“No, goddammit.” He was looking at her now, his blue gaze boring into her. “If you get turned into a fucking zombie, I promise I will hunt you down, put you in a cage, and work to get you back.”
“You are a good man, Niklas Phoenix. Far too good for me.” She’d always known that. “Let me go.”
His jaw clenched. “Never.”
When her hand slipped out of his, his pained bellow echoed in her ears as she fell into the mass of zombies below.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Nik stared into the darkness, his arm still outstretched. His frantic heartbeat echoed like a hammer striking his skull. He couldn’t see her, just heard the frenzied cries of the zombies as they rampaged below.
No. No.He didn’t let himself think. He leaped up and charged across the roof, not even looking to see where there were holes or weak patches.
He reached Galen and the others. They’d retracted their aeropacks, so the wings were gone and they just wore what looked like heavy backpacks over their combat armor.
“She fell?” Galen’s face was grim.
Niklas eyed the man who’d once been his friend. Galen was a few inches taller and a lot leaner than Nik. Nik glanced at the other soldiers. A human woman, a slightly-built Modian, and a young blond man. The blond looked about Nik’s size.
“I need your armor,” Nik bit out.
The man blinked. “What?”
“Combat armor. Now. Hurry.”
Galen stepped closer. “Nik, it’s too late. She’ll be one of them?—”
He felt a muscle in his jaw tick. “Take your damn armor off!”
The blond agent stood frozen, but when Galen nodded, the younger man reluctantly stripped his heavy chest armor off.
Nik slapped it on his own chest. “Weapon.”
It was the woman who stepped forward and handed him her plasma shotgun.
Without another word, he turned.
“Phoenix, you’ll need this.” Galen held out a mini zip line and retractor, similar to the grappler Nera had used.
He took it. “Thanks.” Then he turned and ran back to where he’d last seen her.
He attached the zip line to the edge of the roof and clipped the other end to his belt. He lifted the shotgun and stepped into the hole.
As the zip line lowered him, he aimed up at the roof. He shot out a larger section of it, the mostly rotted pieces falling down, letting more sunlight flood into the room below. The zombies moaned and writhed, scrambling back into the shadows.
Now he aimed his weapon downward. The shotgun’s boom was loud in the confines of the room. The zombies scattered.
The floor was smeared with black blood. He prayed there wasn’t any red mixed in with it.
His feet touched the floor. He unclipped the zip line and strode forward.Where was she?All he could see were zombies hovering in the shadows, trying to work out how to get to him and at the same time, avoid the sunlight. He shot any that got too close.
One large zombie reared up in front of him. Nik swung the shotgun around, but a laser weapon whined, and the zombie fell under a hail of green laser fire.
Nik looked up and saw Galen lowering himself down on another zip line above, clutching a laser rifle. He gave Nik a nod.
Nik nodded back and focused again on the shadows at the edge of the room. The zombies definitely seemed more sluggish and uncoordinated. They clearly didn’t function best in the day.
He spotted a doorway and pushed through, taking down three more zombies as he went.
