Page 84 of Obliterated
If it wasn’t terrifying enough that we’re about to be fed to the damn biters, it gets worse: we’re not getting ten of them, no. She’s sending more than thirty if my count is right. And fuck me, I know my limits. I’m a cocky bastard, arrogant when it counts,confident because I know I own it. But thirty Walkers, even with Kieran at my side?
I don’t know if I can. Ifwecan.
I don’t even know where she found that many zombies. Sure, we round them up on patrol; if we don’t kill them, they get hauled to the Pit for the convictions, for “justice.” But this many? Besides building her so-called army of Watchers, she’s been doing something else up north. I just fucking know it.
All I can do is hope Roe gets here in time to put this bitch down.
It’s still the same fucking day. It’s only this morning we got ripped out of our apartment, hauled from whatever mess was left of our lives, and now we’re standing in the center of the stone hole with a pile of Walkers waiting to eat us alive.
It’s the monthly Pit night, and she timed it perfectly. Can’t stop smirking at us from her throne in the center of the Nine. Or well, Seven now.
I can only glare at her as I unsheathe Whisper in my right hand and the cleaver in my left, the promise of her demise burning in my gaze.
Because Iwillget out of here alive andwillbe the one to end her.
Our weapons weren’t exactly handed to us like a courtesy. Minutes ago, when they dragged us from the prison and escorted us to the Pit, one of the foursome that brought us gave me a curt nod.
I recognized him immediately. One of Roe’s men.
When they uncuffed me and shoved us onto the bench behind the gate, he leaned close and whispered, “Under the bench. Roe says hi. Take them at the last minute. I’ll distract them.”
He did. Coming up with some bullshit excuse about Walkers escaping when the gate to the Pit opened for us.
My heart nearly exploded when my fingers found them taped under the bench. Whisper. The cleaver. Kee’s stupid little daggers, tucked like a secret beneath the planks. I yanked them free, each blade a promise I intended to keep.
At least now I know Roe’s still alive and kicking. And the way that bitch glares at my weapons tells me she knows it too.
“Get behind me,” I say, snapping my head toward Kieran, voice hard as steel.
Of course he doesn’t listen. Heneverfucking listens.
“We’re in this together, Max,” he says, stepping up beside me like he was made to. Those wicked little daggers already glint in his hands. “I will not cower behind you. That’s not who I am. Not who I want to be anymore.”
A low growl rumbles in my chest. My eyes stay locked on that little bitch. She’s smug and venomous, like she already knows we’re not getting out of this.
Please, Roe. Please be alive, please have something up your sleeve, some crazy, brutal plan to pull us out of this.
But even if he’s still out there, even if he has something, he won’t make it in time. The rattling of the gate confirms that. The brutal smile twitching at the edge of Noura’s mouth? That’s the second warning.
My eyes drop as the gate groans, a sound like tearing metal and splintering bone. It’s not staying up. It’s about to give. There are so fucking many Walkers in there, more than I’ve seen grouped together in years, maybe in my whole life.
“Ineedyou behind me, Kee,” I mutter, my voice lower than it’s ever been. It’s near pleading, raw, desperate in a way that burns my fucking throat.
He brushes the back of his hand over my forearm. Just a breath of a touch, trailing over the outline of my tattoo. My dead fucking heart skips, stutters, nearly stops.
Safe.I need him safe.That’s all that matters.
“Please,” I whisper. A word I’ve never said before and might never say again.
He freezes; his touch stills. “Max…” he breathes. “I can’t. It’s no use. I will not let you protect me. You can’t protect me. I got infected by the fucking red rain. I’m already Touched. I’m already lost.”
My jaw clenches so tight it might crack.Touched.That fucking word is a death sentence. Tass… in my dreams I replay the exact moment those warm green eyes turned cold and soulless, that sick shimmer stealing the life out of them. The moment they went dull, lifeless. It’s burned into me.
“Sergeant Maximos Skarlatos and Kieran Freyr!” Noura’s voice snaps across the Pit, cutting through the roar and silencing the crowd. “You stand accused of the murder of Joyeus von Richter, representative of the Culture and Recreation division and a respected member of the Nine.”
“Really? We’re doing this?” I roar, stepping forward, my voice rolling over the stone like thunder. I raise Whisper, defiance raw in every line of me. “You were the one who ordered her death!”
“That is not what the witnesses say,” Noura replies, smooth and cold as winter. Detached. “You can still step aside, Maximos. The offer still stands. You can still walk away.”
