Forced to Change Ch. 12

"We have to go," I said.

If I thought the evening was going wrong before, it was nuclear-war-level wrong now. I shouldn't have killed Carter. I was a dead man walking with no way out and no way to fix it. This was about as wrong as an evening could go.

Katie stared at Carter, then at the body, her eyes going back and forth between the dead. I kicked CJ away and stood up, watching her as I approached slowly. She still looked back and forth as if she'd never seen anyone killed, which I knew wasn't true. I grabbed her by the shoulders and helped her to her feet. She shook her head in denial for a moment and I couldn't make her look at me.

"What did you mean?" she whispered. Shock. She was in shock.

"We have to go," I stated as firmly as possible.

I turned her around and pushed her toward the door. She slipped in the blood on the floor and almost tumbled down on top CJ. I caught her, stepping around her to pull her out the door. With one arm around her shoulders I scanned the area. I had no idea what kind of backup Carter had with him. How far had the setup gone?

"What did you mean?"

"When?" I dragged her down the stairs. My eyes darted around the area, searching for the next threat. "In there. About me. That if he wanted me dead he'd have to kill you."

"I never said that." We were at the car. I opened the passenger door and tried to push her inside.

"Where are we going?" Her voice rose with hysteria. She trembled and frowned at me.

"Away. Get in the car, Katie." I stared at her.

"Why should I? Just let me go, please. I can't. I...I...Please just let me go," she pleaded. I could have picked her up and thrown her in the car, but I didn't.

"Look, Katie, in case you missed it in there, there are people trying to kill you. There are people trying to kill us," I said. I didn't understand her hesitation. I'd just saved her life. I'd killed Carter. I had no idea what to do as I tugged on her sleeve. Katie pulled her body from my grasp.

"Why?" she asked. "What did you mean?"

I stopped searching the woods around us and stared at her. "I don't know. It never made sense," I whispered.

Now was not the time for a conversation. If we didn't get moving soon, we'd be dead anyway. I shook my head. "Look, I'm a very bad man and I've done a lot of bad things. Now get in the fucking car!"

"No. Why would anyone want to kill me?" she said. Her voice and body shook even though I'm sure it had nothing to do with the cold air. I debated knocking her out again. It seemed so much easier. Katie was so many things in one. She was smart, beautiful, and brave. She was also out of her depth. At the moment she was too stubborn to realize her problem wasn't with me. She was focused on the wrong thing and if I were a different man, I'd leave her and save myself.

"No?" I made it a question. I raised the gun and aimed it at her. "Get in the car. I just killed a man in front of you, but you're going to have to trust me. I'm not going to hurt you."

Katie burst into laughter. I was confused by her reaction. Her voice was loud. "Hell, I've killed a man. You're going to have to give me a better reason than that."

She returned to that weird sound that was mostly laughter. I was more surprised by her admission than anything else and it took me a moment to collect my thoughts. Finally she managed to speak, her voice gasping and breathy.

"You can't ask me to trust you and point a gun at me at the same time. You're not going to kill me. If you wanted me dead you would have let him do it or you would have done it in there." She used her shoulder to indicate the cabin of dead bodies behind us and doubled over with another giggle fit.

Despite her ill-timed outburst she did make a good point. My frown deepened. I shrugged and blew out a breath that I could see in the cold air. "When did you ever kill anyone?"

Her lips quirked up to an almost-smile at my question. She gave me a look that belonged on the face of an assassin, not an innocent girl. It was a look that matched my own. Her eyes were dead, despite her mirth over our situation. I returned her look with one that was so dark, dangerous, and cold that she sobered immediately.

"Get. In. The. Car. Katie."

She got in the car.