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Back The Runaway Save as PDF
Chapters (48)
  1. COVER
  2. Digital Galley Edition
  3. BY HOLLIE OVERTON
  4. TITLE PAGE
  5. Copyright
  6. DEDICATION
  7. ASH
  8. ASH
  9. BECCA
  10. MO
  11. ASH
  12. BECCA
  13. ASH
  14. ASH
  15. ASH
  16. BECCA
  17. MO
  18. BECCA
  19. BECCA
  20. BECCA
  21. BECCA
  22. ASH
  23. BECCA
  24. BECCA
  25. MO
  26. BECCA
  27. BECCA
  28. MO
  29. BECCA
  30. BECCA
  31. BECCA
  32. BECCA
  33. BECCA
  34. BECCA
  35. BECCA
  36. MO
  37. BECCA
  38. BECCA
  39. BECCA
  40. BECCA
  41. BECCA
  42. BECCA
  43. BECCA
  44. ASH
  45. MO
  46. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  47. MEET THE AUTHOR
  48. A PREVIEW OF "THE WALLS"

“Breach! Breach!” She realized suddenly that it wasn’t the gun, but the police. Through the smoke, she could make out a half dozen men in their SWAT uniforms, surrounding her and Nate with their guns drawn. Becca’s vision began to blur, a pain unlike anything she had ever experienced, drowning out all sound. She wondered if she’d been poisoned again, but this felt different, more intense and all-consuming. She wanted nothing more than to close her eyes and drift off to sleep, but she forced herself to stay awake, clutching Nate tightly. The officers were trying to untangle them, shouting orders at her, but Becca ignored them, kept holding on tight. She’d turned her back on him before, but this time she wasn’t letting go. “I’m right here, Nate. You’re not alone. Do you hear me? You’re not alone.”

BECCA

BECCA

In an instant all the pain and suffering Mo and the Tribe unleashed vanished, a warm, hot heat enveloping Becca. In the deep recesses of her mind, she heard the paramedics’ urgent shouts, the doctors barking orders as they worked on her. She couldn’t believe she was back in this place, at the mercy of doctors and nurses. Becca wanted to get up and go to Ash, but the pain kept drawing her further away from them. “Dr. Ortiz, you suffered a serious brain injury. Can you hear me? Squeeze my hand if you can hear me.”

Becca didn’t want to squeeze the doctor’s hand. She wanted to escape and it was easy to do, the warm, peaceful place where nothing bad could touch her. It wasn’t easy though. Nurses were constantly prodding and poking, and people wouldn’t shut up. Her mother was unsurprisingly relentless. “I’m here, Rebecca. I’m going to give you a real piece of my mind when you wake up, but I’m not letting you go. Are you listening? I lost Robbie and I will not lose you too. Do you hear me?”

Becca was certain astronauts in space could hear her mother. The worst was when she began weeping. Virginia never cried, not even at Robbie’s funeral. She’d remained stoic and immovable. Becca wanted to reach out and say she was sorry, but the warmth kept pulling her back under.

There was no sense of time or place. No sunsets or moonlight. The warmth somehow made up for it. She could feel herself wanting to let go. If she let herself, she could sink deeper and deeper into the warmth until it enveloped her completely. She was so tempted. Until she heard a familiar voice.

“C’mon, Becca, enough is enough. You’ve got to wake up.”