Page 35

CASPIAN

I ’ve barely made it twenty steps past the tunnel collapse before I realize my hands won’t stop shaking. I stuff them into my pockets before anyone can notice.

The way we came from is now a wall of rock, sealed in with rotters and dust and whatever the hell else is in there. We got lucky. Stupid lucky.

Casper.

The whisper slithers through my mind when my father’s voice echoes from the shadows. I blink hard, trying to focus on Autumn beside me instead of the ghosts threatening to claw their way back.

You should have died in there, Casper. Like your brother.

I told Autumn the ghosts were loud. I didn’t tell her they wore my father’s face, carried my brother’s blood, and left phantom burns from my mother’s cigarettes against my skin. I didn’t tell her that every dark space feels like being locked in that closet again, listening to my brother scream.

Luna presses against my leg, her warm body anchoring me to reality. She looks up at me with those amber eyes, and the whispers recede .

“Well, I vote we don’t do that again,” I say, trying to keep my voice light.

Autumn laughs, and the sound is like sunlight cutting through storm clouds. “You mean tunnel-caving near-death experiences?”

I smile down at her. The dim beam barely reaches her, painting her in shadow. “Yeah, that.” I wince when a muscle in my back spasms where the rocks had pummeled me when I covered her body with mine.

“Cas, are you hurt?” Autumn’s there in an instant, reaching out for me but hesitant to touch.

I shake my head. “It’s fine, just my back where the rocks fell.”

Autumn’s voice turns serious. “Rocks falling onto your back isn’t good.”

Better than falling onto yours, I think, but I don’t voice the words.

“Here, let me see.” Autumn moves behind me before I can argue. She lifts the edge of my t-shirt. “Shine the light over here, Mars.”

The light reaches us and her palms are warm against my skin. Her hands move along my back, her touch gentle as it glides along my spine. The darkness doesn’t feel so suffocating now.

Weak. Pathetic. Can’t even protect yourself.

My father’s voice fades with each careful press of Autumn’s fingers. The ghosts of my past flicker before my eyes until they dissolve into smoke, and all that’s left is Autumn’s kindness and her gentle touch.

Her soft lips press against the middle of my back, and I stiffen for a moment before my muscles relax. She lowers my t-shirt and moves around to stand in front of me, looking up at my face. “You’re going to have some bruising, but I don’t see anything major. Does it hurt too bad? ”

I grab her hands and pull her in close, smiling down at her. “Not so bad now.”

That’s the truth. Whenever she’s near me, touching me, the darkness feels less haunting. I don’t even think she realizes how powerful that is. She’s lost everything, and she still takes a few moments to pull me from the dark.

Luna nudges between us to circle once before sitting at Autumn’s feet. Her ears are alert, and she scans the surrounding darkness.

“Well, I hope we won’t need anything we left behind at camp, because there’s no getting through this wall.” Mars pushes against the rock wall to prove it won’t budge.

I shrug. “We could always come back with some molotov cocktails.”

Mars’s hands slip against the rock. When he rights himself, his glare is aimed at me.

“If someone were to donate a sock for an emergency molotov again, I’d strongly suggest it not be mine this time.

” Then he turns to continue heading down the tunnel, but he looks over his shoulder at me with a smirk. “Pretty sure it’s your turn.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “I nearly got crushed. I think that buys me a ‘no sock’ clause for at least a week.”

Autumn’s laugh cuts through the tunnel. I squeeze her hand. Such a nice sound. Or, at least, it was, before it garners the attention more rotters from farther down the tunnel ahead of us.

Luna’s ears prick forward, and a low growl builds in her throat until her body vibrates.

“Shit. We need to get out of this place. Run as hard and as fast as you can, and don’t stop to fight unless you absolutely have to,” Jace says.

Autumn tries to pull her hand out of mine, but I tighten my grip. She lets out a surprised squeak. “Caspian, you can run faster without me holding you back. It’ll be easier this way, for both of us. ”

“As corny as this sounds, you’re my light in the dark. I’m not letting you go. Not again.”

Jace appears right beside us, making us both jump. “Look, you two can do whatever you want to make up once we get out of here, but right now, we really need to go. Even if I have to knock you out and drag your bodies out myself.”

A low growl echoes through the tunnel, getting louder with every second. Slithering feet, wet snapping mouths, and bones dragging along the asphalt join the symphony of the undead. Shadows twist at the far end of the tunnel, moving wrong and limping fast.

Luna bares her teeth.

Rotters. A lot of them. Freshly freed in the tunnel collapse.

“Go,” Jace shouts, pushing us into motion. Mars follows close behind with his flashlight bobbing wildly as he runs.

I grip Autumn’s hand tighter and take off at a dead sprint, pulling her along with me at a pace she struggles to match.

Luna races ahead. Her brown and black fur is barely visible in the darkness while she darts between abandoned cars.

The tunnel feels like it’s closing in. The sounds around us multiply. There are too many.

“Stay still, Caspian. Stay quiet.” My brother’s last words before he stepped out of our hiding place to draw them away.

I blink hard, trying to push the memory away. Not now. Not here.

“Cas, let go,” Autumn says. She almost sounds out of breath. “You’ll run faster without me.”

I cut off whatever other nonsense she’s about to say. “I told you I’m not letting you go. Not again.” And I mean it. I mean it so hard, it hurts.

She stumbles, but she keeps moving. We sprint past rotters, and I don’t look back. My back throbs where the rocks hit me when I shielded her, but the pain is distant, secondary to getting her out alive.

Rotters are all around us, but I’ve got Autumn’s hand in mine, and that’s the only thing that matters right now. Until it slips away.

Her fingers slide from mine when she trips. The sound she makes when she hits the ground punches through my chest, and I stop cold.

Run. Save yourself. Like you did before.

“Keep going, I’m right behind you,” Autumn rushes out. She reaches to push herself up, but her hands slide on the loose gravel and she falls again.

Like hell I will.

I whip around and sprint back for her. She’s nothing but a shadow in the dark, but I find her with ease. She’s on one knee, in the process of standing again, but I don’t hesitate. I scoop her into my arms as though I’ve done it a thousand times. She fits there too well. Too right. Too dangerous.

She gasps and grabs onto my shirt. I imagine her eyes wide with panic and her voice ready to argue, telling me more nonsense about saving myself, but I’m already moving. I’m not letting her go. Not again. Not ever.

“Cas—”

“I’ve got you,” I grit out. “Hold on to me, Autumn.”

Luna circles back and appears beside us with a snarl as she snaps at another rotter reaching out for us. She keeps pace, darting between our legs and the undead, buying us precious seconds.

The light from Mars’s flashlight is too far ahead. I’m running blind through the dark tunnel, straining my ears to catch every sound of each nearby rotter, dodging them as best I can while trying not to trip over Luna.

The rotters reach out for us, but their decaying fingers only grasp the air while we soar past. My ghosts come out to play, taunting me, telling me I’ll never make it.

You let him die. You let your brother die to protect you, so how could you keep Autumn from the same fate?

“Shut up,” I whisper, but the words are lost in the sounds of pursuit.

Coward. Hiding. Always hiding, Casper.

I tighten my arms around Autumn and will the ghosts to disappear. I push them to the edges of my vision while I focus on the faint moonlight streaming ahead.

We’re almost there.

Luna lets out a warning bark when a rotter lunges from behind an overturned car in front of us. She launches herself at it, tearing the leg from its socket so it crashes to the asphalt, creating an opening for us to pass.

The tunnel is practically trembling now.

Groans of metal and cracking stone echo around us.

The rotters are howling, furious, and close.

The kind of close that crawls along my spine and screams that it’s too late.

Still, I keep running and leaping over cars and I don’t stop until we burst into the light of Mars’s flashlight.

Jace and Mars are at the end of the tunnel, straining against the old shell of a car. They shove it across the mouth of the tunnel.

“Move!” Mars shouts through the tunnel at us.

Sweat streaks down his bruised chest as he braces his shoulder against the car. Jace’s teeth grit, muscles straining, the vehicle groaning in protest.

We clear the tunnel right as the rotters slam into the other side of the car. The metal shudders and groans beneath their weight, but it holds. For now, at least.

An engine starts up and light floods the space. “Fucking show off,” Mars mutters before shoving me and Autumn out of the way.

A semi truck drives past us with Jace behind the wheel. He jumps out moments before the truck crashes into the mouth of the tunnel, crushing the car he just helped Mars move. The engine dies and smoke filters out.

Luna prances around with a rotter’s leg in her mouth. Her fur is matted with something I don’t want to think about.

I drop to my knees in the dirt, still holding Autumn in my arms. “You okay?” I croak out.

She pulls back to look at me, breathless. “Yeah. You?”