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Finally, she leaned forward, ignoring the ache in her side as she cast a glance around the wall, down the alley.
“Did I—did I get him?” Maddie whispered, her fingers wrapping around Saff’s arm.
Her eyes found him instantly—body splayed out across the asphalt, one leg twitching as a pool of dark red crept out around him.
Saff watched for another moment before slowly pulling back, the pain in her body reaching a near excruciating level.
She released a shaky breath, dropping the rifle to the ground.
Then her head lowered a fraction, and that’s when she saw it.
The wetness seeping from her hoodie.
A sight she’d seen many times before.
She swallowed, dabbing her shaky fingers against it, already knowing what it was before seeing the red stain against her skin.
“Saff?” Maddie asked, concern now lacing her voice.
Saff blinked down at her blood-soaked fingers, then looked up at Maddie. Her sunglasses had been knocked off when they went down, and now she could see the edge of panic and adrenaline in her deep blue eyes.
“Yeah,” she said, trying to keep her voice from shaking. “You—you got him.”
Pride swelled over Maddie’s face, and seeing it cracked something deep in her chest.
“Perfect shot,” Saff whispered, closing her eyes as pain swept through every inch of her abdomen. “Might even be better than me now.”
When she opened her eyes again, Maddie still had the ghost of a smile on her lips.
“Is there anyone else?” Maddie asked, still a bit breathless.
The question spurred something in her, pulling her out of the slight daze she’d entered.
He had to have still been traveling with the rest of the group. Although there was no telling how many of them were left. Even so, whoever remained would be somewhere in the city not far away.
“Where’s the radio?” Maddie asked, not waiting for an answer to her first question.
Saff turned, glancing to where she’d dropped the radio a few feet away.
Different parts lay strewn out on the ground, split open with some of the wires poking out.
She closed her eyes, working to take slow, shallow breaths.
“Radio’s broken,” she muttered, the words quaking on their release.
Maddie went quiet beside her. Then she said, “We have to get out then, right? Shoot the flare when we’re out of the city?”
Saff opened her eyes, her hand finding the hem of her hoodie before slowly sliding it up.
Blood oozed over her tan skin in a smooth, endless stream.
The bullet had gone in right below her ribs, just a few inches off center.
She watched as it trickled down onto the hem of her pants, slowly blooming out over her thigh.
Imperfect red petals.
“Saff?” Maddie said again, her voice louder this time, breaking through the ringing that had begun in her ears.