BooksBarbecue
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

But when the sprinkler opens, it’s like someone has put a fire hose directly above him and turned it on full blast. Boom! The water is a shock, pounding so hard, it’s like a solid thing. In an instant, the fire is snuffed out.

He steps back, trying to get out of the deluge. But the table is covered with a sheet of water. His foot slips out from under him, and before he can recover, both his feet are in the air and he’s falling. When his tailbone meets the marble table, the pain rams all the way up his spine. The sensation is so intense, it’s like someone’s pressed the pause button on the rest of the world. Parker can’t think as he tumbles to the floor. He can’t even breathe. He’s frozen, trapped in the pain.

But finally, he sucks air in with a gasp. Moving hurts. A lot. But he has to. Someone is bound to investigate soon. The pain lessens a little once he’s upright and moving toward the door.

Only now does he wonder if it would have been better to let things build slowly. Now there’s really no smoke. No flames. Just water. It’s noisy, sure, but will it be enough to attract Ron or Lips? Maybe he should light another fire behind the counter.

Parker flicks his lighter. No response. He shakes water out of the well and tries again.

Nothing. There’s no way he’s going to be able to light another fire.

Nothing but the Breathing

NOTHING BUT THE BREATHING

6:04 P.M.

As they round the corner of the stairs, Miranda’s heart feels like it will beat from her chest. In front of them is a metal door with a narrow vertical window. Stenciled on the door are the words 2ND FLOOR. PROFESSIONAL OFFICES.

Below them, one of the killers yells, “I think it came from over here!” How close is he?

After peeking through the window slit, Cole eases open the door.

With one last burst of speed, Miranda darts through, the others on her heels. Cole closes the door so softly that it doesn’t make a sound.

And then they wait to see if they were followed. Miranda covers her mouth with her hand, both to keep her panting breaths from giving them away and to keep herself from screaming. Her nostrils suck air in so hard that they flatten with each inhale. Her pulse is jumping, jumping.

She and Grace are on one side of the door, Javier and Cole on the other. Grace hefts her broomstick over her shoulder like a baseball bat. Javier clutches his BB gun. Cole holds the scissors next to his head like a crazed slasher.