“What the fuck?” one of the guys growls out, whipping a semi-auto out from his waistband. For a split second, I have a straight view to Aaron, lying in the mud and bleeding. As I watch, he struggles to his feet, taking advantage of the confusion as he pushes up to a standing position and takes off like a shot.

He’s clearly injured but running off adrenaline as he sprints for a rusted hole in the fence and dives underneath, scrambling to his feet and continuing on without a hitch. I breathe a small sigh of relief as Oscar releases me, but this isn’t over yet, and we both know it.

Victor is now standing next to the fence on our side, waiting to see if it’s worth it for him to start running over there. But Cal just adjusts the barrel of his rifle and shoots the boy with the gun directly in the face. It’s fucking brutal; he is fucking brutal. He starts to pick them off one by one as they shout and scatter, deciding it’s better to flee than to try to shoot him.

As soon as he has an opening, Callum hops down, yanks open the door to the Camaro and climbs in. Off he goes, heading into the woods after Aaron.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Victor snarls as pandemonium breaks out on the racetrack. He turns back around and comes jogging toward us, clearly furious at me for even having made it this far. “Where is Hael?” he snaps, just before our redheaded friend appears from the direction of the snack bar area.

“Man, what a clusterfuck. I got one car done. One.” Hael grits his teeth, but there’s no time for us to sit here and lament the failure of our plan. Instead, we haul ass back to the Mercedes, climb in, and book it the fuck out of there.

Our front tires have just barely hit the road before we hear the explosion.

“You think we actually managed to get anyone with that?” Hael asks, but nobody answers him. I’m too busy calling Aaron and Callum, one after another. I think Oscar and Victor are doing the same.

Cal is the first to respond, and I immediately put him on speakerphone.

“I’m at the convenience store,” he says, reminding me that Aaron pointed it out as a rendezvous point the night we went mudding. “I don’t see Aaron yet; I didn’t see him in the woods either.”

“He could be hiding, or playing it safe,” Victor muses, glancing back at me, as if he can see Callum by looking at Hael’s phone in my hands. “What about Aaron’s phone? Do you see it in the car?”

There’s a minute of what sounds like Cal rummaging around inside the Camaro, and then a curse.

“Yep. Here it is. Fuck.” Cal sighs, like he’s frustrated by the whole situation. “I found it.”

My heart feels like it’s being stabbed with thousands of tiny needles; I don’t like this. I don’t like it at all.

“Cal, take the Camaro to the garage and park it. We’ll wait at the convenience store for as long as I feel it’s safe, and then we’ll get you. If Aaron isn’t back by then, we’ll start canvassing the woods once their crew clears out.” Victor exhales sharply and digs his fingers into his hair. In this moment, I both love him fiercely and respect the hell out of him. His job sucks.

“Got it,” Callum says, hanging up shortly after.

The car remains silent as we drive to the convenience store and park around back, waiting in the parking lot for a while before Vic slips out to head inside. He comes back in just a few minutes, shaking his head and cursing.

For nearly forty minutes, we wait, but Aaron doesn’t show up.

After that, Hael takes us around the immediate area, checking all sorts of strange places that I wouldn’t expect to look—a public restroom, a treehouse in the backyard of a foreclosure, the old movie theater that’s been closed for years, but whose ticket booth is unlocked and probably makes for an awesome hiding spot.

Nothing.

“Vic,” I start, breaking out into a cold sweat. If something happens to Aaron, I will fucking die. It will break all the last happy, pretty parts of me, and I will become nothing. I shouldn’t say that, but it’s true. “Where the fuck is he?”

“I don’t know, Bernie,” Vic says, glancing over his shoulder at me as Oscar texts various crew members on his iPad. “But we’ll find him. Or die trying. That much, at least, I promise you.”

We head to the garage to grab Callum, but instead of just picking him up, the boys boot me out of the car.

“What the hell?” I snarl as Cal stands outside the open passenger door, waiting for me to climb out. Oscar is on the other side, looking impatient and annoyed. It’s very clearly a mask though; he’s terrified for his friend. Nobody has to tell me how bad this situation is; I can see it for myself. “I’m not staying here; I want to look for him with you.”

“Bernadette, I will not ask you again,” Vic growls, turning around in the front passenger seat to look at me. His eyes blaze with dark fury. “Get out of the car or I will drag you out myself.” Hael says nothing, watching the interaction with a deep-set frown. “Bernie,” Victor starts again, closing his eyes and trying to gain control of his temper. He’s good at it, as always, so when he next turns his gaze on me, it’s much calmer. “My mother is going to try to kill you. She is very good at what she does; there’s a reason I’m as ruthless as I am. Now, please get the fuck out of the Mercedes, stay with Oscar, and go home in case Aaron shows up there. We have a dozen guys on the house; it’ll be safe.”

“Vic …” I start, but I know he’s right. With a violent slew of curses, I throw my boots down on the pavement and climb out of the car, slamming the door behind me. The boys are pulling out of the driveway before I even get a chance to turn around, watching them peel out and disappear down the street.

I glance over at Oscar’s pinched expression.

“Please tell me he’s coming back,” I whisper, but it takes Oscar far longer than it should to look over at me and nod.

“He’ll come back,” he says, but he doesn’t sound entirely convinced by his own words.

I close my eyes as he moves up the drive, heading into the office to grab some keys. When he comes back, I open them again and watch as he unlocks the doors to a mustard yellow Chevelle. Without a word, I head over, climb into the passenger seat, and lean my head back.

There is only one thought playing out inside my mind.

Where is Aaron? Where is Aaron? Where the fuck is Aaron?!

Aaron Fadler

When I come to, it’s dark out and I’m lying on my side. Everything fucking hurts. Everything. For a second there, I have no idea where I am or what the fuck is going on. When I try to sit up, I bang my head on something and feel the very first edges of panic start to take over me.

Don’t do that, Aaron, I tell myself, trying to stay calm. The thing is, I’ve got pretty bad claustrophobia, so no matter how logical I try to be with myself, I’m still going to panic. I have no idea where the phobia came from; I’ve had it for as long as I can remember. Dying the way Neil Pence did … that’s like, my worst nightmare. Am in a coffin? I wonder suddenly, feeling around inside the small area where I’m trapped.

But no.

It’s not the right shape, and there’s a pair of jumper cables next to me.