Paint It All Red (Mindf*ck #5)(41)

Something loud explodes from somewhere, sounding like a new range of gunfire. I’m too weak to hold my eyes open.

I know Logan is watching.

I know Hadley is too.

I force myself to open my eyes at the nearest camera hole, but it’s just a black hole with no reflective spark…no longer watching me. I brought my bag with my entirely new identity; it’s lying just outside and waiting for me to retrieve it.

There’s an ATV waiting for me to zip through the woods where the fire hasn’t made it.

I was going to get on a plane and meet Jake where we promised to meet.

I was going to live.

There were so many other ways of doing this, but deep down, we both knew this was me tempting death to reunite me with my family. I thought I was okay with that.

Too late did I realize I still wanted to live.

Too late did I realize I’m not ready to die.

I cry out in pain as I struggle to no avail to get up once again, tears streaming down my face. But I’m stuck here, pinned down. There’s no escape.

I’ll die with them.

My eyes flick to the camera holes around me, all of them blacked out with no sparkle, meaning they’re cut off.

It’ll be a tragic, poetic ending that will immortalize all I’ve done.

At least no one has to watch the end.

Suddenly there’s a face in front of me, and more tears leak out as I see my brother.

“Marcus,” I whisper, touching his cheek as more tears race down my face.

His face disappears with the touch, and I break, sobbing as I quit firing back. Logan’s face is the last thing to cross my mind before I see the blaze of the fire nearing.





Chapter 16


They say miracles are past.

—William Shakespeare



LOGAN



All the screens go blank at once, and nothing but white noise fills the air around us. I shake a monitor as though it’ll force the screen to work again.

“He’s shut down the cameras,” Hadley says, her fingers flying over the keyboard.

“Get them back on!” I snap.

“I’m trying!”

My face is burning with the tears, and it’s all I can do not to collapse to the ground.

Leonard is sitting silently, wringing his hands as he stares at the ground and bounces his knee.

The news is reporting the interruption to the live feed, but I can barely hear the words they’re saying.

My heart is hammering against my chest.

“Got it!” Hadley shouts as the screens come back to life.

My eyes go to the fire that is now closing in on the town hall, and suddenly it explodes, a deafening sound roaring through the speakers around us. I stagger back as the building continues to erupt, pieces of it blowing up at different times.

Silence falls on the entire room, the newsfeed also coming back up with Hadley’s link reactivating it.

Everyone outside the room is staring at the news with the same shock we’re staring at our monitor. But I barely notice anything around me as I break, throwing anything I can get my hands on as I fall apart.

Glass shatters around us. Voices call my name. Everything and nothing happens all at once as I slam my fist into Leonard’s face, fighting against the hands grappling me to the ground.

Ice and fire wash over me with no mercy, and I shut down. Everything on me turns to stone as I’m restrained and forced to watch the fire join the building, blanketing the town.

There’s no way she got out in time.





Chapter 17


Three months later…



LOGAN



I run my hand over the stubble on my chin, looking at the case files in front of me.

“Welcome back,” Elise says as she passes my desk, looking at me like she’s concerned.

Only three of us know why I broke down three months ago. Only three of us know why I’ll never be the same again.

Everyone else thinks I broke down because we were pulled out of that town when it needed us.

By the time ambulances and fire trucks arrived on scene, there was nothing left but flames they couldn’t put out in time to save anything. The town burned, leaving nothing but charred, empty structures in its wake.

None of the bodies were recognizable. They were too burned to be identified. And the only place with bodies was the town hall and the sheriff’s home.

For three months, the news has spoken of nothing else, giving contradictory reports from truthful and falsified sources.

That’s why I’m back.

Lana gave her life for the truth.

The last thing I’m going to do is let them cover it all up again.

Elise pauses like she’s waiting for me to respond. I just dip my head at her in acknowledgement, and she blows out a breath as I finish typing up the full report.

Hadley has been looking for Jake nonstop, but she’ll never find him. If he survived, he’s long gone by now, possibly stuck in a drunken stupor after having to watch his best friend die.

There’s no doubt that’s why he turned off the video footage. He couldn’t bear to see it. I wish I hadn’t.

I should have never left Delaney Grove. I should have risked my career. Now I don’t even want to be anywhere.

I didn’t realize until she was gone that nothing else mattered at all.