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Always

Diego didn’t think so, striding forward and getting right up in John’s space Personal like

Even then I think we could have toned it down Except that I had kinda put the knowledge of Brett digging Jade on the back burner And here I was, frantic to get to her and he was almost as much And like the dih the gate

I intercepted hiave him "Don’t just step in the shit, Mason I don’t knohat’s going on"

His brown eyes glared into mine "Well I do Her dad’s been here twice this week already and if I know hi

I went to ate and Brett stopped h time to see that John was shocked out of his sneakers she’d just srabbed Tiff around the neck and I swear to all things holy that John bared his teeth like a pit bull and head butted Diego, his lips pulled away fro

Bry screa the rest of us vulnerable

Alex looked at lance like, come on

"I took a nap," he shouted

Hell That meant his REM sleep had kicked in the depressant and he’d be worthless for awhile A strong body without a clue

"Earn your pay, Sims!" Jonesy screamed as he pile drived into Carson

"I don’t kno to fight!" Alex screa like the brick shit house he ithout atoward Buddy Because to uished in her house with her crazy ass dad I went to town on Buddy

As I saw it, he was in the way of rescuing er

We squared off

Jade

Jade looked over at Andrea, a beaten and bloody pulp on the floor and tried to make herself smaller She couldn’t rescue anyone Her crushed pulse, along with Mia’s, littered the ground around her

She couldn’t pulse Caleb Tell hi roo witness to his fists When Andrea had fallen like a slender tree to his abuse, he had begun on the walls

Jade knew from experience she would be next

Mia locked eyes with Jade froirls She was soed in their depths It struck Jade that Mialike this before She shivered, trying to keep her teeth fro That would attract notice

From Him

He had booze in one hand, clenched in hisabout her behavior, swinging the bottle around in lee

Her sluttiness

Jade kneas untruthful, uessed it was better than his fists But not by n herself into a ball She knew the best way to defend her organs He could still get to her kidneys though She turned her back into the corner

He whirled on the girls and Mia whiue until she tasted copper Mia couldn’t be heard He’d gagged her with Andrea’s pantyhose He’d stuffed the biggest part in her s around her head and tied them

Mia screarabbed her honey-colored hair and tore her upright Tears streamed out of her eyes from the shock of it, her scalp literally on fire Mia put her hands in front of her in supplication and he back handed her Her head snapping around painfully

His eyes sought Jade, bloodshot and frantic, the booze forgotten and empty beside Andrea’s still form "This your whore friend here?" he asked in a quiet tone that was so much scarier for its softness He shook Mia by her neck and a series of muffled yelps sounded beneath the nylon An imprint of his hand stood at livid attention on her cheek Her crean on a cloudy day

Jade shook her head "No I don’t know her She’s just soht Jade didn’t know her, she’d beco Mia alone She was innocent after all

It had worked before when Mohtly the nails bit into the flesh of her pal Mia at his feet

Jade didn’t watch his approach, instead she watched Mia’s eyes fill with emotion

Desperation

And underneath that, horror

Jade closed her eyes in defeat

Skopamish

A dull bell sounded and the Chief of the Skopa in all directions The sound of it washing over hi his duty, so important lay outside this tireeted by a darkness so complete it was black velvet that caressed his mind, his soul He breathed and dirt filled his mouth and with it the smell of rich earth reached hi that which called hih a sieve, solid yet porous, he flowed through the soil which held hiainst his skin like a warsong

He spit the earth that lay upon his tongue onto the sodden ground at his feet

He rested no longer He was needed

The one ned death Transcended death, needed him

He would come, as would his warrior brethren

He had burst out of the earth ahtly

He turned his gaze to his brothers, they nodded in recognition, readying their weapons for battle

Their iven the battle call

The warriors of the Skopamish were ready

With a shrill cry they ran with sure feet to where the ht to recover a woman of the tribe His intent was as clear to them as if he spoke it

The Chief of the Skopahter as he ran

The blade was soon to be ith the blood of the enemy

CHAPTER 20

"Hart!" Buddy yelled at me as I came closer I didn’t even pause Jade’s name beat like a pulse in my skull I couldn’t think for its rhythm

"Listen to ht you," his voice sincere

I straightened, never taking my eyes off hi of the other boys around us the backdrop to our words