Page 81 of Blood Day

Then hunched down.

I needed a new objective. A new way to win this.

The knives felt slippery in my hands, but I clutched them as though they were my sole purpose in life.

Calm,I whispered to myself.Calm your breaths. Focus and listen.

More screams and shouts littered the night, their proximity unknown due to the open space. They sounded far away but likely weren’t.

I stole a deep breath, my palms tightening in expectation.

Survive when caught.

I could do that.

Iwoulddo that.

I just had to wait.

There was nowhere to run here. Nowhere to hide. I was destined to be captured, the land too flat and dark and vastly sparse to provide any semblance of escape.

Anyone trying to do otherwise would be disappointed.

I shouldn’t have wasted time searching for the road. I knew better. But my body had reacted as though Master Cedric had yanked me to him on a string.

My obsession with him was going to cost me my life.

I shifted into a fighting pose, preparing for the inevitable. Then I waited, my breathing slowing back to normal with each passing second.

This felt right.

I needed my strength and focus, not the adrenaline provoked by the run.

More shouts arose, one of them sounding suspiciously like Six.

But I didn’t react.

Instead, I continued to breathe. Waiting. Concentrating.Listening.

The desert was eerily silent, the wind nonexistent. The only disruptions were human cries.

I listened for footsteps and signs of movement.

Nothing.

My heart skipped a beat, my insides threatening to melt beneath the pressure of the moment.

However, I forced myself to inhale and exhale, using all my lessons to calm my body despite the burning desire to run and scream.

I could almost taste the agony of the others in the air, their whimpers echoing in the still night.

I’m next. They’ll be here soon. Just wait.

But the inevitable merely made it worse.

I started to count to distract my mind.

It didn’t work. I couldn’t stop picturing the violence occurring around me. Hearing it was almost worse than seeing it. And knowing I would be next…