Fractured Sky (Tattered & Torn #5)(88)

“Who the hell did you call?!” Howard screamed. “Traitor! My own damn son.”

Another voice filled the speaker. “It’s fuckin’ 9-1-1.”

“You’re dead,” Howard growled. “I’ll kill you, and Shiloh will be mine. You never deserved her—”

The line went silent, and the call dropped. And we still had no idea where they were.





45





SHILOH





Howard slammed Ian into the wall as August stomped on his phone with his boot. The little bit of hope that had flared to life in my chest as Ian had slipped his phone from his pocket extinguished in a single breath. It wasn’t enough. Ian hadn’t been able to tell Hayes exactly where we were.

But he’d given them something. Not a direction, but a range of miles—just five from home. I could run that in my sleep. Maybe even in the drug-induced haze I was currently in. But I had to get free first.

Howard’s hand closed around Ian’s throat, squeezing. “Why would you do this to me?”

Ian’s eyes blazed, but he showed no sign of fighting back. “I’m so damn tired. You and Uncle Allen, your anger and paranoia, it’s like a disease. I let it eat away at me, too. But I’m not going back to jail for you. I’m done.”

Howard slammed him harder into the wall this time. “Yellow-bellied traitor. I should’ve known. You and that sister of yours aren’t worth the dirt on my boots.”

Ian’s jaw hardened as if a fury had been lit deep inside him. He gave his father a hard shove, shocking the man, then hauled off and punched him in the jaw. “You can drown with Allen, but you’re not taking me down with you.”

August charged forward, landing an uppercut to Ian’s ribs. I winced at what I knew likely broke bones.

“You’re a fuckin’ snitch,” August bellowed, launching another punch that Ian dodged. “Nothing I hate worse than someone who turns on his own.”

Ian lashed out with a palm strike to August’s nose. I heard the crunch of cartilage from across the room.

“Bastard!” August keeled over, holding his nose as blood poured from it.

“Don’t move,” Howard growled.

My gaze jumped to him, zeroing in on the gun in his hands. It was pointed center mass on Ian.

Blood roared in my ears, and my gaze moved from the men to the door, trying to analyze the risk of making a run for it. Their positions had changed amidst all the fighting, and there was a narrow path to the door. If I could only move fast enough…

Howard spat a mouthful of blood onto the floor. “I was going to give you the world.”

Ian swallowed hard, not looking away from his father. “The world is a shack that’s falling apart with barely reliable power? Waking me up at all hours of the night to run drills for the impending attacks? Never letting me have normal friends or, God forbid, date? Nothing that would take me away from the fucked-up universe you created.”

A flash of pity swept through me at his words. I’d known some of what Everly and Ian had experienced growing up, but not much. It was no wonder that Ian had turned into someone so full of hate. Between his father and his uncle, he’d experienced little but brainwashing and abuse. It only made me respect Everly more. She’d made it free of that place, and she hadn’t let them warp her mind. She’d become nothing but goodness and light.

Howard’s chest heaved with labored breaths, his arm shaking in an effort to hold the gun steady. “I gave you a life free of the sickness of the modern world. I made it so you would always be able to take care of yourself, no matter what came our way.”

Ian scoffed. “What came our way? You were convinced that a roving group of bandits were going to try to steal Mom and Evie from our house, or the military’s special forces were going to attack us for stores of canned foods.”

Howard pressed the muzzle of the gun into Ian’s chest. “The world has gotten to you. I see it now. Without Allen to hold you in line, you’ve been sickened by the influences in your orbit. I never thought I’d have to end you. But it’s for your own good. I won’t let you corrupt Shiloh.”

My stomach cramped as Ian’s gaze locked with mine. He moved in a flash. His knee came up, landing a shot to Howard’s groin. “Run!”

The word reverberated in my ears, but I was already moving. The world slowed around me, and I swore I heard each beat of my heart as I dashed for the door.

August cursed, scrambling to his feet to run after me, but Ian punched him in the jaw, sending him sprawling. My legs shook as I pushed them harder. The door to the hall was so close. Freedom just past that.

“Shiloh!”

Howard bellowed my name with a force that I swore shook the walls. It only made me run harder, the jolt of adrenaline spurring me on.

A shot rang out. I glanced over my shoulder for the briefest of moments, only to see Ian collapsing to the floor, clutching his stomach. But I couldn’t stop. I had to keep going. The only hope either of us had was if I could find help.

Sun streamed in from the open front door. I pushed harder as footsteps echoed behind me. I ran down the front steps of the cabin and towards the trees. I had no idea where I was. It was monumentally stupid to run in the forest with no sense of direction, but I had to get away. Once I put some distance between us, then I could get my bearings.