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I shoved the thought away. Stared into the room, into the screen. Whoever had set up the camera must’ve done so from out of frame. I could hear noise now. The sound of doors, slamming.

Voices.

Gunshots.

I gasped as Connor entered the room. He swept in from the side, moving with the swift urgency of being chased, or hunted, or in big, big trouble.

He ran straight for the camera. Almost to the point where I expected him to grab it and shake it. Instead he stopped short, his hands on his knees, taking deep breaths. He looked winded. Covered in dirt, or grease, or something equally strange…

Connor!

The tears threatened to fall, but I choked them back. I concentrated on sitting upright, keeping my back straight, my legs together. Anything and everything but the emotions I was feeling right now.

“Listen…”

His head snapped up as he started talking, still gasping for breath. Suddenly he staring back at me with those big blue eyes.

My eyes.

“I don’t have much time,” Connor said. His voice was tight and hurried. “By the time you get this…” he swallowed hard, “I’ll already be gone. So don’t act stupid. Don’t think any of you can just rush out and sav—”

BANG!

Connor’s head whipped to the right. Somewhere off screen, I could hear the unmistakable sound of a door being pounded…

Pounded by multiple people.

“If you loved me at all,” Connor said quickly, “you’ll find and protect my sister.”

He was covered in blood. I could see that now. It didn’t necessarily look like his blood, but it was blood just the same.

“My sister has—”

The voices were louder now. There was more banging, more shouting. Someone fired a pistol multiple times, making the rest of his sentence unintelligible.

“Find and protect Dallas,” Connor was saying emphatically. “No matter what happens, you have to find her!” Now he did take the camera. He grabbed it and shook it.

“Go to her and keep her safe…”

BOOM!

The door bursts open. A shower of dust and debris flew past my brother in the background. There were more shouts. More screams…

I covered my face with my hands.

“I—”

At this point something broke into frame — a person maybe, or something more. It struck my brother hard enough to knock the camera — and him — straight to the floor.

CONNOR!

Everything spun dizzily as my brother disappeared from view. The noise stopped. The shouting stopped. The camera was face down, or powering down, or no longer working at all.

Then everything went black.

The ‘pause’ symbol appeared on-screen, signaling the end of the video. It was actually merciful. I was just seconds away from breaking out into tears.

Austin reached out and closed the viewing window. He took the laptop back and swung it shut, and this time I didn’t stop him.