At least that meant they hadn’t found her yet.
I backed up and hid in the alcove of a nearby restaurant, my pulse hammering as I waited. Every minute I spent away from her had my concern doubling, the urgency building. I hated not knowing if she was coping with the pressure, but it gave me a sliver of comfort realising she was more than likely still on the run.
A commotion went up near the shopping arcade, and my body turned rigid with tension. It sounded like the gang had come back down the stairs and were now taking down the corpses blocking the exit. Grunts, shouts, and wet, stabbing noises filled the air, going on for several long minutes. When the last thud of a body hit the concrete, a male voice drifted toward me.
“Iwantthat girl.” The metal clang that followed suggested he'd kicked something. “I’ve gotta have her.”
My hand clenched around my knife, itching for a chance to do some damage. Unfortunately, real life wasn't like the movies where the bad guys stood in a circle politely waiting for their turn to take on the good guy. If I could, I'd yank out my hatchet and start swinging both weapons. Take out as many as possible before the rest surrounded me. At least with fewer of them around, Liv would have a better chance of getting out of here—but then she’d be left to fend for herself in a world where it clearly wasn't safe for a woman on her own.
So, I waited. Silent and seething.
Breathing. Strategising.
Listening to the sound of my own heart pounding in my ears.
After they’d thrown around all their theories about where she might have gone, the group separated and dispersed. Two of them headed east while the other three ran right by me without even checking the doorway as they passed. They were sloppy and stupid, and the quicker Liv and I could get out of here the better.
When I was sure the street was clear, I stepped out from my cover and approached the arcade where the fresh pile of bodies lay. The men had taken them down fast, a reminder that even if they weren’t smart in a strategic sense, they had one another's backs and were more than capable of working together to face a threat.
My gaze drifted over the corpses—fourteen in total—and a black object beside the nearest one caught my attention. I stooped to collect it, my pulse speeding as I turned the key fob over in my hand. It was too clean to have dropped from the clothes of a corpse, which meant I more than likely had the key to their fully functional car.
I had a key to a fucking car.
Renewed energy flowed through me, and I glanced around to make sure it hadn’t been a plant to draw me out of hiding.
I was still alone.
I needed to get out of here before one of them realised they'd dropped it and doubled back.
My gaze lifted to the taller apartment blocks in the area. There were floors upon floors of places to hide. I doubted Liv would have kept running with a group of men after her who’d scattered to surround her. She’d hole up somewhere nearby and stay out of sight, knowing that I'd be coming for her and a stationary target was easier to find. My attention shifted to the two apartment buildings opposite each other at the end of the street. I’d start with the left one, check the units on the lower levels, then move on to the other and try my chances there.
And I’d keep going, keep looking.
I’d tear the city apart until I found her.
~ * ~
The first building turned out to be a waste of time. A few minutes after running inside, I found level one crawling with corpses. Every apartment other than a couple at the far end appeared to have been left open, with sunlight beaming through each doorway into the hall. I couldn’t begin to understand what had gone wrong in here, and I didn’t have time to care. The corpses were scattered down the entire length of the hallway rather than gathered in one concentrated area, so I knew no humans were hiding nearby.
Liv wasn’t here. At least not on this level.
I could have gone up another floor, checked the next corridor and the next, but something inside me screamedgo, go, go. Get to the other building now before those dickheads retraced their steps. If they stumbled onto me out of pure, dumb luck, all my time and effort would go into evading them, and Liv would be left alone for too long, waiting and wondering. Losing hope.
I checked my watch; already nearly four in the afternoon. Even if I found her in the next half hour, there was no guarantee we'd get out of here before dark. It took time to come up with a plan to distract the gang while we stole their car, and since our exit would be fast and intense, we'd have to leave behind all the supplies we'd spent the past two days scavenging and putting together.
We'd be starting over again.
For the second time.
I took off down the stairs at a run and reached ground level. With a head check to make sure the street was clear, I jogged across to the other building and stepped into a foyer with dead bodies splayed all over the floor. They weren't recent kills, so I knew Liv hadn't done it, but the smell knocked the breath out of me, and I had to push through it as I ran up the stairs to the first floor.
No corpses roamed the hall. No sound or movement.
My heart pounded like a drum and sweat poured off me, sliding along my temples and down the middle of my back. I stopped for a few seconds to listen, waiting for a shift in the air, a sound.Somethingto tell me I was on the right track. Desperation washed over me, and I stared at the ceiling, breathing hard. I needed to find her, for my own peace of mind as well as hers.
What was the point of any of this if we didn’t have each other?
A soft, muffled sob drifted toward me, and I frowned. My head lowered again, and my gaze bounced from one closed door to the next. Ithadto be her, and she'd be trying to keep the noise to a minimum. For the sound to have reached me, she must have been hiding in one of the rooms at this end of the hall—or it was just wishful thinking on my part.
