Burned Ones

Chapter 18

Annabeth.
15 years old.

The sole of my shoe slid on the blood as I ran. My leg careened to the side as a hand wrapped itself around my ponytail. I was yanked back, stumbling as I tried to stay upright to avoid the wet ground. Scuffed, red prints that matched the design on the bottom of my shoes stamped the ground.

Somewhere else in the room, the sound of a fist hitting flesh was heard but I couldn't concern myself with it.

I reached behind me, wrapping my hands around the arm clinging to my hair and pinched their skin as hard as I could.

The man screamed and shoved me away from him with enough force that my face hit a nearby wall. Slumping against it for a moment, I closed my eyes and touched my cheek. Blood covered my fingertips.

The objective here wasn't to win. It was to escape.

Jay and I had been sent on a simple job. In fact, it was hardly a job at all. We had to pick up money from someone who paid us on the regular. His name was Darren and he was such a non-issue that most of the time random Casey members were sent to collect money from him based on who was in his area. Lucky, Sully, and Jay were typically sent on the harder collections. Darren never had issues with late payment or sketchy business from him.

Until today.

I was told to go with Jay and hadn't thought twice about it. Jay and I arrived and after he took the money, Darren was shot straight through the chest and collapsed on the ground. Dacostas piled into the room when I was still busy staring at Darren on the ground, lifeless. Blood pooled around us until Jay shoved my shoulder to go.

We didn't ask why or what they wanted. We ran. I had nearly escaped twice before I was caught each time. I let out a shaky breath right as the guy grabbed the back of my shirt and pulled me away from the wall. His hand went around my throat, trying to choke me. I wiggled and squirmed until I could move my head to the side and bit down on his arm.

"You bitch!" the man screamed, letting go of me again.

I darted away, this time in control of my legs but was cut short when a fist flew right into my gut. My uncle, who preached how much we weren't supposed to be touched in a fight, would've been disappointed. But Jay and I were outnumbered and taken off guard and I really didn't care what my uncle thought.

I was knocked down onto the ground and a foot came in contact with my body.

"Don't break her!" someone yelled. "We need her, you dumbass!"

A man stood over me, grinning a vicious smile. I saw Jay knock whoever he was fighting with to the ground and start making his way toward me.

I coughed and kicked the man above me between the legs hard enough that I hoped I broke something. He dropped instantly so I scrambled up and toward the door. Jay was right behind me. Yelling came from all sides. I threw open the door and it banged off the wall. The door led to the bottom of a stairwell and I practically scaled up them like a cat, my fingers brushing the edges of each of the six stairs to make sure I didn't wipe out. I was vaguely aware of Jay's hands on my legs every few steps to either push me along or keep me upright.

Our car was in front of us and I jumped into the driver's side because I got there first with Jay opening the backseat right behind the driver's side. This was a Casey car so we had the key which helped save time. They were still chasing after us as I put the car in drive and I had never floored the gas pedal on a car until right then.

When I got the car under control and eased off the pedal a little bit, Jay climbed into the front seat, banging my head with his knee, elbow, and heel as he tried to fold his overly large body into the space between the two front seats. Our heavy breathing and the car's engine roaring were the only sounds as Jay buckled himself in.