My heart soars as I choke the cop in front of me, with Caleb doing the same to the other one beside me. I grin as I pull my hands back, the chain of the handcuffs cutting into his neck. Choking fills the air, and it’s the most satisfying sound I’ve heard since Caleb and I shot four people earlier. The car veers off the road. We don’t have long until we’re going to crash, but I welcome it. I yank my hand back from the cop’s head and feel the metal chain of the cuffs cut into his throat. His head lolls to the side at the same time we hit a ditch.

The car stops abruptly as it smashes right down into a ditch and falls to the side. Glass smashes, sending shards scattering through the car. My head slams into the headrest in front of me.

Shaking my head, I blink hard and remove my hands from around the cop.

With a groan, I roll my neck and turn to Caleb. His eyes are alight, grin stretched the width of his face. “All good?” I ask.

Caleb laughs.

“Fun, right?”

There is no stopping us.

“We going to get your girl now?” he asks.

“We have to get a car first, and we need to be quick.” It takes thirty minutes to get to the city, so assuming no one will try to make contact with the cop before that, we have half an hour to get her. “But when we have her, we’re painting the town with blood.”

I climb between the two front seats and take the keys from the cop’s pocket. I undo my cuffs first and then Caleb’s.

“Come on,” I say, grabbing the radio as I get out the driver’s side door over the dead cop.

Caleb climbs out, too, and we take off down the road, running back toward town. The ditch is deep, but if you look, you can just about see the back corner of the car.

We sprint, the sun mercilessly beating down and making it hard to breathe.

“Where are we getting a car?” Caleb asks.

“The Pilkins’ farm,” I reply. It’s the first property along this road, so we won’t have to go far. They have a whole heap of beat-up cars. Easy to hot-wire. It might even take them a while to realize one is gone, so we’ll have a head start before the car is reported stolen.

It’ll be obvious who took it once the cops realize we’ve got away.

We run down the road until we come to the entrance of the Pilkins’ long drive. Their house is set back away from the road, their cars parked in and near the garage, slightly hiding their line of sight.