I move closer to him as Luke shouts more insults at the mystery woman. “Who is that?”
“Elsa,” he says, still glaring at the door. “She must have been working with Luke this entire time.”
I’m desperate to know why, but now isn’t the time, not when we can use this screaming match to our advantage. “We should try the garage door while they’re still making this much noise,” I tell him.
He shakes himself, clearing the shock and anger from his face, and nods. He moves over to the garage door and inspects the lock. “This is going to be tricky with so little light. Are you sure this will work?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. I just know that’s how my dad once opened our garage when we lost the key.” Granted, it was nearly twenty years ago, and brute-forcing it might not work on this lock, but what choice do we have?
Rhys sucks in a deep breath. “Alright, if this works, it’s going to be fully dark outside, and those two screaming at each other, plus the noise from opening the door will alert any infected in the area. We’re going to have to leg it as soon as we’re outside so I need you to stay with me and dowhateverI say.”
I fight the urge to bristle at his tone and the stern look he’s giving me.
“I’m not fucking around, Ollie. This is probably the most dangerous situation we’ve ever been in. Ineedyou to listen to me.”
I glare at him. “I’m not an idiot, Rhys,” I say through gritted teeth.
His gaze softens. “I know you’re not, but sometimes you’re too brave for your own good.” He palms the back of my head and pulls my forehead to his lips. “I just want you safe.”
My eyes flutter closed as I relax against him. While our captivity has been nothing but a nightmare, the one good thing to come out of it is Rhys showing his more vulnerable side. A part of him I’m quickly falling for, especially when he can be so damn sweet.
His lips linger for a moment before he pulls away. “So you’d better behave,” he says, the softness gone from his voice.
Well, it was nice while it lasted. “I won’t do anything stupid,” I say, refusing to promise outright that I’ll follow his orders because there will probably be a time where I won’t. Especially if following orders means leaving him behind or putting him in more danger.
From the frown on his face, he’s not pleased because he understands what I’m not saying. But instead of calling me out, he just sighs and turns his attention to the garage door.
The argument between Luke and Elsa is still raging on in the house and getting louder by the second. So they don’t hear when Rhys shoves the knife into the keyhole and aggressively snaps it. The lock groans and creaks, the sound echoing around the room, only barely drowned out by the shouting.
“Come on, you piece of shit,” Rhys growls under his breath as he grits his teeth and wrenches the knife as hard as he can to the side.
There’s a deafening snap as the lock breaks, causing the garage door to shudder. It’s so loud that I have to clap my hands over my ears or risk going deaf. I remove my hands once the door stops shaking, my body tensing and eyes widening at the eerie silence in the room. And in the house behind us.
Oh fuck.
Rhys grimaces and yanks the knife out of the lock, causing the metal to screech. That’s when the shouting starts, only it’s getting closer along with the thundering of footsteps.
Luke and his goons are coming for us.
Rhys shoves at the bottom of the garage door, causing the metal to groan and clank as it swings upward. Icy air blasts our faces and our bodies, even through the blankets, chilling us to the point where we’re at serious risk of hypothermia.
“Let’s go!” Rhys hisses as he grabs my arm and yanks me out of the garage and onto the driveway.
Our feet slap on the concrete, the surface so cold it burns my soles as we race away from the house and down the road.
The street outside is dark and still and looks to be part of an older housing estate. Rusted cars dot the road, some turned on their sides while others have doors wide open, showing the stained seats and moulding interiors. The houses aren’t in better shape. There’s broken windows, splintered doors and singed bricks, and that’s just the houses that are left standing. Others have been rendered as nothing more than piles of rubble.
And in the darkness, just as Rhys predicted, is the glow of several pairs of zombie eyes. Their moans echo eerily in the night, followed by the unmistakable sound of them shuffling towards us as we sprint down the street.
Glass, bricks and other debris litter the frozen ground, turning our desperate escape into some kind of fucked-up assault course as we dodge the worst of it as best we can. Although from the searing pain from my feet, we’re not succeeding.
But I still keep running even as my lungs burn from both the exertion and the frigid air.
“Stop them!” Luke shouts from somewhere behind us, followed by the thud of several heavy footfalls and panting.
This only spurs Rhys and me on, pushing ourselves to our limits. But running has never been my forte, and I can feel Rhys having to hold himself back, practically dragging me behind him as I struggle to keepup. My feet and legs scream in agony, causing me to stumble and only narrowly avoid stepping on a smashed glass bottle on the pavement.
We finally make it to the end of the street and throw ourselves down a dark, narrow alleyway between two houses. With the moonlight blocked by the buildings, it’s almost impossible to see, and I end up scraping my arm across the rough brick wall. From the curse in front of me, Rhys has done something similar.
