HOW IN HONEY-FRIED PICKLES was she supposed to sleep with the creepy people-eaters plotting their favorite recipes in the next building over? One tiny set of barred doors separated them from the boogie men, and nervous energy consumed her body as she bowed to the feeling of wrongness that had taken over since Eloise told of Sean’s disappearance.
Vanessa willed strength into her limbs. Her injured body needed to heal, and preferably right now if she was going to be of any use to anyone. Adrianna breathed deeply beside her, bundled up tight and clutching Bunny. She didn’t even stir when Vanessa reloaded a magazine and slid it into her Glock.
The floorboards creaked above her and stilled. If the vaccine could’ve given her some X-ray vision, that would’ve been fantastic.
The brush of a shoe sounded further down the room above.
Mitchell and Guist had left for a search-and-rescue mission no more than half an hour ago, and Eloise and Laney slept soundly by the baby in the next room over.
The crazies were coming for breakfast.
Vanessa lay back down and pulled her gun under the covers before feigning sleep. It was impossible to relax knowing something terrible was coming. Steadying her breath, she waited.
Minutes stretched on and on until finally the senses that had been screaming since she woke up picked up something heavy in the room with her and Adrianna. The cold tip of metal touched her neck, and a woman whispered, “Where are the weapons?”
“What weapons?” she asked, cocking the gun that now rested against the crotch of the intruder’s pants. The advance of the blade stopped. “Take that shank off my neck before I blow a hole in your baby maker.”
The smelly woman obliged, but ungraciously. “I’m not alone, you know. Dillon,” she called out.
Stupid girl. She’d given Vanessa plenty of warning that her partner was coming in. An emaciated man, Dillon, she’d venture to guess, rushed the corner, and she fired a shot as soon as she had confirmation he wasn’t one of her team. He sagged to his knees, and the woman tore at her with a feral scream and a slashing blade.
Ducking out of the way, Vanessa grabbed her wrist and kneed her in the rib cage. With a pained grunt, the woman wrenched out of her grasp and spun, then disappeared around the doorframe.
“Vanessa?” Adrianna murmured sleepily. “I’m scared.”
So was she, but the kid didn’t need to know that. “I’m right here. Grab Bunny, and let’s go check on the others.”
The next room was chaos. Soren was nowhere to be seen, and Laney searched the small space frantically. Sobs of panic and agony wracked her body, and she chanted, “They must’ve taken her,” over and over, like it would undo the burden on her soul.
“Vanessa,” Eloise whisper-screamed. “Where are you going?”
To get baby soup off the breakfast menu, but Laney probably wouldn’t appreciate the word choice. She opened her mouth to say something more kosher, but the creak of an opening door stopped her.
The exaggerated noise chilled her blood, and she gripped her Glock a little tighter. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and as she rounded the corner, she witnessed the first Dead step over the threshold.
The crazies had let the monsters in.
“We have to move!” she rasped, and Laney snatched her Mini-14 off the night stand.
Tugging Adrianna’s hand, Vanessa bolted for the stairs just as the Dead caught wind of them and groaned triumphantly. Eloise and Laney climbed the stairs in a rush, their clattering footsteps echoing off the growing volume of groaning and gnashing teeth.
Sean’s old room was the furthest from the stairs, and Vanessa slammed the door behind them. Sean, bachelor that he was, had furnished the room about as simply as he was able, and after the twin bed was shoved against the rocking door, there was nothing left to stack besides a night stand and a squat three-drawer dresser. A few boxes had been tossed haphazardly to the floor, but none of them looked heavy. Not enough to keep them safe.
“Out the window,” Vanessa said, shoving the frame open.
“The Deads outside will see us,” Laney said.
“The Deads coming through that door in a few seconds are going to get an eyeful of us if we stay in here.”
“Vanessa,” Eloise said quietly. “I know what I can and can’t do, and I can’t go out on a roof that steep.” Her green eyes pleaded for understanding.
Vanessa dropped her gaze to the full swell of Eloise’s belly. Of course she couldn’t. The plan had been thought of in desperation, and while that urgency hadn’t changed for her, it could for the others. She squeezed Adrianna’s hand. “You’re going to stay here with Laney and Eloise.”
“But Daddy said to stay with you.”
“I know, baby, but you can’t go where I’m going.” She clacked her extra pistol into Eloise’s hand and ushered them into the closet.
“What are you going to do?” Laney asked, pushing Adrianna further behind her in the dark space.
“I’m going to draw them away. Shoot anything that comes through this door. Ade, quiet as a mouse, okay?”
The girl nodded, and Vanessa clicked the closet door closed. Oh, she was about to die and it was going to hurt, but if that little girl lived it would all be worth it.
Out the window she slid as the banging on Sean’s bedroom door continued. Sliding the biggest knife from her belt, she lowered herself and loped across the roof until she got to Adrianna’s old bedroom window. From there she could see the horde pushing and fighting to get through Sean’s door.
It took a couple tries, but she managed to throw a strong enough elbow to break the glass. “Oy!” she yelled, before running the blade up her forearm beside the cut Finn had made two weeks ago. Was it only two weeks since that important lesson on feeding frenzies? A lifetime had happened since then. Now, she was going to die without knowing what had become of Sean. Without knowing who would take care of Adrianna until she was old enough to defend herself.
The pit-pat-pit-pat of blood dripped across the chipped white paint of the windowsill. That’s all it took. In a rush, the Deads diverted their attention to her. She should not have been surprised by the speed with which they were pulled off Sean’s old door. She was basically ringing a dinner bell for the monsters.
Getting off the roof was a problem. Deads on the ground hadn’t spotted her yet, but the two-story drop was going to get her a broken leg and definitely not buy enough time for Laney to figure out a way to get them safe. She slipped and slid until she reached the corner of the roof, which hung directly over landscaping that had gone native. A crepe myrtle stripped of all its leaves waited patiently with outstretched branches to catch her, and she broke nearly every one on the way down.
The Deads were coming.
Bolting around the house, she screamed into the doorway and clenched her fist until blood flowed in a steady trickle. She’d give the monsters a trail to follow. They came from behind in the yard, and they filed out of the house like an enraged colony of fire ants. She bolted.
Now, there had been very few moments in her life where things happened that were so important that it felt as if time actually slowed. But there in the colony full of ghosts and zombies and cannibals, sprinting for her life, she could almost touch every single moment. She pushed her legs harder and harder, and her arms pumped to lend any help they could. Her shirt had bunched up at the bottom, and frigid wind whipped at the strip of exposed stomach. There was no time to aim her Glock or throw a blade. There was only time to run.
Something brushed her back, and she gritted her teeth and found more energy.
And just as a clammy hand clamped down on her shoulder, the blast of a bullet whizzed so close to her face, she could feel the momentum of it blasting past her to bury itself in the Dead. The hand disappeared, and another bullet flew by.
She searched for the aid, and up ahead, Guist was down on one knee sniping the monsters on her heels. No, it wasn’t just Guist. Mitchell was there too, picking off the closest ones so she’d have an extra few seconds to breathe air.
Mitchell pointed to the left, directing her, and she turned the course of the horde. A small wall had been erected from particle board, posts, and trees, and she ran alongside it like Mitchell had gestured. He and Guist had disappeared, and she was alone again, throwing one foot in front of the other and wondering how many steps she had left in her life.
And then something caught her around the waist and pulled her back with such force, it pushed the air and her ready scream right out of her lungs.
A strong hand snaked over her mouth, and the arm that was looped around her waist pulled her sideways into a narrow space. She was dragged back until the clawing hands couldn’t reach her. The Deads couldn’t seem to figure out that they needed to turn their shoulders to get inside.
She lifted her gaze to drink in the most intense pair of blue eyes ever, and her heart skittered with recognition of its counterpart. Sean crushed her to him and whispered, “I thought I’d lost you,” into her ear. “I thought I’d never see you again.”
She wanted to cry and scream and laugh and punch something all at once. Too many emotions fought for headspace, and she sobbed into his shirt as she clutched the material to keep him close. She was supposed to be dead, but instead she was in the safety of Sean’s arms, a sanctuary she never thought would envelop her again. His fingers rubbed little comforting circles into the back of her head, and even the sting of fresh stitches being agitated couldn’t dampen this moment. He was here. He was alive. He was hers.
Her relief was interrupted by a crashing sound, as the weight of the Deads collapsed the entrance.
Sean pulled his shirt off and wrapped it around her dripping arm. “We’ll never find a way out if you keep bringing them to you with the smell.”
Mitchell and Guist wiggled down a path that intersected with theirs.
“Where’s Laney?” Mitchell asked with an intensity in his dark eyes that rivaled Sean’s.
“Safe, all safe the last time I saw them. They were trapped up in Sean’s room, but I drew the Deads away so they could get out. Mitchell,” she said through panting breath, “the cannibals have your daughter. They took her.”
“They aren’t cannibals,” Sean said, putting a hand on Mitchell’s forearm. “They won’t hurt her. They worship her because she’s part Dead. We’ll get her back.”
Guist took one look at the red fury consuming Mitchell’s face and asked, “Where are they?”
“Best I could tell, they holed themselves up in their little castle to wait for the Deads to eat us,” Vanessa murmured. “I took one down which means there’s twelve left.”
Crunching sounded from the pathway as the Deads made headway toward them.
“This thing won’t hold for long,” Finn said, sidestepping down the tunnel. “We need to go now before it’s nothing but splinters.”
“Okay,” Sean whispered. “Go that way.” He pointed to the left side of another fork and Finn sidestepped toward it. “Try to be quiet about it, and maybe we can lose them.”
The mouth of the structure opened up, and Sean’s house loomed just ahead. The front door sported Deads who’d thrown themselves onto the tiny red line of her blood that led from the porch to the yard, but Sean didn’t seem too concerned. Instead, he pulled a matchbook from his pocket. With a snick, snick, he lit one and held it to the sides until the plywood caught fire. The dry wood fed flames that reached for the sky, and they sprinted for a window on the side of the house. Sean opened it and kicked in a wooden screen before helping her through. The rest followed.
One Dead ambled toward them at the bottom of the stairs, but Sean knifed him without so much as a change in expression. The heat that crept up his neck and made his eye color even more radiant said he was pissed. Heaven help the crazies, because the wrath of Sean was about to come down on them like a rain of fire.
Mitchell slid a handgun into his palm, and together they threw off the bar to the auditorium. The door swung wide, and a loosely knit group of surprised faces stared back at them. They’d set up a banquet style table, and the smell of rich food filled the room. A plucked and roasted chicken sat as the centerpiece to their extravagant dinner, and Finn muttered, “What the hell?”
It reminded her of Thanksgiving dinner before the world ended. The food wasn’t traditional, but the crazies were all but holding hands and saying grace while her team was thought to have been the appetizer for the horde outside the doors. What the hell, indeed.
She was the last inside the room and immediately searched for Soren. The baby wasn’t here. She stepped toward an empty cot with a crumpled blanket as the crack of weaponry sounded and her team aimed their guns.
“I don’t think so,” a venomous voice said from behind her, and Vanessa was jerked backward.
The cold blade of a knife pressed against her throat. She closed her eyes and muttered a low oath. Subtly running her hand down the hilt of one of her knives, she prepared to defend herself, but the blade bit into her skin and warmth trickled down her neck.
“Where’s the baby?” Vanessa asked. Damn the tremble in her voice.
“Not that she’s any of your concern anymore, but she’s safe in her nursery,” the woman who’d attacked her earlier growled against her ear. “She’s mine now. Don’t you fuckin’ move, skank.”
“Skank is a little harsh—”
“Shut up! Everyone, put down your weapons, or I’ll cut her open right here and cover these floors in red.”
Sean’s eyes had gone wide, and for the first time since she’d known him, he looked scared.
“Do it!” the woman screamed so loud Vanessa jumped.
“Shay, think about what you’re doing,” Sean said in a soothing voice. “We’ll kill every last one of you if you do this. You’re dooming your people.”
Mitchell jammed his gun at Arden, who sat at the table with his head cocked as if he hadn’t a care in the world. “Let her go, or I’ll shoot him. He’s the one you favor, right? Take your knife from her throat, or I’ll pull this trigger.”
Shay laughed. The little demon laughed! “You wouldn’t. You’re too good, the lot of you. I know your kind. You wouldn’t shoot unarmed people. Too weak. Dead chow.”
Shay was insane if she couldn’t read the seriousness on the team’s face. It had been a long day, and it seemed their patience had run out long ago. Mitchell cocked his weapon, and Shay slid the knife into the next layer of tissue. She was going to do it. This was it, the end of the road. The crazy woman wasn’t afraid to die if she got to take her enemies with her.
She couldn’t let them lower their weapons or they’d all be dead, these people she cared for. And she could already see the defeat in Sean’s eyes. He was going to risk everything to try to save her. “Sean,” she whispered. “I’m sorry.”
“No,” he screamed as she reached for her knife. The bite of the blade stung, but she was prepared for the pain.
And then a shot rang out, and she stood straight, still alive and utterly confused because Shay had dropped like a sack of stones behind her.
She turned, and Eloise stood in the doorway, holding the extra pistol in trembling hands. She gasped like she was shocked she’d actually pulled the trigger, and the gun clattered to the floor.
“Get back,” Sean yelled as the first volley of gunfire hit the sheetrock walls near Vanessa.
She shielded Eloise with her body and shoved her out of the room just as Sean pulled an oversized wooden table crashing down in front of him.
The sound of gunfire echoed down the hallway where she pushed Eloise. They had to get away from the thin walls, or they could still take a bullet.
“Where’re Laney and Adrianna?”
“Upstairs,” Eloise said, sounding panicked. “Laney found Soren in some shrine room and Adrianna’s crying. I couldn’t calm her down. She’s panicking, asking for you and Sean. Laney is singing to keep the kids quiet.”
Thank God Soren was safe with Laney again. It was surprising Adrianna had made it this far without breaking down. The kid was tough, but she wasn’t invincible. “Go to them, and stay there until the shots die down.” She checked her Glock. “El?” she said as her friend pounded up the stairs.
Eloise paused and turned, looking so scared. “Yeah?”
“Thank you for saving me in there.”
Vanessa spun and ran back for the auditorium before Eloise could respond. Getting all teary eyed now would only hurt her aim, and Sean and the boys needed her.
“I’m out,” Mitchell said, and she knelt down and slid her Glock to him. She didn’t have much, only three shots left, but it was better than no ammo. Picking up Eloise’s discarded weapon, she slid beside the boys, ducking as wood splintered near her face. Lifting up, she took a shot.
Food spattered the floor, and the dinner table had been thrown to the side like the table her boys were using for cover. Pity, the chicken looked decent. Pulling a knife from her belt, she hurled it at a man who lifted his face too high over the edge. A satisfying thunk sounded just before the thud of a body hitting the ground. Sean winged another, and the man yelled out in pain. The table hiding the others was splitting apart. She counted four bodies near the door, and threw a silent thank you into the universe that Soren wasn’t in here.
Loud twin clicks from empty guns sounded, and Sean gave her a wide-eyed glance. “Now,” he yelled, and Vanessa lunged forward with him, Guist and Mitchell, pushing the table forward until it butted up against the other with a clack.
As one, they stood, weapons aimed, and the five remaining men crouching on the other side lifted their hands in the air and dropped their empty weapons. The rest weren’t moving, and two stared vacantly at her, as if their corpses blamed her for their bad decisions.
One of the men shifted his weight, and Sean gritted out, “Arden, if you reach for that knife, so help me, I’m going to burn this place to the ground with the rest of your people in it.”
A waifish man, Arden apparently, put his hands in the air slowly and huffed a half laugh. “Sean, we can be reasonable about this.”
Cold steel interlaced Sean’s deep voice. “Line up on the wall. All of you.”
At their hesitation, Sean yelled, “Do it!” The command in his voice echoed off the walls.
Arden stood slowly with the rest of his men, hands still in the air. “So what—you’re going to line us up and play firing squad? We’re unarmed. That’s not what the Sean I knew would’ve done. The Sean I knew had mercy. You don’t like what we’ve become? Then you shouldn’t have left us here to rot! We’ve done what we’ve done to survive. You would’ve done the same thing.”
Sean shook his head, but his furious gaze never left Arden as they shuffled away and pressed against the wall by the back door.
“There’s your proof right there, Arden. You never really knew me at all. You think I abandoned you? I gave every one of you a choice to escape with me a year ago, and not a single one of you came! Don’t blame the evil you’ve done on survival. Do you even have a count of how many people you fed to those monsters outside that door? Do you? You could’ve helped them, but you killed them instead.”
One of the men made a movement so subtle but so familiar to someone who’d practiced it a hundred times.
“If you throw that knife, you’ll be riddled with holes before we send you on outside,” Vanessa said. “Recent experience says blood only frenzies the Deads, so it’ll lower your odds of survival, but it’s your choice I suppose. Open the door and leave, single file.”
“No, you can’t do that,” Arden said as understanding dawned on his face.
“Why not?” Sean asked. “You’ve done it to countless others. You tried to kill our entire team and kidnap Mitchell’s child. My second-in-command has a hole through his leg, and you put my daughter in danger. You worship these monsters and feed them human lives like they’re your pets. Your friends. Why wouldn’t this seem like exactly the right punishment?”
Arden’s dark eyes narrowed to slits. “We know this place like the back of our hands. This isn’t over.”
“Fantastic. Get out of my colony. And take all of your guard dogs with you.”
Arden gave a cruel twist of a smile and ripped the bar away from the double doors. “Let’s go!” he shouted and led his men into the morning light.
Vanessa would’ve given her femur to see the look on that crazy man’s face when he realized they burned their little escape passage. At least they’d given them a fair chance, though. It was more than those monsters had gifted her team. No sleep would be lost over the destruction of these murderers.
The door clanged closed and the room grew silent as the gravity of the moment settled over Denver. The power had shifted, and the colony was no longer run by the tainted and lost. Sean would lend his strength to this place and make it whole again. All they needed was time.
Finn limped to the door to bar it again, and Guist disappeared to, in his words, “see how far the crazies got.”
Laney, Eloise, and Adrianna shadowed the doorway with such a look of relief. Soren squalled and kicked in the cradle of Laney’s arms. Keeping the child safe had taken sacrifice and pain, but she’d be worth it. Vanessa just felt it in her bones that Soren’s destiny was an important one. They’d eventually clear out the Deads and bring the Denver colony back to life brick by brick and nail by nail. Together.
No one would ever touch the bond they’d created. Vanessa looked from one exhausted and relieved face to another. Every one of these people had implanted themselves so deeply into her heart, she had to swallow the sob that accompanied her smile. She’d never had friends like this. Not ones who felt connected to her, like an extended family.
Laney hugged her and whispered, “Thank you, Vanessa,” in her ear.
Shocked, Vanessa stood there with her arms limply at her sides, just absorbing the gratitude of the woman she’d hated for so long. It was like medicine for her soul. Slowly, she put her arms around her, carful of the cradled child, and said, “Any time.” And she meant it. If she had to do it all over again, she’d do it the same. She’d been prepared to die to draw the Deads away, but in that moment, she was just incredibly lucky to be sharing in the small triumph with her team.
Her team.
They didn’t coddle her or try to control her. They respected her and trusted her to help them out of dangerous situations.
Adrianna clung to her leg, and she stroked the little girl’s dark locks. Eloise tugged at the T-shirt bandage on her arm, and Mitchell found the first-aid bag without her even asking. And when she looked at Finn, he was smiling at her like he couldn’t be prouder of one of his recruits.
She couldn’t help the slow tug of her lips. They’d done it. Against all odds, they’d made it into the heart of the Denver colony, and they’d done it together.
Years from now, when she told Adrianna’s children about how the Denver colony came to be, she’d draw on this moment of elation. She’d tell them the importance of the team and of their sacrifices and fearlessness. Of their courage in the face of adversity. She’d tell them she died for a moment, but that a power greater than her wasn’t done with her yet. She was meant to be here with these people—to help them, to protect them.
To love them.
Sean leaned against a table with his hands clenched against the edges. Such a look of adoration emanated from his face, he seemed to glow with it. His eyes danced with the smile that played on his lips.
There it was. That beautiful soul he’d shared with only her.
He hadn’t been meant for Laney, or Mel, or any other. He’d gone through all of the years of heartache and painful spurts of growth so he could be the man he was supposed to be for her. And she’d been fashioned the same.
Dirt was streaked across his face, and there was a cut in his hairline that wasn’t quite closed. His eye was bruised from where he’d fought to protect the people he cared about at Dead Run River. His shirtless body was taut from continuous use and sported the triumphant scars of survival.
He was beautiful.
Pushing off the table, he murmured, “Hey, you,” as he approached.
“Hey yourself,” she said as he laced his fingers with hers.
Looking up into his eyes, she could see that this was exactly the place she’d waited her whole life to be—she just hadn’t realized it until right now, in this moment. Here, she was safe, coveted, adored. Beauty still existed in the ravaged world because Sean lived in it. His existence made everything brighter and more important somehow.
On tiptoes, she whispered into his ear, “I like you.”
He eased back slowly with the crooked smile he saved only for her. Resting his forehead against hers, he kissed her tenderly, and with the sweet taste of the promise of forever on his lips, he said, “I love you, too.”