Shatter-Me-PDF-Shatter-Me-Series-Shatter-Me-Shatter-Me-1-Tahereh-Mafi (1)

But Adam doesn’t have time for me to catch my breath
and find my head. He flips me up and into his arms and
takes off in a diagonal dash across another alleyway.
And we’re running.
And I’m breathing.
And he shouts, “Wrap your arms around my neck!” and I
release the choke hold I have on his T-shirt and I’m stupid
enough to feel shy as I slip my arms around him. He
readjusts me against him so I’m higher, closer to his chest.
He carries me like I weigh less than nothing.
I close my eyes and press my cheek against his neck.
The gunshots are somewhere behind us, but even I can tell
from the sound that they’re too far away and too far in the
wrong direction. We seem to have momentarily
outmaneuvered them. Their cars can’t even find us,
because Adam has avoided all main streets. He seems to
have his own map of this city. He seems to know exactly
what he’s doing—like he’s been planning this for a very long
time.
After inhaling exactly 594 times Adam drops me to my feet
in front of a stretch of chain-link fence. I realize he’s
struggling to swallow oxygen, but he doesn’t pant like I do.
He knows how to regulate his breathing. He knows how to
steady his pulse, calm his heart, maintain control over his
organs. He knows how to survive. I hope he’ll teach me, too.
“Juliette,” he says after a breathless moment. “Can you
jump this fence?”
I’m so eager to be more than a useless lump that I nearly
sprint up and over the metal barrier. But I’m reckless. And
too hasty. I practically rip my dress off and scratch my legs
in the process. I wince against the stinging pain, and in the
moment it takes me to reopen my eyes, Adam is already
standing next to me.
He looks down at my legs and sighs. He almost laughs. I
wonder what I must look like, tattered and wild in this