Page 46

COLE

A low moan echoes through the parking garage, followed by the wet shuffle of dragging feet.

Damon snaps to attention, his entire posture shifting into protective mode. “We need to go. Now.”

Before any of us can move, Zoey turns to Avery. He doesn’t hesitate. His arms wrap around her and his lips brush against his ear when he whispers something only she can hear.

A pang of jealousy flares through me. I want to be the one she turns to. The one who pulls her back from the edge. I watch the tension in her shoulders melt for a fraction of a second before she pulls away. There’s no time for comfort when the dead are coming.

Avery doesn’t waste time. He signals his dregs—I mean men—with a single word: “Guard.”

His men fall into formation, raising weapons and forming a loose protective circle around the five of us. Lola barks from beside me. Okay, six of us.

It’s weird as hell seeing these bastards protecting us instead of tormenting us, but I’m not about to complain. Maybe later, though. I glance at Damon, who gives me a pointed look, like he’s thinking the exact same thing.

The men give Zoey a moment to breathe. A few precious seconds to break down if she needs to, but she doesn’t.

Instead, she straightens her spine. Her electric blue eyes burn like embers in the dim light when she looks at me.

I reach for her hand and she takes it. I pull her to her feet, and then the rotters emerge.

The horde is massive. They lurch from the shadows, drawn by the noise, the gunfire, and the scent of fresh blood heavy in the air.

Some crawl out from beneath rusted-out cars, while others stumble from collapse stairwells.

A few even fall through the large missing chunks in the ceiling, landing in wet splats where the rain still leaks through.

Some are missing limbs, their flesh tangled in barbed wire, or dragging rusted weapons embedded in their torsos.

One of Avery’s men, Jace, steps forward to address us. “We’ll hold them off.” He nods toward a stairwell hidden behind an enormous pile of rubble. “We’ve started clearing the way. There’s an emergency exit there. You can get back inside the building where you’ll be safe.”

Zoey shakes her head. “I’m not leaving anyone behind. Every single person here will get out of here together.”

After a moment’s pause, Jace exchanges a look with the other men, then with Avery, who gives a small nod as some silent form of approval. Jace bows his head slightly, and the other dregs mimic him. “Very well.”

Everyone falls into formation, and all twenty-something of us work together. The first wave of rotters crashes into us. Chaos erupts. Blades slice through the air. Damon and Benji fight back-to-back, cutting through the closest threats. Jace and three other men slice and dice, creating an opening.

“Where the fuck did all these come from?” I shout out. There are too many to handle. I swing the knife Mars gave me and send a rotter’s head flying. I’m pleased to see this Mars guy keeps his knives sharpened.

Another guy spits in disgust. “Eugene. This was his backup plan. If he lost Zoey, he wanted to make sure no one else got her, either.”

Another guy curses under his breath. “Two of us opposed him. He killed them on the spot. The rest of us played along and bought time for Avery to get here.”

Avery’s gunfire is precise. Every shot is deadly. Until a bullet hit the knife and knocks it out of my hand. “Shit, sorry, Cole.”

“Here.” Mars tosses me a second knife, which I catch with ease, then I shove it through another rotter’s skull.

“That man sounds like a nightmare, honestly,” I say, continuing the conversation. I’ve been quiet for so long that I must have forgotten the best times to have a conversation. Fighting for our lives counts as one, right?

“You have no idea,” yet another man chimes in when he moves to fight alongside me.

I realize me, Benji, and Damon are all spread out, each fight among the guys who held us captive for so long.

Something I never imagined, even in my most deluded nightmares.

At least Lola stays with Zoey. That dog could probably take down an army all on her own at this point.

Zoey is fast and brutal, moving like she was born to fight. I knew she was strong, but I never realized she could fight like this. I swing my knife at an oncoming rotter and slam it against a rusted car. My ribs ache and I don’t know how much longer I can continue like this, but I push through it.

Jace fights like a man who’s done this a hundred times before. His movements are calm, precise, and deadly. I’m glad to have him on my side for once.

Then the ground shifts below me when I lose my footing on a wet patch. My boot catches on a chunk of broken concrete, and the twist is sharp and painful. My knee buckles. The world tilts. The ground comes up to meet me, slamming into my back with a bone-jarring force.

Pain explodes up my leg, and another through my back. My lungs refuse to expand. I can’t breathe. A shadow looms over me. I make out the form of an approaching rotter through my blurry vision, its bloodied teeth bared and hungry.

I reach for my knife, but it’s gone. Dammit.

Then Zoey is there. She leaps over me and slams her knife so deep into the rotter’s skull that it looks like she’s going to split it in half. The body jerks before going limp and slumping over my legs. I want to let out a howl of pain at that, but I still can’t breathe. All I can do is wheeze.

Zoey rolls the rotter corpse off me and drops to her knees beside me. Her hands shake when she grips my face. “Look at me, Cole. I’m here. Breathe.”

I try, but my lungs won’t cooperate.

Her blue eyes lock onto mine, and she becomes the only thing I see. She’s beautiful. Even here. Even in this nightmare, surrounded by blood and death, she looks like firelight in the dark. Her palm rests against my cheek. “Focus on me, and only me.”

I take in a sharp inhale when my lungs finally expand, and relief washes over her face. She’s even more beautiful when she’s not scared out of her mind on my behalf.

Then she’s yanked backward. Damon pulls her into his arms right before Avery fires a shot to take out a rotter that was reaching for her. Damon looks down at me with furrowed brows. “Can you move?”

I grit my teeth through the pain. “Yeah.”

When I push to get up, my leg gives out, and Benji catches me before I hit the ground. “You’re not fine, dumbass.”

Avery and Zoey step in to support me on either side. They each grab an arm and drape it over their shoulders, with an arm around my waist. I shift most of my weight onto Avery, so I won’t crush Zoey.

Jace tips his head to indicate the growing horde. “We need to move. We’ve already been here too long, and more of them keep pouring in. I had no idea Eugene even collected this many rotters. Where did he store them all this time?”

We push forward, moving to the stairwell at an agonizing pace, and it’s all my fault. Avery’s men work harder to keep the rotters away from us while we slowly make our way to safety. Most of my weight remains on Avery. Every step is agony. I grit my teeth and keep moving.

“You won’t crush me, you know,” Zoey says, and I glance down at her. She narrows her eyes at me. “Stop being a big tough guy and let me help you.”

“I could crush you.”

She huffs. “I’m stronger than you think.”

Before I can decide whether to relieve some of my pain and risk crushing her, a voice shouts through the chaos. “Zoey!”

Zoey freezes, and we all turn around to see a small group fighting their way through the mass of rotters to get to us. A woman with long, dark hair, piercing amber eyes, and a blade that swings with deadly precision leads them.

Zoey trembles, and her voice catches on a breath. “Emily…”

She takes a shaky step forward, but her arms never leave me. Emily sees her, and her face shatters with emotion, but Emily’s men react first.

A tall, lean one with long, untamed dark hair and sharp green eyes moves in front of Emily with a gun raised. “Who the fuck are you—nah, I don’t care. Let go of Zoey.”

“Max,” Zoey chokes out on what I think is supposed to be a laugh .

Another man, muscular with disheveled dark brown hair and unreadable gray eyes, sweeps his gaze over me, Avery, Benji, and Damon. His jaw tightens.

“Griffin,” Zoey chokes out next.

The third man, blond and quiet, watches the exchange with pale blue eyes.

“William,” Zoey says on a sob. “You all came.”

A Belgian Malinois trots toward us, only to be stopped short by Lola. They growl at first, then sniff each other for several seconds before Lola gives her approval. I lift Zoey’s hand to my lips and kiss her fingers. “Go. I’ll be fine. Go to your friend.”

She hesitates for a second longer, then she lifts onto her toes to kiss me and whisper, “I’ll be right back. I promise.”

After letting Jace take her spot to hold my weight, she breaks into a run, straight into Emily’s arms.

Watching her reunite with her friend brings me so much joy, but also sorrow.

She got what she’s wanted all this time, her freedom and to return to her friends.

That doesn’t mean I’m ready to let her go.

I wonder how kindly they’ll take to me following her to wherever they take her.

Not so much. If the glares the men are shooting at us are anything to go by.

Zoey must hear my thoughts, because she pulls away from Emily to address the homicidal-looking men. “They’re with me.”

Max doesn’t look convinced. “You sure? We haven’t had steak in a while.”

The casual eluding to cannibalism makes me uneasy, but Zoey only shakes her head.

“Making those stupid jokes of yours won’t be enough to scare them away, so yeah, I’m sure.

” Throws me a soft smile and all my worries melt away.

“Like I said, they’re with me, and they’ll stay that way for as long as they want to. ”

Max lets out a low whistle. “Zoey went and found herself some boyfriends. ”

The gentle blond-haired man next to Emily rolls his eyes. “See, Griffin, I told you starting up an etiquette class wouldn’t be a bad idea. We already have our first subject—I mean, student.”

Max lowers his weapon and grins at him. “I don’t have time for other classes when I’m spending all my time in my Emily studies. Sorry, Willie boy.”

“It’s William,” the man says in a bored tone.

Emily’s grip on Zoey tightens. “You disappeared, Zo. We had no idea where you were, and now we find you with…them?” Her gaze shifts to Avery. The look she gives him is cold and calculating. “I’ve seen him before.”

Avery doesn’t react. He’s too busy keeping me upright.

Zoey doesn’t waver. “I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for them. All of them. They helped me, Emily. They kept me alive, and they helped me get free. I’m pretty sure I would be dead by now if it weren’t for them.”

Buddy and Lola let out matching growls before leaping off to the side to take down a rotter.

“We don’t have time for a reunion,” Jace says.

Zoey turns back to me. Without an ounce of hesitation, she hurries back to my side like she promised and wraps her arms around me again to reclaim her spot.

She pushes Jace out of the way, and then she takes my weight, and I let her.

She doesn’t buckle like I expect her to.

I guess she was right. She is stronger than I give her credit for.

“Stop underestimating me,” she says, giving me a warm smile.

I grin back at her, despite the growing pain in my leg. “Never again.”

Avery keeps a firm hold on my other side, then Emily’s men spread out beside us to cover our backs. Griffin’s voice booms loud over the increasing chaos. “Go with them. We’ll follow behind and make sure everyone makes it out.”

“Oh look, Willie’s out! ”

“It’s a harmonica, you dumbass.” William puts the small instrument to his lips and blows, drawing the nearest rotters away from us while Max and Jace cut them down.

“You’re the one,” Benji says before moving toward William. He starts singing in harmony to the harmonica, drawing the attention of a few extra rotters.

Emily gives Griffin a quick kiss before rushing to Zoey’s side, and together we move.