At first I thought that Coden wasn’t going to follow me when I ran, and I hesitated. Despite the fact that fear was trickling down my throat, threatening to suffocate me, the thought of leaving Coden here to fend off Samantha terrified me even more. Images of his cut up body flashed before my eyes, and I had to swallow down bile. If Coden wasn’t going to run, I wasn’t going to either. It didn’t matter that I’d just gotten done promising him the opposite. No one deserved to die alone.
But it seemed that Coden wasn’t planning on staying behind and battling a battle that probably could not be won. Instead, he grabbed onto my arm, yanked me backwards so hard that I almost toppled over, and pulled me back down the hallway we’d just come from. In an instant I twisted around and tore down the hallway, Coden right by my side.
Samantha was right behind us. I could hear her laughter, could practically taste her exhilaration as we sprinted down the hallway. There was something wrong with her, my mind shouted over and over again. Something completely and utterly wrong with her. What had to happen to someone for them to live off this sickness, this violence? Was she born this way? Or had life ripped her layers away until nothing was left but a sadistic monster?
“Turn left!” I heard Coden whisper, his voice hoarse. At first I thought I imagined his voice, but when he grabbed onto my hand and practically tossed me into the aligning hallway, I realized that I hadn’t.
I couldn’t even bring myself to try and recognize our surroundings as we ran. Had we been down this hallway? Surely we had. It felt like we’d crossed every hall—every room—in this entire building. Of course we hadn’t; the place was too huge. But still, it felt like we’d been trapped here forever. Searched every possible corner.
Another turn. And another. A glance back to see if Samantha was still on our heels. She was.
My lungs screamed. My legs burned. My body begged for me to sit down, to stop running. But I couldn’t. If I slowed down at all, I would die. And, more importantly, if I slowed down Coden would slow down just to protect me. And then he would die, too.
And I wasn’t about to let that happen.
“Oh come on,” Samantha cooed from behind us. Her voice was unbearably close. “Why don’t you stop running? You must be exhausted by now.”
Coden replied by grabbing onto my hand and tugging me into a faster pace. He didn’t have to say anything, didn’t even have to look at me. I could tell by his labored breathing that he was exhausted. He was relying on pure adrenaline to keep him alive now. And, from the way my legs picked up speed without even having to think about it, I realized that so was I.
Samantha snickered, a sick, twisted sound. “Oh, I see. Playing hard to get, huh? That’s quite all right. The chase has always been my favorite part.”
We veered to the left again, this time entering a hall that I instantly recognized. It was the hall that we’d left Valarie and Rosalie in a room by themselves. Being in this hall splashed multiple emotions through me. Besides the nearly uncontrollable fear, this hall added comfort from recognition and dread from the new anxiety that unfurled in my stomach. But I couldn’t concentrate on that feeling right now. If I set my mind on anything but running, I was going to slow down.
And I could not slow down.
My eyes locked on the set of stairs at the end of the hall. What were we going to do? Were we going to take the stairs or turn another left, going down the adjoining hall? Which path would we take? I wanted to ask Coden what he wanted to do, but if I asked Samantha would hear and that would defeat the point.
