On The Verge

Chapter 27- Don't Speak

———————Chloe———————

⠀⠀My legs ached along with the burning of my lungs as I ran, refusing to concede to my muscles, which begged me to stop.

⠀⠀We were gaining on Liza. Tearing through the woods, branches snapped under my feet. Kendall's rapid breathing sounded behind me. My lungs pleaded for air as I chased Liza, our footsteps echoing along the dirt trail. My arms pumped by my sides, my feet moving at a breathtaking pace.

⠀⠀I was faster than Liza, and soon I was only slightly behind her. I pushed my aching muscles to run faster, heaving for any last ounce of strength as I sprung forward.

⠀⠀And suddenly she was gone; vanished into thin air. I stopped running, Kendall trotting up to side. My chin rested comfortably on the ground, slack jawed in confusion. Liza must have darted into the trees; out of sight.

⠀⠀"Did you see where she went?" I asked Kendall hopefully. My throat was hoarse and my voice scratched against my dry throat like sandpaper.

⠀⠀Kendall shook her head, breathing deeply. She pressed her hand to her heart in exhaustion. Frustration swept through me as I kicked the side of a tree angrily, pain rippling through my foot. We were so close, but she had somehow managed to escape our grasps.

⠀⠀We stood there for a moment, the only sound that of our heavy breathing as we caught our breath.

⠀⠀"We should go back." Kendall suggested in defeat. I nodded reluctantly. We spun on our heels in the direction that we came from when Kendall suddenly stopped dead in her tracks.

⠀⠀I looked ahead of her on the path, my eyes searching for the cause of her sudden stop. I soon found it, and fear coursed through my veins and my breath caught in my throat. I felt a sob rise in my throat and my feet were planted to the ground, staring ahead of me in petrified terror.

⠀⠀Liza stood ten feet in front of us on the trail, blocking our path to return. Her face was still masked in the darkness and her blond hair streamed out of the front of her hood.

⠀⠀But that was not the part that scared me. That was not the part that made my throat close up and chills run down my spine like rain down a gutter.

⠀⠀Liza's arms were extended from her body, parallel to the damp grass. In her hands she held a black, shiny object; a gun.

⠀⠀In front of me, Kendall spoke up, fear evident in her small voice. "Liza. Pl-please—"

⠀⠀She stopped talking as suddenly as she started when Liza's finger travelled to the trigger. Fear washed over me for the millionth time in the past few seconds. I was terrified, we knew what Liza was capable of; she would not hesitate to kill us. Kendall's face was as pale as a sheet, much like my own.

⠀⠀I finally worked up to courage to speak, my intentions to convince Liza to put the gun down before the situation worsened.

⠀⠀"Liza—" was all I was able to enunciate before Kendall's shrill scream silenced my words.

⠀⠀Shock consumed my body like lightning as a loud gunshot rang through the air. The sound echoed in my bones and resonated through the trees as a bullet emerged from the end of the gun at a breathtaking speed. The bullet hurled forward, planting itself into the skin of Kendall's knee. I watched her body fall to the ground at my feet in agony, her hands traveling to her knee as crimson blood oozed out from between her fingers.

⠀⠀Liza once again took off into the trees, her face in the shadows created by her hood.