He leveled the gun at me. “No, big sister. It’s time for our game.”
50
Shay
He’d lost all semblance of reason. I knew Hunter wouldn’t have come charging in here without calling the sheriff’s department first. They had to be on their way. But they might not be fast enough, a little voice in my head whispered. Because if Parker was only minutes away, Hunter wouldn’t have come charging in here the way he had.
“Get up,” Michael ordered.
I shook my head frantically. “He’ll die if I don’t keep pressure on his wound.” I wouldn’t be the reason Hunter slipped from this Earth. Not even if my brother shot me, too.
He pointed the gun at Hunter’s head. “Get up, or I’ll put a bullet in his brain. Then no doctor will be able to save him. At least this way, he has a chance.”
I closed my eyes as my arms trembled. There were no good choices in this scenario. And nothing in the dozen or so self-defense classes I’d taken could help me now. I said a silent prayer that Hunter would keep breathing until help arrived. Then I slowly released the pressure on his wound. Blood soaked the shirt, and my palm was covered in the dark red substance.
Michael’s eyes seemed to glitter as he took in the sight. “Not sure that blood will ever come off your hands. Just like all the blood before it.”
Anger, swift and hot, flowed through me. Was everything he’d already taken from me not enough? My parents. My life as I’d known it. Any hope for a normal future. No, it wasn’t. Nothing would be enough for Michael. Not until I was completely destroyed. But what then? He would be totally and completely alone. Maybe that was what he’d wanted all along.
I stared at the man who was both monster and brother and let my anger show in my eyes and expression. I let it flow free and unchecked. “What now?”
Michael straightened. “Yes, tap into that rage. It feels good, doesn’t it? I never understood why you didn’t let yourself go there as a child. It’s so much more fun not to be encumbered by what the world sees as right and wrong.”
His words might as well have been made of ice as they poured over me. “I’m nothing like you.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, sister dearest. We’re made up of the same DNA. You just haven’t activated that part of you that will change everything. Maybe this will be what does it.”
My stomach cramped. That was Michael’s plan? To turn me into him? I’d wondered time and time again how two people from the same parents, raised in the same household, could turn out so differently. It had often seemed incredibly unfair that Michael’s mind had turned against him in the way it had. Almost as if we’d both had bombs in our brains, but Michael’s was the one that had been rigged to explode.
I searched his face. “And what happens if I turn into you? Then what?”
He beamed. “We’ll have so much fun. Think of the list of people we can take revenge on. The people who locked me up. That bitch of an aunt, who turned you against me. The possibilities are endless.”
This was Michael’s existence. A constant tally of those who had wronged him and plans for how he could take revenge.
“I don’t want to do that.” There wasn’t a single person on this Earth that I hated enough to take their life. Not even my brother. Because as much as I hated him, I loved him, too. No matter what I’d done, I hadn’t been able to burn that love out of me. It was a part of who I was.
Michael’s expression hardened. “We’ll see about that. People will do a lot of things to survive. Haven’t you ever considered what it would be like to get even with me? To stab me the way I stabbed you? I enjoyed each and every cut. Did you know that? Your screams of pain. The way your blood pooled in the open wounds.”
His words had memories struggling to surface. So much pain, fighting to get free. My vision swam, and my hands trembled.
Michael laughed, but it was twisted and ugly. “Looks like you have quite a few scars. Tell me, big sister, do you think of me every time you look in the mirror?”
I wouldn’t let him take me there, back to that place. I couldn’t. I glanced down at Hunter. Still breathing. But those breaths were shallow, and I wasn’t sure how much time he had. I looked up at my brother. I had one opportunity, and one tool. That tool was surprise.
If I rushed him, there was a chance I could incapacitate him before Michael knew what was happening. He had to know that I’d taken karate, but he’d never seen me in action. He didn’t know how I moved or the skills I’d learned. It would be impossible unless he’d trained with me.
I studied the paths and angles while trying to appear simply concerned about Hunter. And I was. Concerned enough that I was about to hurl myself at a man with a gun, who wanted me dead or destroyed.
I didn’t give myself a chance to reconsider or overthink which plan of attack would serve me best. I didn’t take a moment to wish there was food in my stomach or water in my system. I simply moved.
In a flash, I was in front of Michael. There was only a brief widening of his eyes before he tried to block my attack. But I was quicker. Just this once, I was faster than the little brother who’d always seemed to outpace me. My knee came up to make contact with his groin, and he crumpled.
I’d hoped the gun would clatter to the floor, but it didn’t. And I still only had my knife. Michael kept his grip firmly on the weapon as he cursed. So, I did the next best thing. I ran. Into the bright sunlight, blinking and trying to get my bearings. But what I saw didn’t help. Other dilapidated cabins and outbuildings were scattered throughout.
I ran as fast as I could towards a copse of trees. They weren’t dense, but at least they might provide me some cover until help arrived. Michael shouted from behind me, but I just kept running. A bullet zinged past me, splintering the bark on a tree to my right.
I tried running a zigzag pattern to avoid one of those bullets catching me instead of a pine. But I had no idea where I was going, and my lungs burned as though I were running through a forest fire. I kept pushing forward, but I could hear Michael gaining on me.
I came to a skidding halt at a curved cliff. The waves crashed against the rocks down below. My gaze flew up to find Michael coming to a stop just feet away, the gun still in his hand. He grinned. “Out of options. I’ve got to admit, I didn’t expect you to pack quite that much of a punch. You’ll pay for that.”
I cringed but didn’t look away. I wouldn’t give him the pleasure of my fear. “Just do it already.”
“I’ll tell you what. I’ll give you a choice.”
I eyed him carefully. Michael’s deals always came with a steep price. I’d learned that the hard way too many times to count. “What?”
“Try to stab me, and I won’t kill you.”
I blinked back at him. “W-w-what?”
He held his arm with the gun out to the side. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m going to hurt you. Just to remind you I can. But I won’t kill you. All you have to do is shed a little of my blood. A few drops, and you’ll be free.”
I opened my mouth to speak and then closed it again. None of this made any sense…Until suddenly, it did. And it broke a little something inside me. My brother wanted, more than anything, to turn me into the monster that he was. Maybe it was so he wouldn’t be alone any longer. Perhaps it was because he knew that would hurt me the most, and pain had always been his drug of choice.