Free Erased by Jennifer Rush

feeling in my fingers.
    Still holding my arm, the agent brought it down toward his knee, but I twisted, leaned forward, and kicked back with my boot, hitting him in the groin. He shoved me to the ground. The black rubber grip on my gun handle stood out from the white of the snow. I scrambled for it, rolling to my back once it was in my hands. I pointed and shot, and the man went down just as a black boot kicked me. My gun went flying again.
    Another agent stood to my right. Without my gun, I didn’t stand a chance.
    I staggered to my feet and ran. Fire burned from my throat down to my lungs. The land crested to a hill, and the river came into view. I barreled toward it, having no plan other than escape.
    When I reached the bank, I cut left and quickened my steps, ignoring the voice in my head that said I couldn’t run far enough, fast enough.
    Someone crashed through the pines several feet downriver. It was the same agent who had kicked me.
    He’d already outpaced me. I was dead.
    I staggered back as he charged. I swung with a right-handed punch, but he dodged it easily and countered with an uppercut that landed at my side.
    The force behind the blow threw me off-balance, and I stumbled off the riverbank and into the frigid water.
    The agent jumped in after me and wrapped his hands into the folds of my jacket collar, yanking me to the surface.
    He head-butted me, and I whipped back, the dull ache of the hit vibrating through my skull. My eyes blurred, crossed. My teeth chattered together. I couldn’t think straight.
    I blinked, trying to clear my vision, when I saw the man pull a needle from his inside jacket pocket. He bit off the orange cap and spit it out. The current rushed through my legs.
    Summoning every ounce of strength I had left, I wrapped my hands around the agent’s wrists and pushed upward, trying to kick his feet out from beneath him. But his stance was solid, and my legs felt weighted down. I couldn’t get enough momentum to do any damage.
    He brandished the needle with a closed fist, like a knife.
    I fought against it, teeth gritted, feet planted in the river muck. But I was losing fast.
    I tried to memorize the man’s face, so that when I finally had the opportunity to get revenge, I would know exactly where to start.
    A shadow stretched across us. Sam? Cas? Another agent?
    The needle sank into my neck and I cried out.
    The shadow came closer in a rush of movement. Whoever it was, he took the agent’s head in his hands and yanked to the right. The man’s neck popped and cracked, and he sank into the water, eyes wide and blank.
    The current fought against me and I lost my footing.
    “Come on,” someone said, and grabbed a fold of my jacket, pulling me toward the bank with one quick yank. The needle was carefully extracted from my neck with gentle, gloved fingers.
    When I was on solid ground again and I could focus, I looked up to see which of the boys had saved me, but it wasn’t Sam or Nick or Cas.
    It was Trev.
    “What are you doing here?” I took a step back, getting a better look at his clothes. He was in full combat gear, too, the same gear all the other agents wore.
    “Oh my God,” I said.
    He held up his hands. There was a rifle on his back, the strap slung across his chest. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
    Cas called my name somewhere in the distance.
    “What are you doing here?” I repeated. Panic edged into my voice. “Did you set us up?”
    “No, I didn’t. I swear. I didn’t know we were going to be here tonight. I just found out. And when I did… I came looking for you as soon as I could. I…” He paused, searching for the right words, in the way that only the old Trev would. The Trev I knew best. “Something else is going on here. I don’t know what. But… be careful. Okay?”
    “Anna!”
    Cas again.
    I didn’t look away from Trev. I couldn’t. He’d saved me. If he were here to set me up, I’d already be in the Branch’s hands, wouldn’t I?I tried to think