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Back Run, Hide, Fight Back Save as PDF
Chapters (62)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Notice
  3. Dedication
  4. Map
  5. Newspaper Extract
  6. Survive
  7. One Hundred Miles
  8. So Many and So Fast
  9. Start to Die
  10. Fish in a Barrel
  11. Because of the Blood
  12. Can’t be Real
  13. Waiting to Die
  14. Panic
  15. None of Them
  16. Trapped
  17. Video Game
  18. Like Her Life Depends on It
  19. Before He Sees Us
  20. It’s Your Lucky Day
  21. Just a Shell
  22. The World’s Best Reality Show
  23. How Long
  24. No Matter What Happens
  25. The One Who Decides
  26. What You Need to Do
  27. One Last Time
  28. The Biggest Secret Ever
  29. What They Want Me to Believe
  30. Who He Really Is
  31. People Like You
  32. I Believe She Is Saying
  33. Wake Up
  34. We Told You What Would Happen
  35. Slowly, Slowly
  36. Everything Is Under Control
  37. Come with Me
  38. The Last Thing They’d Expect
  39. They Can’t Shoot All of Us
  40. Go Down Swinging
  41. Not Running Away
  42. If You’re Going to Lie
  43. Every Rattle and Click
  44. Infinitesimal
  45. No Safe Place
  46. I Didn’t Know
  47. Straight to the Source
  48. Nothing but the Breathing
  49. Anything Other Than Killing
  50. You Honestly Believed
  51. Three Inches Away
  52. Not Anymore
  53. Refusing to Crack
  54. On the Trigger
  55. Over
  56. All Too Much
  57. Together, We Can Make a Difference
  58. A Note From the Author
  59. Other Mysteries by April Henry
  60. Honors for April Henry
  61. About the Author
  62. Newsletter Sign-up

He sends another text to Miranda. I’m really sorry for what happened. Sorry for everything.

People aren’t going to come to his funeral and say Parker was such a stud. If he’s lucky, they might say he died trying to save his sister. If he’s not lucky, they’ll talk about all the times he’s been a jerk.

Because he’s been a bad guy way more times than he’s been a good one.

It’s okay, Miranda texts back. Neither one of us was our best self that day.

“Best self.” He likes that thought. Like being better is still possible.

A sudden metallic bang, like someone just hammered on a piece of sheet metal, makes him jump. And it didn’t come from out in the corridor, but instead from high on the other side of one of the workroom walls. He holds perfectly still, but all he hears is some faint scrabbling.

He unfreezes long enough to text Miranda. Did u hear that bang?

Someone here tried to get out thru vent. Too small.

Even though it’s not even an avenue of escape that he thought of, the news makes Parker feel like another weight has been placed on his heart. They’re never going to get out of here.

He tries to envision the mall’s layout, to picture where Culpeppers and Van Duyn are and where their storerooms might lie in relation to each other.

I think ur on other side of my wall, he texts Miranda.

So near yet so far, she texts back, with some ridiculous smiley face sporting a hat and a beard. He’s not even sure what it’s supposed to mean, but it still makes his lips twitch, before he remembers how alone he is.

Parker is sitting on his heels, trying to write a text to his parents, backspacing and deleting and searching for the right words while snuffling back tears, when another text from Miranda pops up.

Hang tight. My dad said SWAT team coming.

When? he texts back. Is it really possible they might survive this?

Soon. He said stay hidden so we don’t get shot by accident.

OK. Thx, Parker replies, then goes back to trying to find the right words to text his parents. But maybe he doesn’t need to make them perfect. Maybe he’ll be able to talk to them instead. Maybe he’ll …

Suddenly a loud noise fills the air as something shoves him from behind. Parker is thrown onto his hands and knees.

And the knife is behind him, out of reach.

People Like You

PEOPLE LIKE YOU

5:07 P.M.