Alive

24

━━━━━━༺༻ ━━━━━━
~~~~~~⚫️Chapter 24⚫️~~~~~~
━━━━━━༺༻ ━━━━━

━━━━━━༺༻ ━━━━━━

The banging on my door was relentless, each thud making the frame rattle. I threw it open, already annoyed, to find Jay standing there with that cocky smirk plastered across his face, looking like he'd been waiting forever.

"'Bout damn time, princess," he sneered, his eyes flashing with mischief. "Thought you were gonna sleep all day. Let's go. We got things to do."

I rolled my eyes, barely suppressing a groan. "Jay, it's barely morning. What's the rush?"

"Rush?" he scoffed, looking at me like I'd said something stupid. "I'm tryin' to save you from this miserable camp. Besides, you look like you could use a thrill." He turned and started down the path without waiting for me to answer. "Now hurry up, or I'm leavin' you behind."

I muttered a curse under my breath, but curiosity tugged at me. I grabbed my jacket and jogged after him, catching up as we reached the fence. He glanced over his shoulder with a mocking grin before leaping onto the wooden poles and swinging himself up with effortless balance. Then he crouched at the top, smirking down at me.

"Well?" he called, tilting his head in challenge. "Or you scared to get your hands dirty?"

I clenched my jaw, fighting back the urge to punch that smirk off his face. Without another word, I grabbed the fence and pulled myself up, swinging my legs over and landing beside him. He grinned, clearly enjoying every second of my irritation.

"Not bad," he said, his tone almost mocking. "Now let's see if you can keep up." And before I could respond, he took off, sprinting like a shadow through the early dawn, fast and nimble.

I followed, adrenaline kicking in as I matched his pace, the thrill of the run sparking something fierce inside me. Jay wove through the trees, leading us down winding paths, his movements smooth and confident. I barely had time to register where we were going before we burst into an old, abandoned parking lot, rows of rusting cars casting long shadows across the cracked concrete.

The place was eerie, darkened by the growing shadows that crept along the edges, like something out of a nightmare. Jay came to a stop, breathing hard, and glanced around with a low growl, as if warning the shadows to stay back.

Then he turned to me, his eyes narrowing, a wild edge to his grin. "Alright, princess," he said, his voice low and dangerous. "How's your reflexes?"

Before I could answer, he lunged at me, his fist swinging fast. I barely had time to block, his knuckles grazing my arm before I stumbled back. But he didn't let up, coming at me again with a speed and ferocity that took me by surprise.

"Come on!" he snarled, his tone almost taunting. "You can't keep up?"

I dodged, taking a few hits as I tried to regain my balance, my instincts sharpening with each strike. Finally, I saw an opening and kicked him hard in the gut. He staggered back, his eyes widening with surprise as he clutched his stomach.