Like a warrior, Laura came in with a two-handed swing straight at the woman’s head. I held my breath and flattened my hands against the glass, pleading for it to go smoothly.
She missed on the first attempt and nearly took out Tim.
“Careful,” Varesh said, voice strained. “We don’t want to lose anyone through friendly fire.”
She righted herself in seconds, and with another sweep of her maul, connected with the woman’s temple. The crack of metal on bone sent her dropping to her knees. Laura didn’t waste a single precious moment. She swooped in with another swing, hitting with skull-splitting force.
I winced and finally breathed again.
“That’s my girl,” Owen murmured. “Smashing up your apartment was good practice,” he said without looking at Dustin.
Dustin huffed.
Blood flew out from the body as it crumpled on the ground, splayed across the footpath like a crime scene. Except it wasn't illegal anymore.
None of us reacted in the silence that came afterward.
There were no words to match the situation.
Laura and Tim paused, catching their breath as they checked in on us through the glass, their faces a combination of relief and disgust.
The first kill.
Not the man at the door, but the woman he’d attacked.
I’d never expected survival to feel so deflating.
We didn’t have time to celebrate with another one still on the loose.
Theo stalked the infected man, taking strategic steps, hammer raised and ready to strike. All I could do was wait and trust he had it under control—but his weapon didn’t look nearly weighty enough, and if those teeth connected with his skin, it was over. My sister. Theo. There’d be no point to anything anymore.
“What will you do without Theodore around to protect you?” Dustin all but whispered as he sidled up closer, still keeping back so he wouldn't test the protection order.
He knew how to tap into my deepest fears, I’d give him that. But he’d become far too brave for a man who was so clearly outnumbered.
“You better back off now before I throw you through a window,” Owen warned, his voice like steel.
I shot him an appreciative glance. Five men in the building, and only one of them made me feel unsafe.
“None of you are going to live through this,” Dustin said, tracking Theo as if he couldn’t wait to see him fall first. “You’re all so emotional. Reactive. Aggressive. At the first sign of trouble, you implode. Take Laura for example—”
“Shutup.” All the tension bubbled up inside me, my body taut with the need for release. “When she hears you’ve been talking about her, she’ll take your head off—and none of us will stop her.”
“Oh, I’llhelpher.” Varesh momentarily pinned Dustin with a stare before directing his attention at the street. “Theo’s on the move.”
A shiver trickled down my spine, and I clenched my hands at my sides.
Theo approached the infected man from the front as Tim and Laura moved in behind, the breeze ruffling his hair, his muscles taut beneath his shirt.
I pressed my palms against the smeared glass, every cell in my body screaming at them to move carefully. One wrong step, and we could be grieving one of our own. “Please, please,” I mumbled, refusing to take my eyes off them.
Tim snapped out something that sounded likenow, then swept his foot out in front of the infected man, stopping his awkward gait in an instant.
The man tumbled forward, his face smacking against the concrete so hard I squinted. While he lay there in a pool of blood, Laura planted her foot in the middle of his back and pinned him to the spot.
I knew what was coming.
I could feel it.
