Page 34

AUTUMN

T he tunnel looms ahead, gaping and silent. It runs beneath the city and spits out the other side.

This was a place I tried to search for Summer once, but there were too many rotters for me to get past, even after setting off explosions. I guess it’s time to try again.

The tunnel is large and almost covered in vines. Rusted scaffolding droops around the edges where construction was abandoned when the dead rose. A rotter in a hard hat groans from the top of the scaffolding.

I almost wish I would have brought the guys with me, but they couldn’t have come. I couldn’t risk them getting caught in a trap meant for me. I know there’s always the risk of being tricked, but it’s a risk I’m always willing to take to save someone I care about.

My fingers tighten around the hilt of my blade. I can’t afford to hesitate now. Summer might be on the other side of this.

I step closer, then pause two feet from the entrance when a low whine cuts through the silence. There’s a rustling behind me. I spin around with my knife raised.

Luna bounds into the clearing, her amber eyes reflecting the moonlight as she races toward me. She skids to a halt at my feet, whining and pressing her front paws against my stomach. Her claws scratch my skin, but her tail thrashes with ferocity.

“Luna?” I lower my knife and run my free hand through her fur. “How did you?—”

A twig snaps in the darkness, and I spin around, keeping Luna behind me.

“She’s a better tracker than all of us combined,” a familiar voice says.

Mars steps into the moonlight, his unbuttoned flannel shirt revealing the bruises on his chest, and the abs of steel that almost distracts me from my mission. Almost.

“Would’ve said something sooner, but I figured you’d stab first and apologize later.” Mars grins at his joke, but we both know he’s probably not wrong.

Jace and Caspian emerge next. They don’t look surprised, but they sure look pissed and disappointed.

Perfect. This ought to be fun.

“You shouldn’t be out here alone,” Jace says. His dark eyes scan the surrounding area before settling back on me.

“You don’t get to push me away, then follow me like this,” I snap at him. “Don’t pretend this is about safety. It’s about you, it always is.”

Caspian says nothing, but his eyes never leave my knife. The gray fabric of his t-shirt almost glows against his pale skin in the moonlight. I sheath my blade, and he breathes a sigh of relief.

I take a step back to put space between us. Luna stays by my side, her body tense as she senses conflict. She looks up at the rotter on the scaffolding above and growls.

I lift my chin and address the guys. “I’m going to meet Lucy. She has answers I need.”

“You should have told us instead of sneaking off on your own,” Jace growls out .

“Would you have let me go?”

Silence.

That’s what I thought.

“I’m not waiting anymore. You don’t get to stop me from finding my sister.”

“That’s not what we’re doing.” Jace runs a hand down his face in frustration.

“We’re not trying to stop you,” Mars says. His voice is gentler now. “We’re trying to keep you alive. That’s been our main goal for this whole time.”

I raise an eyebrow. “I thought your main goal was to find my sister so you can bring me back to your compound.”

“You’re right, it was,” Mars says.

“Then what changed?”

Mars’s face falls and his shoulders slump with defeat.

His black eyes are heavy and pleading. “You did, purple. You happened. You changed us. I don’t even care if you hate us for this, but you’re stuck with us now, and I’ll lock you in a cage and throw away the damn key if that’s the only way to keep you safe. ”

“Or we could do something less drastic, like follow Lucy. You know, the only lead we currently have?” I point out.

“We tried to follow earlier, but she got away,” Caspian says in a quiet voice.

“For all we know, she could be one of the people who took Summer. We’re not handing you over like a gift on a silver platter.

If she was telling the truth about knowing Summer, then she’ll come back, and we’ll be more prepared. All we needed was some time.”

Jace sighs. “We can’t stop you. That much is clear. You’re the most stubborn and hard-headed person I’ve ever met, and that’s including me. If you’re going, then we’re going, too.”

I sigh in defeat. “Fine, but I’m still mad at you.”

Jace’s smile is small, but it’s there. “Good. You should keep it that way. ”

Mars steps forward and closes the distance between us in two long strides.

On instinct, my hand rises to rest flat against his warm, bare chest as he leans in, but instead of stopping there, he cups my face and kisses me.

It’s not gentle or tentative, either. It’s fierce and possessive, filled with all the worry and frustration I’ve caused him.

When he pulls back, eyes like obsidian lock me in place.

“You’re stuck with us, purple. All three of us.

Whether you allow it or not.” His thumb traces along my lower lip.

“We can’t protect you if you keep running away from us, and I’m not losing you when I just found you.

” One corner of his mouth lifts into a smile.

“Besides. I’d like to kiss my favorite season any time I damn well please. ”

The raw emotion in his voice leaves me momentarily speechless. Before I can formulate a response, he steps back with that familiar cocky grin returning as if to mask the vulnerability he showed.

Since my brain still can’t form a response, I nod and turn to the tunnel of darkness.

Luna presses closer to my side, and we move in silence.

The closer we get to the tunnel, the colder it feels. The frigid air bites deeper the closer we get, as if the tunnel itself wants to keep us out. I shiver. Caspian stops at the edge and his breath catches.

When I glance back at him, his face is stricken with fear, and he doesn’t move. “Cas?”

“I can’t,” he says, his face pained and his voice tight. His hands move as if to shove into his hoodie pockets, but he’s not wearing his hoodie. “It’s too narrow and too dark. How about we go around?”

“Going around isn’t as easy as you think,” Jace says. “This tunnel goes underneath the city. We would have to either go straight through the city, or go around, which can add hours, maybe more, onto the walk. And, uh,” he rubs the back of his neck, “the car isn’t exactly running at the moment.”

“What about another car? We can hotwire one,” Caspian says.

Jace shakes his head. “When Mars and I were gone the other night, we couldn’t find another one in the area that would work. We tried.” He looks at Caspian with regret. “Sorry.”

“Lucy said it was right on the other side of the tunnel,” I say, as though that’ll somehow change everything.

Caspian looks pained. I open my mouth to tell him we’ll find another way, but he shakes his head.

“I can’t hold you back. If I have another episode in there, it’ll only cause you more trouble you don’t need.

So I’ll guard from here and watch for anything coming from behind.

One of us should probably stay back anyway, in case it is a trap and you need a knight in shining armor. ”

Mars grins. “Just don’t steal my thunder, Cas.”

Jace’s voice is flat. “Good. One of us should have clear eyes back here to cover our asses.”

Caspian shakes his head and gives me a sad smile. “Just…don’t take too long.”

Luna whines and looks between me and Caspian.

I step closer to him and place my hand on his arm. He has goosebumps. “I understand, Cas. Everyone has their own darkness to fight, and I won’t push you past your comfort level.”

My eyes meet his, and I see the conflict in them. He looks even more pained than he did when I followed him into the dark.

I squeeze his arm. “But I want you to know, whenever you’re ready to fight against the dark, I’ll be there beside you, ready to help.”

I rise onto the toes of my boots and press my lips to his.

It’s not merely a light touch this time as I pour everything I’m feeling into it: gratitude for his honesty, understanding for his fear, and the growing warmth I feel whenever he’s near.

As much as I want him to continue forward with me, it’s not worth it to put him at risk.

Maybe this is what Mars has been trying to tell me.

When I pull back, his pale blue eyes are wide, and pupils dilated in the moonlight.

I crouch down next to Luna and run my fingers through her thick fur.

“I need you to stay with Caspian,” I tell her, looking straight into her intelligent eyes.

I know she understands. “Keep him safe for me, okay?” I press a kiss to the top of her head.

“Be a good girl. We’ll be back before you know it. ”

Luna licks my hand once to say she understands, then moves to sit beside Caspian. She whines, but she doesn’t budge.

I take a step back toward the tunnel, still watching Caspian. “We’ll be right back. I promise.”

There’s a hint of sadness in his eyes when he smiles. “Are you as good at keeping promises as we are?”

“Guess you’re about to find out.” I turn around and lead Mars and Jace into the tunnel.

The tunnel swallows us whole. There’s no light, except what Mars’s flashlight cuts through the dark.

The walls drip. The air stinks like mold and rot.

Every footstep echoes, and I’m almost tempted to go back to Caspian and take the long way with him after all.

I was wrong to run off on my own. We shouldn’t split up like this.

Abandoned cars litter the three-lane tunnel. Some are overturned, and some are charred skeletal remains of what used to be running vehicles. Several have rotters trapped inside, clawing at the windows when we walk by, and more rotters are pinned beneath crashed and overturned vehicles.

We’re about halfway through the tunnel when I hear the first dragging sound up ahead. “Do you hear that? ”

Mars lifts the light higher, and his eyes narrow.

Rotters fill the flood of light. There are four of them, maybe five, maybe more. They emerge from the shadows.

One falls from the roof of a semi truck right behind us. Jace is the first to act. His blade is out and in the rotter’s skull before I have a chance to blink. Mars pulls me to the side when another one swipes at my arm. I twist, duck, and drive my knife into its neck because of how tall it is.

Still, it keeps coming.

We’re surrounded within moments and thrown into a fight for our lives.

I lose track of where Mars and Jace are. Rotters swarm in from both sides. I spin, parry, stab, until something slams into my back and I hit the ground hard. Shoulder crushes against the asphalt, but potent fear rushes through me, taking up my full attention.

My knife skitters across the asphalt. A rotter pins my arms down, snapping its decaying teeth inches from my face. Its breath alone would make me vomit if I had anything in my stomach.

Layers of flesh fall from its face and land beside my head. The body is too heavy for me to hold up, and my arms are moments from giving out.

I scream.

A bark echoes through the tunnel, followed by a snarling sound and the pressure on me lessens.

Luna tears at the rotter’s leg, giving me enough room to twist free. Before I can fully escape, a gunshot cracks through the tunnel, and the rotter collapses in a splash of black and red. Its head rolls two feet away.

I blink up.

Caspian. He came. Despite everything. Despite the dark.

He stands there, panting and trembling, with a gun in his hand and Luna by his side.

She yanks the rotter leg hard enough that it detaches, and then she sits with the leg in her mouth and triumph shining on her furry face.

Caspian drags the rest of the rotter corpse off of me and kicks it to the side before reaching down and pulling me to my feet. “You okay?”

“I—yeah—” I start to respond, unable to believe he’s really here, but the ground trembles and the walls shake.

On instinct, I lunge forward and wrap my arms around Caspian, trying to pull him against me protectively. Small rocks rain down from the ceiling, and I press my body over his as best I can, despite being so much smaller. For a split second, he freezes in surprise.

“What are you…” Understanding dawns in his eyes. With a swift motion, he reverses our positions so his larger frame envelopes mine when chunks of concrete crash down around us. A groaning, splitting sound echoes through the space.

“Oh, hell.” Mars curses.

Caspian looks down at me, his wide blue eyes shining in the dim light, too bright against the dark, when the ceiling caves.

“Run!” Jace shouts.

We sprint blindly through the dark and the debris, dodging outstretched rotter arms and leaping over abandoned cars. I don’t remember grabbing my knife, but it’s in my hand. Mars pulls me forward and Jace shoves Caspian ahead. Luna darts between our legs, leading the way out of here.

The tunnel collapses right behind us and I’m thrown to the ground with someone’s body covering mine while rocks pelt his back.

Dust and debris slam the space closed with a deafening crash.

When the avalanche settles, I peek out from the strong arms surrounding my head and see Jace and Mars on the ground, covering their heads in the flickering light. Caspian coughs above me .

“Caspian. Caspian, are you okay?” I ask, my voice becoming more frantic with each word.

He coughs some more before rolling off of me and onto his back beside me. His hand wraps around my wrist and his wide eyes search for mine. “Told you I could do brave.”

A smile breaks out across my face, and I laugh. He’d told me that so long ago, I’d almost forgotten. “Yes, you can, and you did. Thank you, Cas.”

Luna pushes her way through the settling dust to lick my face. Her tail wags with excitement despite the chaos we’ve just survived, making me laugh.

“I’m okay, girl,” I say, soothing Luna before I look over at Caspian. His grip on my wrist tightens, and I feel he’s hanging on by a thread. “Are you doing okay?”

We’re in the middle of a long, dark tunnel that caved in on us. There are an indeterminate number of rotters still poised to attack. There’s no way he’s doing okay.

Caspian pulls my hand to his mouth, then kisses my knuckles, his lips lingering a breath above the skin. His hand trembles, and his eyes dart around to the vast darkness. His shaking voice conflicts with his confident words, “I’m fine.”