Page 53

Amos

I don’t know if it’s this gladiator serum shit that has me seeing red or simply fear coursing through my body.

Yes, I’m fucking terrified, but I’m also amped up.

Ever since I woke up tied to a cold table, every instinct inside me says fight, kill.

Though that could be because my very first thought was about Lori, how the Praetorian Guards had her surrounded.

I fucking lost it.

Kyle, Olivia, and I shot at every fucker who came out of the woods.

But they had an army waiting for us.

I was so scared they were going to kill Lori right in front of me.

Even knowing she can’t die.

Images of her torn to pieces fueled my rage.

I’m still raging. We tried to hold the Praetorian Guard back, but we were simply outnumbered.

The rage I felt only strengthened after we surrendered.

I was blindfolded. Herded through the woods.

Thrown into a vehicle.

All the while not knowing if Lori was somewhere close by.

All I could do was hope that she would be taken to the same place they were taking me.

That she would be okay.

While I was tied down—my metal arm removed—Dr. Tuwile explained everything he was doing to me.

That he was injecting me with that gladiator shit.

I was helpless to stop it.

The serum burned through me.

I thought every cell of my body was on fire.

Waves of pain hit me at every angle until I couldn’t control my screams. I felt like I was going to die.

I thought I had died.

Then, all of a sudden, I couldn’t feel anything.

A woman reattached my metal arm.

The arm that sent a shock of electricity through my body.

I hope it was Dr. Tuwile who rigged it with a taser and not Norman.

If it wasn’t for Lori, I’d have fallen off that climbing wall.

Though we weren’t that high up, I know I’d only have caused Lori to hold herself back to take care of me.

Lori. If I lose her…

no. I can’t think that way.

Fear threatens to paralyze me as I watch Lori hand her mace to Olivia.

I can’t look. I can’t watch as the love of my life leaps out of the arena to face her demons.

To kill Doctore. All I can do is shove my fear aside and find a way out of here with my friends.

Lori will be okay. Not because I need her to be, but because she is fucking fierce.

Nothing will get in her way.

But fuck, I wish I could be by her side.

It’s selfish, but I want to be the one to kill Doctore.

I know Lori has every right to kill the fucker.

It doesn’t change my need to plunge a knife into his heart and watch his life fade from those demonic eyes.

“Amos!” Olivia shouts, bringing me out of my rage.

I look down to find a biter.

Its head smashed in from the multiple swings I took with the metal bat in my hand.

This side of the arena is clear, but we still need to reinforce the doors against the tunnel that likely leads to a locker room filled with more of these flesh-eating monsters.

I sprint over to Olivia and Kyle.

They’ve secured the doors enough to hold back the few biters that lingered in the dark tunnel.

It doesn’t look like it will be enough to hold back a swarm of them though.

The thought terrifies me.

We have nowhere to run to unless we go up.

That would mean leaving Jonah behind, which I refuse to do.

Olivia stands with her hands on her hips, Lori’s mace haphazardly hanging from a belt loop of her joggers.

“What now?” she asks.

“Kyle and I will take a look at that control board looking thing, see if we can open a door out of here,” I say.

“Keep watch over Jonah. If he turns—”

“Got it,” Olivia answers quickly, stopping me from saying more.

I should hate the guy.

I did hate him. That was before I met him.

Before he saved my life.

I don’t want Jonah to die.

If not for my sake, then for Lori’s.

Though I know she isn’t in love with him anymore, Jonah is still an important person in her life.

I will do everything I can to make sure she doesn’t lose another person she loves.

Including me.

Kyle and I step up to the section of the wall where the control panel is.

Or what we believe is a control panel.

Nothing is labeled.

“Let’s play,” Kyle says as he examines the panel.

A wave of fear races through my heart at the idea of playing this deadly game of Russian roulette.

I go first, pressing a black button, setting off the cannon again.

The loud bang that follows sounded as if it hit the other side of the metal wall.

Kyle and I look up at each other, eyes wide.

“Fucking hell,” he says.

“Should we keep going?”

“What choice do we have?” I pat him on the shoulder.

He feels hot to the touch over the thin fabric of his gray shirt.

We are all probably overheating with anxiety, anger, and fear.

“Your turn.”

Kyle goes for a red button next, making the metal spears on the left side of the wall shoot out.

I look back to where Olivia and Jonah are huddled a safe distance away.

When I turn back around, I try a lever, pulling it all the way down.

A loud, whining sound makes me look up to the ceiling as the pulleys that held the net up come crashing to the ground.

One of them nearly got Kyle and me, but the other pulleys definitely landed on some biters on the other side.

As Kyle reaches out a hand to grab at a knob that looks like a volume dial, he groans in pain, falling against the panel.

Several things happen all at once: the platform rises, the cannon goes off, and the shed explodes.

I’m knocked backward from the force of the explosion.

Silence fights with sound as my ears regain their hearing.

I roll over to my side and push myself up with the only hand I have.

My vision is a little blurry, but I can make out Kyle’s gigantic form, hunched over in front of the platform.

I crawl over to him to make sure he’s okay, hoping he didn’t smash his head too hard against the metal of the platform.

“Hey, man. Are you okay?” I ask, as I reach out, grabbing his arm to pull him up.

When his eyes open, the green of his irises is surrounded by red.

“Kyle?”

My best friend launches for me.

I’m slow to react, shocked at what is happening, refusing to believe that he’s gone.

One second he was my best friend, the next…

He bites me hard on the soft spot above my shoulder, gnawing on my flesh for a few seconds before I kick him off of me.

“Kyle!” I scream, hoping to reach any part of him that is still human.

But I know better. Kyle is gone.

The monster in front of me is not my best friend, as much as he might look like him.

Spotting the weapon that flew out of my hands from the explosion, I sprint, hoping the biter follows me.

I see Olivia with the corner of my eyes and yell, “Stay there!” My voice acting like a beacon for the biter to follow me and stay away from my remaining friends.

Please don’t turn. I think to myself.

I swoop down, my hand effortlessly gripping the handle of the bat.

As I turn around, I use the momentum and swing as hard as I can.

The tip of my bat hits its target, crushing the biter’s head.

It goes down with a sickening thump.

But I don’t have time to grieve.

The sound of moaning is all around me.

Now that the shed has been destroyed, the remaining biters from the other side are making their way over here.

Olivia is at my side, a large hunting knife in one hand and Lori’s mace in the other.

Our heads whip over to the tunnel where more biters are attempting to break down our barricade.

“Is Jonah okay?” I ask, my voice breaking.

“I think he’s healing. But obviously is in no shape to fight.”

I nod and ask if she’s okay.

“Do you feel warm? Feverish?”

“No. But I’ve got a big ball of fury I’m going to release on these dead assholes.”

I try to smile, but the pain in my heart doesn’t let me.

So I let the anger in.

I let it consume me as I prepare for battle.

When the first of the biters break through the flames licking the remains of the shed, shooting breaks out all around us.

Olivia and I jump for cover, but the bullets aren’t aimed in our direction.

All the biters stumbling toward us fall to the ground.

A voice calls out through a megaphone over the sounds of carnage around us.

“This is the U.S. Military. If you are among the living, put your hands up. We mean you no harm.”

Relief washes over me, but not enough to remove the fear that has been threatening to consume me.

If the military is here, where is Lori?

Olivia and I stand up with our hands up and wait for the military to put down the surrounding biters.

One of the soldiers recognizes me and passes on the information to the men and women around him.

They put their weapons down immediately.

“Has anyone been bitten?” one of the soldiers asks from the stands.

Shit. I’ll be executed if they see the bite mark on my shoulder.

“No,” Olivia answers.

“Can we put our hands down now?”

“Yes. Stay put. We’ll get you guys out.”

“Olivia, if they see I’ve been bitten—”

“There’s no bite mark, Amos. It healed,” Olivia says, examining my shoulder closely.

“What?” I nearly cry, my knees going weak from the relief I feel.

I’m okay. I’m not going to turn.

Olivia pulls me in for a hug, holding me so tight my bones would pop if it weren’t for my newly acquired super soldier strength.

When we let go of each other, we rush over to Jonah.

He’s alive. The wound still looks deadly, but he’s alive.

“I need to find Lori,” I say to no one in particular.

Instead of answering, Olivia sprints away from me, over to the other side of the arena.

When I see her sprint back through the ruins of the shed, she has my metal arm in her hand.

“I pulled out the taser, so it should be safe. Put this back on and go find your lady.”

As I run to the fence, I hastily reattach my arm.

The strength I feel inside me gives me the power I need to climb over and the confidence of knowing I will make it out.

I leap from the top of the fence, landing on the edge of the seating area like a cat.

Then I’m running. Pushing everything and everyone out of my way, letting nothing stop me from getting to Lori.

After climbing a flight of stairs, I find a group of soldiers.

General Greene is among them, calling out an order.

“Bring her in for questioning.”

I sprint over to the general, pushing him out of the way.

When I see Lori lying unconscious in a pool of blood, I howl.

The rage I’ve felt since she was taken at the tower threatens to explode like that shed in the arena.

“Amos, what are you doing?” General Greene asks, gripping his weapon tighter.

I ignore him, pushing my way into the room.

Two soldiers hoist Lori up with their hands.

My fist meets their jaws, but I hold myself back, not knowing how strong I might be.

Before Lori falls back to the ground, I scoop her up, holding her against my body, glaring at everyone around me.

“Amos. If you do not release our prisoner, I will have to detain you as well,” the general threatens.

“She is not your prisoner. She is my wife.”

“Shit,” one of the soldiers behind me mutters.

“Your wife killed the man we have been searching for.” General Greene’s anger is of no concern of mine.

The rage inside me tells me to kick him through the chest. An irrational instinct that will get both me and Lori killed, or imprisoned for life since we both can’t be killed.

I look behind me to see Dr. Tuwile on the ground, his eyes devoid of life.

I can’t help but smile.

Then I turn back, yelling, “I could fucking care less who she killed. Actually, I’m fucking proud as hell that she killed that monster.”

“Amos, please. You are not thinking rationally.”

“Here’s what’s going to happen, general. You are going to bring me, Lori, and my friends back to The Valley. If you would like to ask my wife questions, you can do so there, under my supervision.”

General Greene sighs, but I don’t let him talk.

“You refused to help us, which left us to go out and find Dr. Tuwile ourselves. If you wanted him so badly, you would have helped us. You were too late. But you will still get to reap the rewards. You get to take his empire now. All I ask is that you leave Lori alone.”

After a few beats of silence, I add, “And all the research you find in this and any other facility will be brought to The Valley for Norman to catalog. If there’s anyone who can find a true cure, it’s him.”

I don’t wait for the general to respond.

With Lori in my arms, I push through the soldiers.

They let me go without a fight.