Page 46 of When the Living Fall

“I was stupid. I see that now.”

Silence fills the room, the outside gunfire and shouting reduced to a dull hum. My gaze flickers to the window. Part of me knows I could easily walk away, leave him here to rot while I go do what I was going to do. Find my girl. It would be so easy.

His breath rasps out.

Emily’s face comes to mind, the way she fights for even those who’ve wronged her. How she gives second chances. Against my better judgement, I lower my gun. “I shouldn’t help you. Not because of what you did to me, but because of what you did to Emily. That’s something I can never forgive. However, I will help you, because I aim to be a better man than you. I might look like a monster, but I won’t become you.”

25

EMILY

Everyone I know is dying.

The colony’s on fire.

Chaos spins around me in a whirlwind of fear and blood, and there’s no end in sight. It’s like that horrible night all over again, except this time, instead of fighting only rotters, we’re fighting a more deadly threat added to the mix.

Nathan’s men are here, slashing through anything and anyone in their path. A few of his men go so far as to spin rotters around and push them toward the nearest colonists.

People I’ve lived alongside for almost a year are dropping left and right, falling to the cruel hands of Nathan’s soldiers, and the teeth of rotters. Their soul-piercing screams fill the air.

Most of the bodies I stumble past are Richard’s men, but that thought escapes me—right now, I need to focus.

I don’t know where my guys are, and that terrifies me.

Max and William were with me when this fight started. They’d closed in around me when Griffin took off, but then we got separated in the chaos. I trust they’re still out there somewhere, fighting. They’re fully capable of taking care of themselves, so I’m not worried. If anything, I pity Nathan’smen who have to go up against them. But right now, I have to find Zoey.

I scan my surroundings and catch a glimpse of blonde hair before it disappears behind a building. Zoey.

I sprint after her, dodging past attackers and running straight through the chaos.

Gunfire cracks around me, mixed with the sounds of shattering glass and people screaming.

My heart hammers. My blood thunders through my veins.

I’m still moving through the fray when I collide with someone, and we tumble to the ground in a mess of limbs. He cries out in pain when I land hard on his ankle.

“Sorry,” I say automatically, reaching out a hand to pull him up. When he lifts his head and I can see his face for the first time, I realize this isn’t one of the colony’s people. The man staring back at me, with anger flashing in his eyes, is one of Nathan’s goons.

“Big mistake, sweetheart,” he sneers, twisting my hand and pulling me closer. The cold tip of his knife presses against my neck, his hot breath brushing against my ear. “You should be sorry. Although…” The knife trails down the side of my throat, touching the collar of my shirt. “Maybe you’d like to come back with us.”

I force a saccharine smile and twist my hand enough to slip my knife from its sheath. “Tempting. But…yeah, that would be a no.” With a swift jab, I bury my blade into his gut, rolling away while he doubles over in pain.

His knife clatters to the ground, his face twisting into a raging scowl of pain and ferocity. I reach down to pick up his knife. I’m about to finish him off when a lone rotter lifts its nose into the air and then turns toward us with vacant, hungry eyes. “Well, it’s your lucky day. I’m feeling generous.”

“Bitch,” he sputters out. Oh, he’s angry.

Fantastic.

“Awe, your compliments warm my heart. Too bad for you, sweet-talk isn’t going to work today. But please, try again tomorrow. Or you could file all your complaints with the rotter that’s about to eat your face off.” Without waiting for his reaction, I leap over him and take off running without looking back. Hopefully, Zoey hasn’t gone too far.

This is insane. It’s impossible to find anyone in this chaos.

Around me, the colony’s defenses are crumbling. Even those who hid inside their locked homes are being forced to fight. Men, women, even children and elderly. Nobody is safe.

Nathan’s men hack away at the weak barricades, throw rotters through glass windows, and even set the food stores ablaze. Panic grips the colony as smoke billows up, thick and black.

Some of the townspeople are forced from hiding to try to contain the blaze. I spot one of the bakers standing in the street, his hands clasped over his head as he stares in disbelief at the flames, watching them consume everything. A rotter stumbles behind him, and I drive my knife into its skull before I dart off again.

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