Page 23 of His to Burn

Dragging me deeper into the darkness.

Then I heard Jackson’s voice—quiet but urgent.

“We need a place to hunker down,” he said through gritted teeth.

I again moved into action without conscious thought, shifting away from Jackson and toward the bathrooms I knew were up ahead.

His sharp jerk of my arm stopped me.

“This way,” I whispered urgently.

He peered in the darkness behind us, focused on those footsteps that only got louder, so I grabbed his hand, his large, callused palm incongruously comforting in the terror of this moment.

He glanced back at me, the tension in his expression softening for a split second, and then he focused again.

I didn’t seethem, but I heard them and knew they were close.

Decided that I would trust Jack to handle that while I got us where we were going.

We were at a near run when I turned the corner sharply and moved down the hall to a pair of double doors.

I crashed into the metal door. The unyielding handle cut into my side but the door didn’t give more than a few inches.

“No,” I mumbled, my voice low but frantic as I scrambled to open the door.

“Watch out,” Jackson said, his voice urgent but still calm.

I stepped aside as he ran full force and kicked the door open.

That shouldn’t have happened.

These metal doors were reinforced, and he kicked through like they were nothing.

He must have seen the surprise on my face.

“I hit the weak spot,” he said quickly as he pulled me toward the door. “Any other spot, and I would have dislocated my hip, but thismodel is weak at the lock. Hit that spot, and it’s like a warm knife through butter.”

I followed him, marveling at the kind of skill he displayed and feeling lucky that I was trapped with him.

But now wasn’t the time to be enamored with Jackson’s knowledge or to count on my own luck.

We needed to move.

“Just down this way. To the right,” I said.

The moans and steps quieted as we went down the hall, so Jackson got in front of me, apparently deciding that what was behind us didn’t matter as much as what might be ahead.

The moans were awful, but the quiet only added to my unease. This felt like a horror movie, and with every second, I waited for the villain—or, God forbid, another one of thosethingsthat were once a friend to pop out and attack.

At least there was a little bit of light now.

And it was only a little bit.

The hallway was lit by wall sconces placed every thirty feet or so that didn’t really illuminate the path but managed to cast creepy-looking shadows everywhere.

But at least it wasn’t totally dark.

“Here,” I whispered, stopping Jackson with a hand on his arm.