ColorBlind (Book #2 of S.H.A.D.E.) ✔

Escape

10.

I shake my hair clear of glass, moving back up to my feet, carefully avoiding cutting myself on the bits scattered all over the ground.

Jade looks horrified, her eyes unblinking as they stay glued to my every movement. "H-how did you do that? It just... broke."

"I wish I could tell you," I sigh, feeling nauseous and light-headed. I can feel the onset of a huge headache beginning in my skull. Whatever I did, it hurt me. I know that I am Psychic, but that doesn't make me feel less freaked out about what just happened.

Ignoring these unsettling thoughts, I search the ground for the biggest shard of glass. It's triangular, with a lethal point at one end. Perfect.

"You're going to use that?" Jade asks, eyeing the makeshift weapon.

I nod, carefully coiling my fingers around the jagged edges. "All I have to do now is wait."

And so we do.

The wait is horrendously long, and I tap my foot impatiently, watching the already darkened room dim so that details like the time-worn jiprock are now obscured away in a black haze.

I crawl to the top of the stairs once the room is consumed enough in darkness. I wait on the top step, the hard edges of the glass poking unpleasantly into my palm. I am concentrated on the task at hand, because if I screw this up, there will be no second chances.

I try to control my breathing and heart rate also, knowing fully well that any decent Demon would not let a door keep them from detecting someone on the other side.

After what feels like forever, I hear the click of the dead bolt, and then the door cracks open, a leathery hand reaching in to set the tray down.

My heart jumps.

The hand stills.

They sense I'm here.

I lunge, driving the glass into the top of the hand, and the person on the other side yelps loud in pain, their hand jerking back so that the glass cuts through the skin more, large blots of blood dripping onto the plank of the stair.

I come around the door, but of course the Demon is waiting, clutching his hand. His leg is a blur as it comes up to kick me square in the gut, and I am knocked back down the stairs, the glass cutting into my palm, a series of jabs and rolling vision as I fall end over end. I knock my head three hard times as I fall, landing at an awkward angle down below.

The Demon withdraws the tray, going to close the door.

No!

The padlock snaps, unshackling the steel door which blows back from whatever force I conjured. I hear the slap of the metal as it hits the Demon and a thunk which can only be him falling to the floor.

I get up as fast as I can, trying not feel every injury I just acquired, my hand smearing blood over the railing and wall as I rush up the stairs. "Jade!" I remember, and yell back to her.

She's rocking on the floor, covering her head. "Go without me!"

Mother of God.

I bolt back down the stairs and yank at her, coating her pale arm in my blood which is flowing in thick, warm streaks down my arm. "Get up! We have to go!"

"No, no, no!" she protests, squeezing her eyes and shaking her head in small, manic jerks.

I inhale sharply, then say, "I'm sorry."

I punch her out. She flops to the ground, limp.

I waste no time in throwing her over my shoulder and huffing my way up the stairs. When I reach the top, I see that we are in a decrepit looking house, the kitchen all filthy and clearly unused for sometime, shelves and cupboards bare.

The Demon is on the ground, groaning, but his eyes flick open at the sound of me entering the kitchen. He goes to get up, but I kick him as hard as I can in the face. He growls, spit flying out of his mouth and goes to get up again.

I drop Jade, not so gently, onto the tiled floor and pick up a wooden chair that sits at a small table. I ram it down on him, but it breaks at the impact, so I pick up a splintered chair leg and lunge it down into his open mouth. He chokes and flails, blood bursting out of his mouth around the wood and over his lips, his legs kicking out to trip me up. I jump up out of the way and use the downward gravity to plunge the frayed end into his throat.

From my experience, I know this won't kill him, so I wrench the leg this way and that until his neck is all ripped up. His hand comes up and bashes me across the face so hard I lose the hearing in my ear, a fuzz like cotton balls filling it.

I roll off of him, covering my cheek, but grab the gun in his holster and take it off safety. I receive one last glower before I shoot him in the head.

After this, I realize that my head and nose are bleeding, a disturbing amount dripping off my chin and onto the yellowish- white tile of the floor.

I want to lay down, but I know I won't get up again if I do, so I grab Jade, only able to drag her in intervals under the arms with me through the house. My blood drenches her blonde hair. I swallow a gag.

I only have to go down one hall before I am at the living room area, which is just as grungy as the kitchen, a creepy fireplace covered in cobwebs at it's center.  There is an exit. I shuffle hurriedly to it.

But then a noise comes from deep inside the house. A noise which first runs my blood cold, and then fills me with a boiling rage.

It's Copper screaming.