Page 42 of If They Knew

I watch her eyes drift down to Brent on the floor, then back at me. A split second later, she takes off down the hallway. I drop my axe and take off after her. Within seconds, I close the gap between us. Just as she lets out a scream that's loud enough to wake the entire ship, I reach out and grab her ponytail, yanking her head back. Her feet fly out from under her and she slams backward onto the floor. I quickly jump on top of her and pin her to the floor, covering her mouth, hoping her scream didn’t alert anyone. I glance back at Chris, and he suddenly picks up my axe and runs it over to me.

“What can I do?” he says breathlessly.

“Watch him, and if he wakes up, knock him out again. He might already be dead, though,” I say. Karissa tries to scream under my hands at those words.

“Okay, okay,” Chris says, running over to Brent, and I bring my attention back to Karissa squirming to escape.

“I said not to scream or I'll kill you. Don't make me kill you.” I take a deep breath and sigh. “Again, I don't want to hurt you, but if you don't listen and do what I say, Logan will be the least of your worries. I will take this axe and slice your fucking throat open. Do you understand?”

The woman goes still, then nods. “Okay, good. When I lift my hand, I don't want to hear you make any noise,” I say as I slowly move my hand.

“Hel—” she starts to scream, and I slam my hand back down to cover her mouth.

“Damnit. I told you not to do that. Do you want to die? Is that why you won't fucking listen? I'm not the bad guy here. If you would stop screaming for a goddamn second, I will explain myself.” I watch tears roll down her face, and a pang of sadness runs through me.

“Don't cry. I said I didn't want to hurt you. You're the one making things difficult. So, one more time, I'm going to lift my hand and we can talk. If you scream, I'm not giving you another chance. I'll jab this axe into your throat so fast you won't even know it's coming.” I slowly lift my hand again. This time, she doesn't scream.

“What do you want?” she asks, and I can hear the fear in her voice. I can’t blame her; I do have her pinned to the ground with an axe in her face.

“I want to know everything you know,” I say pointedly.

“Like what? I don't know anything.”

“Don't fucking lie to me. Where is Logan and what does he have planned?” I demand through clenched teeth as I push the axe tighter to her throat.

“Okay, okay… I'm not exactly sure, but he said we all needed to get ready because he has a big plan for us tomorrow night, but that's all I know. I promise.”

“Why are you even following him or listening to anything he says if he is going around killing everyone?”

“Because I don’t want to be killed, that's why,” she says, her voice sharp.

“I don't want to hurt you, and I meant that. But I can't let you go back to Logan, so you're coming with me,” I say.

“Why?”

“To help us take him out so he doesn't kill anyone else.” I point to Brent on the floor. “Your friend over there can come too, if that makes you feel better.”

“I'll come with you and tell you what you want to know, as long as you promise to keep me safe. We also need to find my brother,” she says.

“I'll do my best to keep you safe. Our people are not going to hurt you. As for your brother, if he wants to get away from Logan and join us, we’ll protect him, too.”

“That's enough for me. And that guy is an asshole, so you can just leave him to die. He does everything Logan tells him to. He is like a little puppet.”

“Does Logan know who your brother is? I ask because I don't want Logan to see you're missing and then kill your brother, thinking you’re a traitor,” I say.

“No, I don’t think so. We stay quiet and just do what he says to avoid drawing any attention.”

“Okay, let's get going.” I have a ton of questions for her when we get back to the medical center.

“Where are we going?” Karissa asks.

“You will see. It's a safe space,” I answer, turning to walk toward Chris. Brent is lying on the floor and starts to groan. “We need to move fast. He is going to be waking up soon.” As the three of us climb the stairs, I stop to face Karissa. “Should we expect anyone else to surprise us?”

“No, it was just me and Brent on patrol, we were looking for anyone on your side,” she says, pointing at Chris.

“Logan’s going to kill you and anyone who stands in his way of power. There is something wrong in his head, and I think he is slowly losing his mind,” says Karissa. Chris sucks in a deep breath at her words.

“I just had an idea. Did you really mean it when you said that you want to take Logan down too?” I ask.