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Surprised faces looked up and then she heard the sickening crunch as bodies hit the front of the van and went under. She plowed through several before one of them yelled something she couldn’t hear over her own screaming, and the rest of them scattered.

There were several men laying on the ground, and she could’ve sworn they were missing a limb, but between one second and another, they were whole and running off also. Shaking, she sat there for a moment.

“I might’ve killed someone,” she whispered. “I’m a murderer.”

Her first instinct was to call the police, except what would she say?I ran over someone because they were near someone kicking a dog?

That probably wouldn’t carry much weight.

She pulled out her phone. Her hands were shaking so badly she almost dropped it. She had two new contacts: Rissa and Carter. She’d only just met them, could she ask them to help her hide from the authorities?

Hello, I might’ve committed homicide, do you have a garage I could hide my van in for a while?

No, that sounded horrible.

Suddenly her phone rang, and Rissa’s name popped up.

“Hello? Rissa?” Was that her voice? It didn’t sound like her.

That’s when she saw what she thought had been a dog was actually a person. And it wasn’t just any person, it was Carter.

“Hiya,” Rissa said cheerfully, completely unaware that Mila’s life had turned into a horror movie. “We have a ton of leftover food here so I was thinking you should come by tomorrow and grab it. We also ended up with a bunch of dog stuff that someone was donating to Titan, but he said to give it to you because he doesn’t need anything right now. I asked around and not only did I find you—”

“Rissa, Carter’s hurt,” Mila sobbed, interrupting Rissa. There was blood all over Carter!

“Carter’s hurt?” Rissa repeated and all the background sound went silent. “Stay where you are, we’re going to find you!”

The phone went dead. Mila felt relieved but also confused. How would Rissa find her? Mila never got a chance to tell the other woman where she was.

Babette whined, making Mila realize the little dog had probably been at her side, crying and whining for a while. She was pawing and nudging at Mila’s thigh and then looking at the passenger door.

“You’re right, we need to check on Carter,” Mila agreed. She opened the driver door and slid down. Her legs almost crumpled under her as she looked around for bloody body parts from the men she’d run over.

Except there was nothing.

No limbs, no bodies, no blood. Except for the new dents, she would have thought she’d imagined it.

Babette barked excitedly. The little dog had made the mighty leap from the work van to the ground and ran over to Carter. She nosed the still man and to Mila’s relief, she heard a groan.

Rushing over, she knelt next to him, surprised to notice that he was naked. How had that happened? There were remnants of clothing on the ground. Had those other men ripped his clothes off during the fight?

“Carter?” she whispered. He was laying on his side, his eyes closed and blood seeping from his nose and mouth. There were cuts on his body. Any place that wasn’t cut was bruised.

He didn’t respond to his name. She tried to remember her first aid training but that was so many years ago, and she’d never dealt with an emergency this bad.

“Don’t worry,” she said as she dialed 911. “Help is coming. You’re going to be okay.”

The 911 operator came on at the same time Carter opened his eyes and focused on her. “Mila?”

“Yes, it’s me,” she said, leaning in close. “You’re safe, I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

For some reason, that made him laugh. The laugh ended in a cough and groan of pain.

“Hello? This is 911. What’s your location? Hello? If you’re not able to talk, tap any number. Try to keep the line open, and I’ll get officers to your location.”

She put the phone to her ear. “Help, please! I need an—”

A figure appeared in front of her. With a gasp, she fell back and accidentally dropped her phone.