“I don’t know. That seems...” I didn’t get a chance to finish the sentence, because James tackled me to the ground. My breath left me in a whoosh, and James was on top of me, his eyes boring into mine, his lips parted slightly.

“You okay?” he asked, pushing himself off me.

“Yeah.” I turned my head and saw the bullet that had embedded itself in the car and that had been aimed at my head. How the hell had that happened?

“Come on. We need to get inside.” James offered me his hand, and I took it. We crouched behind the car and when we were sure the attackers were occupied, we raced toward the door. Once we got inside, I pressed my back against the wall, panting hard. James was next to me, so close that if I twitched my hand, I’d be able to touch him. I wasn’t sure why exactly I wanted to do that, especially now when we were under attack.

“Why did you do that? You could’ve been hit.” I looked straight into his eyes.

“You saved my life when that man almost shot me. I was only returning the favor. Now we’re even.” His eyes seemed so warm and reassuring.

“You could’ve just let me die. You would’ve been free.”

The corners of his lips lifted as if I’d just said the most ridiculous thing ever, and that was probably exactly what I’d done. People like us would never be truly free, because there was no way of breaking away from this life.

Even if we went far away, someone would probably track us down and drag us back into this mess, or kill us for revenge or to make sure we never returned. He wouldn’t even be able to find his family in time. Not when only I and a few other people knew their location. And he’d need an army to fend off those who thought he was a traitor. Besides, by now he must have realized I wasn’t going to kill him on a whim or force him to do terrible things he didn’t want to do.

“That bullet,” I said. “Where did it come from?”

“From someone who was behind one of the cars. I couldn’t see,” he said. “I just saw the barrel and I reacted.”