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He called Sampson as he raced through the house, pulling shoes on quickly at the door as well as grabbing a coat for Immy. Then he headed back to where he’d left her.

But as he left the house, he heard her scream.

Then, terrifyingly, nothing.

“Immy!”

Immy was so scared.

It was so dark. There were barely any stars out. She couldn’t hear anything. She didn’t know where Jenner or Tobias were.

What was going on?

There was a rustling noise and she opened her eyes, staring down at the ground.

She didn’t know how, but she just knew he was there. She put her hand over her mouth, trying to hide her whimper.

“You got two choices,” the voice said. “Come down by yourself or I shoot you and you fall out of the tree.”

The voice sounded strange. Garbled. She definitely didn’t recognize it.

A whimper escaped her, and she didn’t know what to do.

Die now or later?

At least if you get down now you’ve got a chance.

So she started down the tree. When she reached the bottom, she stared at him. Who was he? But he was completely covered in black so she couldn’t find anything to help her figure out who he was.

“Good choice,” he said, grabbing her arm.

She couldn’t hold back her scream and some sort of instinct kicked in, a memory of something that Sampson had taught her. She lashed out with her fist, catching him in the face. Then shefollowed it up with a foot to his balls. And suddenly, the asshole was on the ground, gasping for breath.

She stood there for a moment.

Run, Immy!

So she took off. She ran blindly, unsure of where to go or what to do. Sticks and rocks dug into her bare feet, her lungs heaved for breath. She was making far too much noise but she didn’t want to slow down. And then her ankle rolled under her and she crashed to the ground.

She lay there, sobbing for breath. She tried to get back onto her feet, but her ankle was having none of it.

No.

Get moving!

And then she saw him step out of the trees. She whimpered and cringed back, reaching for something to defend herself. She grabbed a rock, throwing it, then another one. A stick. Some leaves.

Good one, Immy.

“Immy! Immy, stop throwing shit at me.”

The guy removed his black balaclava. And she gaped up at him in shock.

“Isaiah?”

Isaiah was the man in black? But that made no sense. Why would he shoot Lauren? Sure, she was annoying and she’d kidnapped Immy . . . but couldn’t he just have incapacitated Lauren? And why would he threaten to shoot Immy? Why break a window and fill their bedroom with smoke?

“Why did you threaten to shoot me?” she cried.