All the Colors of the Dark — Chapter 37

37

Every cell in her body shut down with the fear.

And then she saw the light.

Only it flickered in a way that told her she was in a new world of trouble.

She smelled the smoke but could not see the flames that had chased her from the kindling of the barn back through to the wooden main house.

She cupped a hand to her mouth as she screamed his name.

At the end of the tunnel she looked up to see a hopper window, the glass painted black but cracks in the paint bled light.

Smoke constricted her chest, her throat.

She stood and hooked her fingertips onto the ledge, tried to haul herself up but could not find the strength.

She tried again, screamed as she found her footing on the rough wall and dug the toe of her sneakers in hard.

With the handle of her slingshot she cracked the glass once, shattered it twice.

Saint wriggled through, the glass tearing at her.

She screamed as heavy hands gripped beneath her arms and hauled her out fully.

She did not know whose hands they were, and she cursed with every word she knew, called him a cunt and a motherfucker and only when the flames met more chemicals and blew out the windows did she fall limp and dead in his arms.

“I’ve got you, kid,” Nix said. “I’ve got you.”

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