PEOPLE SAY THAT YOUR LIFE FLASHES BEFORE your eyes on the brink of death.

At this moment, I couldn't agree with that. When staring down the barrel of a gun, only numbness came. No images. No white light. Just numbness.

I waited for the bullet to come, but it never did. Before she could pull the trigger, Duke barked and skidded on the counter, knocking plates onto the floor.

Everyone's eyes flickered to him and that's when I took the opportunity to run for my life.

"Come on, Duke," I screamed behind me. A sigh of relief left my lips when the click of his paws hurried behind me seconds later.

Once he passed me at the threshold of the pantry, my boots squeaked to a stop on the wooden floor. I grabbed the racks of food, throwing them to the floor to block the way before running in the hall, knife still in my hand.

Gmie screamed on the other side, commanding the other two to go the other way. To box me in.

I kept running, following behind Duke who had no idea where he was going, but he looked happy. At least one of us was having a good time.

I wasn't. Mostly because we were going the opposite way of my room, and there was no way for me to circle back. They'd catch me.

I couldn't hear their movements behind me anymore, so I kept forward, entering a new maze of hallways that took me to the laundry room and the gym.

My first thought was to hide in one of those rooms, but I realized that they could track me via cameras on the iPad like they did before. It's the only way that they could've seen me in the kitchen alone.

Running past those rooms, the new pool room came into view. Too open. No places to hide. After that, we turned the corner, coming to a solid wall. A dead end.

Duke tumbled into it, landing hard on his butt. He whined.

"I know, boy," I said through soft pants. My body slumped against the wall, sweat pouring from my forehead from my running efforts. I couldn't feel my body. Everything felt blank.

I sucked in a breath. There was nowhere else to run. If I stayed here, they'd eventually find me and bringing a knife to a gunfight wasn't smart, but it was the only thing I had.

Inhaling through my lips, I closed my eyes, trying to calm my racing heart so that I could hear if they were close. Nothing.

This place was big, so they must still be searching the other side or trying to wait me out. Or both.

I stared down at the sharp blade that glistened in the gloomy sconce lighting. My fingers clenched the handle, letting it dig into my palm until it hurt, shocking my senses.

Duke whined, pawing at my ankle. I smiled at him, leaning down on my knees to scratch his head with my open hand.

"I need you to stay here, Duke," I said.

He let out a low wail, not liking my statement.

"No buts," I said, talking to him like he was human. "I don't know if they'll hurt you, so I need you to stay. Stay. Be a good boy for me, okay?" I patted him on the head while staring into his large black eyes.

They reminded me of the real Duke. Duke I. The hardest thing about losing the first Duke was that I never got to say goodbye. This time I did get to say goodbye.

Was this goodbye? His wide puppy eyes told me that he was thinking it was. But the odds weren't in my favor. A gun vs. a knife? Unless I had some acrobatic throwing skills, which I didn't, I was at a serious disadvantage.

And they were closing in.

What the hell was I going to do?

Closing my eyes, I cleared my mind, letting it become completely blank. Then I leaned down once more, kissing Duke on the head. "Bye, boy."

Turning around, with my side against the wall, I tiptoed forward, making sure to stay in the shadowy parts of the hall.

The pool room came into view, and I crab-walked past the bright lights, silence still clinging to the air. No incoming footsteps or voices. I was good so far.

When I made it to the laundry room, I peeked around the corner. Empty. My boots stayed silent against the wood flooring, so I kept moving forward.

My plan was to make it back to my room. If I did, I could message Sebastian for help, and we could go back for Duke. That's what allies were for right?

It only took me a few minutes to get back to the outskirts of the kitchen again. When I turned the corner, Demo lounged against the wall with her hood down and gun in hand.

Before my feet could backtrack, her intense brown eyes spotted me, narrowing to small slits like a vicious snake wanting to attack.

A burst of electricity coursed through my bloodstream like a brutal tidal wave, and I bolted away. My feet squeaked as I stumbled, legs pumping into a fast jog.

"Get back here, bitch," she screeched before a loud click went off followed by a swift bang.

Fierce agony skittered up the back of my arm, blazing like blue fire. Teeth sank into my lip, biting back a piercing cry that curled in my throat, but I kept moving, stumbling over my feet.

Two more bangs went off.

Violent pain shot up my legs to my thighs, creating an intense burning sensation that made my legs give out. I tumbled to my knees, knife dropping to the floor with a loud clack as my breathing stopped in my lungs, making me choke.

The ground felt extra hard underneath me as I tried to get back onto my feet, but the pain was too great. My hands felt around, trying to stop the blood, but there wasn't any.

Was she shooting blanks?

A crowd of footsteps crept close, and I snatched the knife off the floor, using the tip and my last ounce of strength and adrenaline to get to my feet. Large jolts of agony zipped through my body, especially in my legs, and I staggered into the wall.

Less than five seconds later, three figures surrounded me from all sides.

Demo stood back with the gun aimed at my face. Dried blood caked her usual smooth, flawless skin and hair.

The other two figures still had their masks on. The red-masked figure lounged in the middle of the group, rolling the hunting knife around from hand to hand. They brought the knife close to my face before letting out a nasty chuckle.

"How does it feel to finally lose?" Gmie asked, pulling off her mask. The blade of the hunting knife neared my cheek, sliding down my face to my chin.

"Pretty good, seeing I still won," I said, holding back a wince. My entire body was on fire, pain eating at me like a flesh-eating disease, but I never showed it. Never to her. I stood tall.

Gmie hollowed her cheeks, eyes narrowing. "I won! I beat you! Admit it! You're going to die. By me. That's the point. I won!"

My mouth released a condescending laugh. "Not by yourself. You had help. Take me on one on one, you'll lose. Just like you always do. You're a scared little bitch who can't do anything by herself. I'm better. I always will be. Even in death."

Hand clenching, she let out a frustrated noise, reminding me of an irate child who didn't get there way. The hunting knife lashed out at my arm, making a shallow gash.

I didn't even flinch. I've cut my own hand before, deeper than what she just did. My non-response to her attack enraged her even more.

Demo waved the gun at me. "Stop antagonizing her before I shoot you," she snapped, bringing the barrel even closer.

That when I noticed it was a BB Gun. Not a real gun. Tim had one just like it at his cabin in the woods. He used it to shoot stray mice.

Not deadly, but it still hurt like a bitch and could probably shoot my eye out. But at this moment, I didn't give a fuck. Fuck it. I wasn't going to wait for my life to flash before my eyes while waiting to die like some weak bitch.

Tini raged in full force. If I was going to die, I was going to die the real me.

"It's not antagonizing if it's the truth." I laughed, a gut-wrenching laugh that made Gmie suck in her lips. "I'm better. Better. Better. Better. Beetttter." I sang it to her in different octaves. "She's just a weak bitch who lied about getting into Harvard."

Gmie jerked toward me, aiming the knife at my face. "I did get into Harvard. Early acceptance."

"Nah. You didn't," I said, clenching the knife in my right hand. "But I really think you tell yourself that, so you can sleep at night. It's really quite sad."

"I worked my ass off —" Gmie started, teeth clenched.

"And you still weren't good enough." I pouted, using my left hand to pretend to wipe away the fake tears.

Gmie screamed at me, body tensing. "I got in. I did."

"You were waitlisted, darling," I said in a sad tone. "That's not getting in. I'm guessing your absentee parents probably paid someone to let you in."

"No," she snapped.

I shook my head. "Aww, they were probably so disappointed in you. Their failure daughter. She had all the opportunities in the world and still wound up a failure. That's probably why they don't come home. You're the reason they don't come home. You're not good enough."

"I am good e-enough-h," she said, stuttering for a second. I was getting to her. "They're j-just b-busy. They l-love me. They're proud of m-me."

"Not if they knew you were waitlisted," I said, staring at her face, reading her eyes. "Oh, you never told them, did you?"

She snapped out of her stuttering, going full-on hell-bitch. "They didn't need to know! I handled it," she said, slicing at my bare bicep with the tip of the knife. Thick rivulets dripped from the cut, but I felt nothing. "Just like I always do. I didn't use their money."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, right."

She gave me an evil grin. "I got into Harvard by my own means. I always get what I want in the end, no matter the means. And I want you dead."

I met her glaring eyes. "You don't have the balls, darling."

"Watch me," she said, bringing back the knife back. But before she could take the plunge, the sound of running paws on wood wafted through the air followed by a blur of white teeth.

Duke surged through the air, attacking Gmie's neck.

She cried out, tumbling into Demo who dropped the gun. It scattered across the floor. I punched the third figure in the face, and they fell to the floor like a sack of flour. Must've been Chi.

With all of them incapacitated at the moment, I ran for it, scooping up the gun in the process before booking it down the hall with Duke on my heels.

A troop of footsteps barreled behind us. I never looked back, running through the numbness and the pain, but it was catching up to me. My limbs were growing weak from the constant agony, and we still weren't anywhere near my room. Crap.

My calves began to ache and throb in protest, wanting to give. No. Not now. Head swiveling around, looking for an open door of any kind, I kept running until a large hand gripped me from behind, bringing me into a pitch-black room.

Duke barked, tumbling in behind me before the door shut with a pop.

Darkness clouded my vision as I struggled against the unknown stranger, punching and kicking like a wildebeest. My boot connected with something hard, and I heard a grimace before I was thrown against the wall. The gun popped out of my tight grasp.

Rough hands snagged my wild ones, pulling them above my head, holding me in place. I couldn't move. I was completely at their mercy.

♟♙♟

What do you think is going to happen next?