Savage Run Read Online Free

the gates are closed. “The front door.”
    We sprint through the sliding doors, across
the living room, and into the foyer with the marble floors.
Frantically and panicking, I open the front door. Outside, the
truck driver is talking to the Unifer, waving his hands and
laughing.
    Clutching the bloody knife, my eyes steal to
the gates. Relief washes over me when I see them wide open. I take
Gemma’s cold hand in mine and we slip behind the truck. The truck’s
door slams shut and the engine starts with a roar. Exhaust spews
out in front of me just as we pass the back end and out the gates.
Once outside, I curse myself for leaving my bike behind the house.
But even though it will take an extra minute to get it—and those
few extra minutes might be what will make or break my plan—we need
the bike in order to have any chance of escaping.
    I pull Gemma behind the hedge, the leaves
scratching my arms. “Wait here.” Tearing into the forest, I get my
bike, and throw the knife in the basket. Before I know it, I’m
pedaling hard, zigzagging my way among the trees, adrenaline
coursing through me like a fiend, my body rising into a frenzy.
    Gemma steps out from behind the hedge with
fresh tears on her cheeks. She’s gripping the front of her dress,
gathering the material where Master Douglas ripped it apart. The
right side of her mouth is even more red and swollen than before,
but it’s not as bad as the despairing expression in her eyes. I
help her get on to the back rack of the bike, and within seconds,
I’m in my seat and we’re flying down the hillside, the wind
straining against my body. Only a few moments later, I hear a dog
barking.
    “ He has dogs?” My throat is
dry—parched. I’ve never heard them before, despite having been here
hundreds of times.
    “ Two,” Gemma
yells.
    The Rottweiler catches up quickly, running
alongside us, barking and snarling. Its gums are peeled back from
his teeth. I pedal faster, and Gemma’s thin arms clutches harder
around my waist.
    Suddenly she lets out a loud shriek.
    “ What?”
    “ The dog bit
me!”
    The dog snaps its teeth at me, and I swerve
quickly in an attempt to get away from it. A sudden shift in
direction feels unnatural with the extra weight of Gemma. When I
hit a thick branch—the road still slick from the rain—I lose
control and crash into the ditch. I feel sharp pain several places
on my body. I have no time to really feel it because the Rottweiler
dives toward me. I kick the animal in the snout, but just as soon
as it falls to the ground, it springs back onto its feet. My
father’s kitchen knife lies on the ground right next to my foot,
and just as the dog charges toward me, I pick up the knife and stab
it in the chest. It keeps growling, so I pull the blade out and
stab it in the chest again. And again.
    Finally, it whimpers and retreats down the
road, and falls lifeless to the ground.
    There’s blood smeared across my hand and my
whole body is quaking. Still clutching the knife, I notice that my
palm stings. I open my hand, letting the bloody knife fall to the
ground, and when I look at my palm, I see blood and grime
compressed beneath my skin. My right knee hurts, too, and the hole
in my pants have blood around the edges. There’s no time to sit
here and cry.
    “ You okay?” I ask Gemma.
She’s still on the ground and has twigs tangled in her blonde hair
and dirt on her white dress.
    She doesn’t answer.
    I help her to her feet, and we hop onto the
bike again.
    “ Come back here! Or I’ll
send my Unifers to shoot you dead!” Master Douglas bellows. He must
really think I’m an idiot if he believes I’ll do as he says. I
start pedaling.
    Speeding forward, tears blur my vision, and
all the way down the hill, I keep looking behind me, afraid that
Master Douglas will come after us in one of his fancy
transporters.
     
    * * *
     
    The shortest distance to Sergio’s is of
course straight through downtown Culmination. I’ll take my