Page 22 of The Hollowed
“You know what? If you say so, then I believe it,” Alex said with an easy shrug. The confession slipped out without hesitation. Even if he did have the education to challenge her explanation, he knew he probably wouldn’t have bothered. In truth, he likedthe way she sounded when she talked about these things — so confident and certain, like she belonged in this strange new world.
Luci chuckled quietly under her breath and glanced at him, a flicker of amusement flashing in her eyes. “I guess I just thought it would be a little scarier out here but the fresh air’s nice. There’s something kind of freeing about seeing the city like this. No more tech, no more Triclopyr — ”
“No more what?”
“Oh—Triclopyr,” Luci clarified, adjusting her grip on the straps of her backpack. “It’s a chemical the city used to spray everywhere to kill anything green — the trees, bushes and even the vines. They thought it made things look cleaner. But it was awful for people’s health. Not that they cared. More sickness meant more patients, and more patients meant more money.”
Alex’s jaw tightened slightly. “Yeah, well, they’re still obsessed with keeping things clean.” His gaze drifted ahead to the cracked sidewalks and the rusting bridge they’d soon cross. “At the start, it took us forever to clear the bodies of those who had died but never turned. They said it was something about keeping the disease from spreading. I didn’t understand it back then. After seeing enough infected, I realized death and disease aren’t something you can keep out. They’re already here, and they’re not going anywhere.”
Luci lingered on his words and in that pause, Alex realized just how differently they saw the world. She still carried a spark of hope. She believed in the possibility of restoration, of a cure strong enough to banish the Hollowed entirely. He had always admired that about her. She was relentless, the kind of person who could coax a vaccine out of thin air if it meant saving even one life.
But in the back of his mind, he wasn’t sure the world they onceknew would ever come back. The Hollowed were everywhere — practically woven into the fabric of this new reality. You could fight them, camouflage yourself and hide among them, even outwit them for a time. But erase them completely? That was a dream he didn’t dare believe in. Still, it broke something inside him to think of the moment she’d have to face that truth.
“We can still try,” he said gently, his voice carrying a quiet conviction meant for her alone. “The world can be ours again.”
She gave a small nod, and Alex didn’t press further. For now, letting her hold on to her hope felt like the only mercy he could give.
They moved in silence, boots pressing softly into the cracked pavement. They couldn’t have been more than a mile away from their destination when suddenly, Luna broke formation. She padded ahead of Luci, her ears high and muscles taut. She came to a halt several steps in front of Grayson and Myra. Without a sound she sat on her hind legs, alerting them of the presence of the infected while every fiber of her body remained rigid.
Alex’s gaze sharpened as he tried to find the Hollowed that Luna had scented. Grayson reacted first, one hand shooting up to halt the group while his stance hardened. In perfect sync, all movement ceased.
“It’s okay,” Alex mouthed to Luci. His voice didn’t carry, but he tried to reassure her with his gaze.
Ahead of him, Myra’s rifle rose almost at the exact moment his did. It was a testament to their years spent fighting back-to-back long before the world had rotted. In tandem, their breathing slowed and their fingers brushed the triggers. On the surface, the street looked clear. There were no shifting shadows or dragging feet, but Luna had never been wrong before. If she scented the Hollowed, they were here somewhere, just waiting to catch them off guard.
A dry, rasping moan tore through the still air followed by another.
Bodies began to emerge from the shadows between two crumbling buildings. There were three…no, five of them and more were coming. Their pale, torn faces lifted toward the group, their blood shot eyes landing on fresh prey.
“Contact!” Alex barked, his voice snapping like a whip. Gunfire split the air a heartbeat later as bullets shredded through the closest Hollowed. Myra dropped one with a clean shot to the skull, while Grayson’s rifle went off, dispatching another.
“Parking garage! Move — now!” Alex ordered.
He could feel Luci’s pulse racing as he grabbed her wrist and shoved her forward. She stumbled, barely finding her footing as chaos erupted behind her.
Luna snarled and snapped at an infected that lunged too close. Another round cracked and ricocheted off the buildings as they ran, and Alex fired over his shoulder to buy them a few seconds of breathing room. But the Hollowed didn’t slow. The wounded ones crawled on injured limbs while the uninjured sprinted with animal-like ferocity.
They ran and shot until the parking garage entrance came into view no more than what felt like a few impossible strides ahead. But the pounding footsteps behind them promised that their safety was still not guaranteed.
“Go, go, go!” Alex’s voice was raw now, his weapon barking until the magazine clicked dry. He ditched it for his sidearm without a second thought.
The stench of rot was everywhere. Luci didn’t dare look back, but he knew she could hear them. The guttural snarls were closing in even as their little group burst into the dim interior of the parking garage.
Paxton and Sable fell into formation without hesitation,moving like a well-oiled machine to ensure nothing could come at them from behind. Up front, Myra, Grayson, and Alex poured round after round into the infected still closing in, but the hoard was relentless.
Luci was bent over in between them, still too winded to speak. Alex was relieved she didn’t look too terrified. Still, the realization that, in moments like this, he couldn’t watch her and the enemy at the same time hit him hard. The thought alone made his pulse spike.
But it was too late now. Whether they pushed forward or fell back, Alex knew one thing. If they didn’t make it to Arizona, he would lose her but if they made it then maybe she could be free of the responsibilities she’d never asked for.
Myra’s final shot rang out, dropping the last Hollowed. The group didn’t relax immediately. They held formation for a moment longer, scanning the rooftops and shadows between broken cars. One mistake out there could mean all of their deaths.
Only when the silence truly settled did Grayson lower his rifle. He glanced over, a faint grin cutting through the tension, and said to Luci, “You just survived your first ambush.” His tone was almost playful.
Luci straightened just enough to speak, clutching at her chest. “Fuck, they’re fast.”
Alex couldn’t help but laugh, mostly because he’d almost never heard her swear aside from when he’d quite literally broken into her apartment a few days earlier.
“Oooh, she knows bad words,” Myra teased, a burst of laughter spilling out from her. “What would the Institute have to say about that?”