair Cemetery Road and
one of us has been shโโ
A hand came out of nowhere, colliding with the walkie-talkie, smacking it out of Redโs hands.
It fell to the ground, shattering into pieces. The static died with it.
Redโs eyes stayed down there with the broken walkie-talkie, not looking up. Because she knew that hand, the one that came out of nowhere. Knew the black scribbled check mark and boxes by his knuckles, matching the ones on hers.
It was Arthur.
