Unravel Me: Chapter 66
Unravel Me (Shatter Me Book 2)
Dead dead dead is everywhere.
So many bodies mixed and meshed into the earth that I have no idea whether theyâre ours or theirs and Iâm beginning to wonder what it means, Iâm beginning to doubt myself and this weapon in my hand and I canât help but wonder about these soldiers, I wonder how they could be just like Adam, just like a million other tortured, orphaned souls who simply needed to survive and took the only job they could get.
My conscience has declared war against itself.
Iâm blinking back tears and rain and horror and I know I need to move my legs, I know I need to push forward and be brave, I have to fight whether I like it or not because we canât let this happen.
Iâm tackled from behind.
Someone pins me down and my face is buried in the ground and Iâm kicking, Iâm trying to scream but I feel the gun wrenched out of my grip, I feel an elbow in my spine and I know Adam and Kenji are gone, theyâre deep in battle and I know Iâm about to die. I know itâs over and it doesnât feel real, somehow, it feels like this is a story someone else is telling, like death is a strange, distant thing youâve only ever seen happen to people youâve never known and surely it doesnât happen to me, to you, to any of the rest of us.
But here it is.
Itâs a gun in the back of my head and a boot pressed down on my back and itâs my mouth full of mud and itâs a million worthless moments I never really lived and itâs all right in front of me. I see it so clearly.
Someone flips me over.
The same someone who held a gun to my head is now pointing it at my face, inspecting me as if trying to read me and Iâm confused, I donât understand his angry gray eyes or the stiff set of his mouth because heâs not pulling the trigger. Heâs not killing me and this, this more than anything else is what petrifies me.
I need to take off my gloves.
My captor shouts something I donât catch because heâs not talking to me, heâs not looking in my direction because heâs calling to someone else and I use his moment of distraction to yank off the steel knuckle brace on my left hand only to toss it to the ground. I have to get my glove off. I have to get my glove off because itâs my only chance for survival but the rain has made the leather too wet and itâs sticking to my skin, refusing to come off easily and the soldier spins back too soon. He sees what Iâm trying to do and he yanks me to my feet, pulls me into a headlock and presses the gun to my skull. âI know what youâre trying to do, you little freak,â he says. âIâve heard about you. You move even an inch and I will kill you.â
Somehow, I donât believe him.
I donât think heâs supposed to shoot me, because if he wanted to, he wouldâve done it already. But heâs waiting for something. Heâs waiting for something I donât understand and I need to act fast. I need a plan but I have no idea what to do and Iâm only clawing at his covered arm, at the muscle heâs bound around my neck and he shakes me, shouts at me to stop squirming and he pulls me tighter to cut off my air supply and my fingers are clenched around his forearm, trying to fight the viselike grip he has around me and I canât breathe and Iâm panicked, Iâm suddenly not so sure heâs not going to kill me and I donât even realize what Iâve done until I hear him scream.
Iâve crushed all the bones in his arm.
He falls to the floor, he drops his gun to grab at his arm, and heâs screaming with a pain so excruciating Iâm almost tempted to feel remorse for what Iâve done.
Instead, I run.
Iâve only gotten a few feet before 3 more soldiers slam into me, alerted by what Iâve done to their comrade, and they see my face and theyâre alight with recognition. One of them appears vaguely familiar, almost as if Iâve seen his shaggy brown hair before, and I realize: they know me. These soldiers knew me when Warner held me captive. Warner had made a complete spectacle out of me. Of course theyâd recognize my face.
And theyâre not letting me go.
The 3 of them are pushing me face-first into the ground, pinning down my arms and legs until Iâm fairly certain theyâve decided to rip my limbs off. Iâm trying to fight back, Iâm trying to get my mind in the right place to focus my Energy, and Iâm just about to knock them back but then
a sharp blow to my head and Iâm rendered almost entirely unconscious.
Sounds are mixing together, voices are becoming one big mess of noise and I canât see colors, I donât know whatâs happening to me because I canât feel my legs anymore. I donât even know if Iâm walking or if Iâm being carried but I feel the rain. I feel it fall fast down the planes of my face until I hear the sound of metal on metal, I hear a familiar electric thrum and then the rain stops, it disappears from the sky and I only know 2 things and I only know 1 of those things for certain.
I am in a tank.
I am going to die.