Can’t Win Me Back

Jasper felt a pain unlike any he had ever known.

It wasn't a physical agony like having flesh torn away, but a slow, excruciating torture akin to being slowly sliced by a blunt blade.

It was a hundred times worse than dying instantly.

His mind raced through a chaotic sequence of images, like a black- and-white movie playing backward.

He saw people retreating and leaving —Javier, Anne, Newton, Landon, Lauren, Jonah, Axel...

He reached out desperately, trying to grasp any of them, but they were slipping away, one by one.

Finally, the image settled on Alyssa's radiant face.

"Lyse...

Don't go..." Tears streaming down his face, he lunged forward, wrapping his arms around her.

But she dissolved into golden dust, vanishing into the frigid air.

"No! iy A beep sounded in his ear as if everything had been reset.

and he

there was

staring at

dead, but deep down, he

footsteps

see Remy emerging

face, Remy

Taylors have arrived on the island." Without even a glance at Jameson,

you

sure you have

Jameson stood motionless, his

he looked like a man who had been thoroughly used

had been drained of all his worth—now thrown

statue of the

scoffed, laughing at himself

life has been a big

the deafening roar of a helicopter overhead

its shadow

with that, the seemingly indestructible glass

down, cutting Jameson's neck, cheeks, and