After Ethan issued the command, he did not spare a glance for the stunned expressions behind him. He broke into a sprint at once, crossing the hundred meters to the villa in a heartbeat, his focus narrowed to a single point ahead.
Inside, a mother and daughter clung to each other on the floor, their bodies shaking with uncontrollable sobs. The daughter's cries were hoarse and broken, her eyes unfocused as if she had already retreated somewhere far away. Blood soaked the inside of her thigh, dark and sticky. Her mother rocked her back and forth, murmuring frantically into the empty air, her voice cracking as she pleaded for it to stop, for anyone to make it stop.
