Page 57 of Not Her Day to Die

27

October 6th

Darius shoots up off of the bed. The last he remembers was being dragged off of Sunday and then…

And then his world went dark.

They must have drugged me.

Establishing himself in the here and now, Darius yanks the blankets back and attempts to get up. He’s fully clothed now and back in the main house, in a bedroom he had been thrown into before. The curtains are drawn and the room is cloaked in shadows. He appears uninjured, except for his heart, it'sburning.

I need to find Sunday. Make sure she is okay. I have to stop this before I am forced to hurt her…or even worse.

Guilt slogs its way through his system. Dense and gritty. Darius knows Sunday would never fault him for what happened, but he can’t help to blame himself.

He is a Thorne.

He is the reason she was brought here.

“They’re going to be here soon, you need to get it together.”

A familiar voice cuts through the dark room.

Darius reaches towards the lamp next to the bed, flicking it on. “Veronica?”

Veronica leans against the door, she’s sporting a black eye, a busted lip, and a bruised cheek.

“What the fuck happened?” Darius hadn’t seen her since before Sunday was shot. He never expected her to be here, never expected her to be hurt.

Veronica bares her teeth. “Mark got in a few good hits before I managed to escape him. He heard me on the phone. Deduced what I’d done,” she speaks in a hushed tone.

Darius is on his feet now, walking closer to Veronica. “What have you done? What’s going on? You need to leave and run and escape this town. It isn’t safe,” he matches her voice, attempting to keep his words contained to this room.

Veronica laughs, a soft grating noise. “No fucking shit, Darius. Your brothers are on the way. Along with the FBI. They’ll be here soon to end this once and for all. Just don’t let the Thornes use you as a scapegoat.”

Stomping and shouting from outside the room draws his attention. He doesn’t understand, but he knows there isn’t time.

“Where’s Sunday?” Darius asks, narrowing his eyes.

Veronica shifts from foot to foot. “I don’t know. Carrie was supposed to let me know when she made it back here…but she hasn’t shown up.”

Dread slinks into Darius’s gut. “Sunday’s still down there? We have to find her! What if they kill her? She can’t speak if she’s dead!” Panic muddles Darius’s mind.

Before when they were in the loops he at least knew what to expect. But now?

If she dies…

He doesn’t finish the thought.

Veronica flinches back further into the door behind her. Her hands clench into fists. “I won’t let anything happen to her. I promised Auggie.”

The panic dissipates and it is replaced with a whirring fan of anxiety and grief. “I’m sorry,” Darius expels. “Now please. What is the plan? How are we going to get to Sunday?”

He doesn't know the way to the underground facility. Every time they had taken him down there, he’d been blindfolded.

The stomping gets closer and closer.

Darius tenses.