Fallen Raine {Completed}

Chapter Twenty-Six - The Ultimate Betrayal

   I looked away from Drella’s body and back at River and Jason.

   Jason looked green, and his Adam’s apple bobbed as he took in the sight before him and realized he had accidentally and unintentionally gotten Drella murdered.

   River didn’t seem accusatory towards Jason, just shocked at the sight before him. He looked sick and horrified and shocked and out-of-it, but he seemed to be holding it together.

   He made both of us step back, before turning to look at us. “Look, guys, I need to pee, okay? I’ll meet you guys back near the exit at the food court. It’s almost seven and that’s when the mall normally opens, meaning people are gonna show up and get us out of this hellhole soon. Until then, we wait it out by the food court. Here, Jason, take this. Defend Raine if you need to.”

   He lobbed a glittering silver blade at Jason, who caught the hilt easily and stared at the weapon in horror. “Where the hell did you get a knife from?”

   River rubbed the back of his neck. “I grabbed some from the kitchen and camping store earlier. I only got two, and I’m keeping one with me for protection.”

   “Are you sure you wanna go alone?” I asked uncertainly.

   River blew out a breath. “I’ll be fine, don’t worry. We can’t all go together. Remember what I said, back to the doors near the food court. I’ll be back.”

   He disappeared quickly, taking long strides and fingering the knife in his pocket that he would use for protection if he needed to.

   Jason wrapped his long, tanned fingers around my upper arm and started pulling me back towards the food court. I had no fight left in me to argue, and allowed him to pull me along towards—hopefully—salvation.

   “I can’t believe River had a knife this whole time,” Jason muttered disbelievingly, staring with an accusatory glare at the knife in his hands.

   “Yeah,” I replied quietly, though my mind was on other things.

   Like the fact River had a knife, not just that he’d had it since this whole thing begun.

   A bad feeling swirled in my stomach, as I began to imagine the worst about River. About how maybe he didn’t really need to use the bathroom, and was in fact leading us towards our deaths. He had a knife the whole time. Sure, when he held it up it had looked relatively clean, but maybe he had washed it after killing everyone. Maybe he was luring us towards the food court so that he and his accomplice could kill us—if he had one. Maybe we were walking into a trap.

   “Jason—” I whispered, and he looked at me.

   “Yeah?” he asked.

   “Maybe we shouldn’t go,” I replied. “I mean, River’s story seems kinda sketchy. What if we’re just walking into a death trap?”

   His eyes roamed around as he considered this new option. “You don’t think…” he whispered, whipping his head around and staring at me.

   I shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t know what to think anymore.”

   He looked around. “Okay. Come on.”

   He grabbed my hand and started leading me towards the food court, and I looked at him incredulously. Was he seriously not even going to acknowledge my thought? Was he seriously going to lead us back to the food court, anyway? Why wasn’t he listening to me after I had given him a perfectly plausible explanation?

   When the food court came into view, he picked his pace up to a jog and gestured for me to jump over one of the fast food counters. With confusion, I did as he asked and hopped over the marble, before crouching down. Jason followed suit, before leaning into me and whispering, “If River really is going to try something, we’ll know as soon as he comes here. We’ve got a perfect view straight there, and if he goes to do something, we’ll be able to see him do it.”