Collapse by Kyle Danvers

Author:Kyle Danvers [Danvers, Kyle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kyle Danvers

15

Blood stained Ashley’s hands.

After what she’d seen overseas in the service, after what she’d been through, Ashley swore she'd never end up in a situation like this. But there she was, a man lying dead beneath her, and the screams of his child still ringing in her ears.

She turned to Sasha, made to reach for her, but the girl stood and ran into the trees. Horrified, Ashley hurled the rock she still held in her hands into the brush and stood. She had to get away from the body and the evidence of what she’d done.

Joel stared at her, his eyes wide. Ashley didn’t blame him. She couldn’t believe it either. What triggered her? It was self-defense, or at least that’s what she told herself. Given a chance, Mark would’ve killed her, would’ve done the same thing.

That didn’t make her feel any better.

“Ashley,” Joel said, but the word barely registered in Ashley’s brain. Her head spun, and she felt like she might throw up from nausea roiling in her stomach. She’d killed someone. There was no going back from that, no redemption.

“Ashley!” Joel shouted, shaking her by the shoulders. She hadn’t realized he’d approached her, much less put his hands on her, but when she did and saw the panic in his face, something inside her snapped her back into place.

“We have to go. Now,” Joel said.

“What about the girl?” Ashley asked.

“There’s nothing we can do for her. We have to go. The noise from all this is sure to draw their people if there are others out here. Either way, we can’t afford to wait around to find out,” Joel said. He left her there while he scooped up his backpack, gesturing at Ashley’s duffel bag for her to do the same, but she couldn’t move.

The only thing she could see was Mark’s body, his fresh blood gleaming in the moonlight that pierced through the trees. There was nothing recognizable about him anymore; nothing left after the damage she’d done.

“Ashley, come on, move!” Joel shouted. As if she were watching the scene from outside herself, Ashley grabbed her duffel bag, in a daze, and followed Joel as he set off into the woods. She shouldn’t have let him lead the way, but she was so mixed up she couldn’t direct them.

They ran for what felt like forever, the branches pulling at her hair, snagging on her clothes, the roots along the ground threatening to trip her and snap her ankles.

But they kept running. Ashley didn’t have a clue where they were going, but the destination didn’t matter. The further she got away from Mark’s lifeless body, the better. If she ran far enough, she might forget it ever happened.

Or maybe it would follow her for the rest of her life.

They burst out of the trees to find water, a massive body of it, sparkling in the moonlight. Ashley bent over, rested her hands on her knees, and threw up. More than ever, she was grateful that she hadn’t taken Joel’s offer up to eat something before their confrontation with Mark.

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