Intentional Killer - Book 2 In The Jessie Series

Chapter 24: Strangers

I flinched when I heard the crack of the gun. The sob caught in my chest, throwing my hands over my mouth and clenching my jaw so hard my teeth hurt. I closed my eyes for a moment. But I kept walking. Everyone else stopped. Everyone flinched but I kept walking, my eyes glassy. I shoved all my hurt, disappointment, anger; every single emotion and feeling I shoved it all into a ball and stuffed it deep down.

This is what I get for taking my walls down. This is what I get for letting anyone in. I lost Chuck and now Winston. Two of the four boys I let in. My heart was broken, and I didn't know if there was any fixing it.

As I walked past everyone, heads turned and watched. I didn't bother to look, or acknowledge them. I held the straps of my backpack and walked, eyes straight ahead and face hard. Thomas tried to talk to me, but I ripped my arm away and snarled.

I was so angry with him. If he had just stopped and listened for a moment this wouldn't have happened. I didn't want to talk to him. Or anyone. I walked feeling dead inside. The longer I walked, the further away I got from Winston's body, the more the pain and hurt turned into a hard callased stone where my feelings should have been. I was watching my family slowly die off, one by one.

Someone had called a water break but I had no more water. I gave it to Winston, so I kept walking.

We had left the sand hills and dunes behind. It was flat ground. The earth was hard packed, dry and cracked, baked a long time ago by the sun. There was nothing for miles. The heat rose in a haze in front of me.

A few people behind me called for me to stop but I ignored them and kept going. It's not like I could lose them. We were the only things in this godforsaken place.

They eventually followed me. They were far behind. And I was glad they left me. Minho was smart enough to let me have space. I'd go find him when I needed. I always went back, but right now I needed to be alone, I needed time to process the fact I was the one who handed my best friend the loaded gun. I had killed my best friend. I was the monster. Who else could say they killed an innocent four year old girl and their best friend?

I owed a lot of my... character development to him. If it wasn't for Winston's persistent nagging and his stupid girl talks I wouldn't have Minho or other...friends.

I wanted to cry, but I was dry and empty. I had nothing left, and the heat in the sun made tears impossible. It was a very long afternoon. We were closer to the town, but it still looked far far away. I was staring straight ahead, eyes glazed. It took me a second to realize I was actually watching something.

Far ahead, from the direction of the town, two people were running toward us, their bodies like ghostly forms of darkness in the heat mirage, small plumes of dust rising from their feet.

I stared at the runners. I sensed that the other Gladers behind me had stopped as well, as if there'd been an unspoken command to do so. I didn't know why I felt the tickle of cold fear along my back, the Gladers outnumbered the approaching strangers, and they had three trained assassins in their midst, but the feeling was undeniable; something wasn't right.

"Everyone pack in tighter," Minho called. "And get ready to fight these shanks the first sign of trouble, if for some reason they get past the Wolf Pack."

I slid my bow off and grabbed an arrow and had it ready to go when I sensed Aris and Teresa coming up behind me, one on each side. The rest of the Gladers stayed together in a clump behind us. I heard a slight struggle, meaning Thomas was trying to break free, but someone had held him back.

The blurry mirage of upward-melting heat obscured the two figures until they were only a hundred yards or so away. My muscles tensed when they came into focus. I remembered all too well what these people were, Cranks. Yet these two hadn't turned into wild starving animals. These people made me uncomfortable in a different way. There was something else off about them. I felt the tension and the nervous unsettled energy from everyone behind me.