Chapter 32
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
BECK
Inside the offices lining the walls—glass doors half-open, blinds crooked, shadows sitting too still.
I slowed unintentionally and adjusted my grip on the knife.
“Hey, what about this one?” Stain stood next to a large truck.
It sat near the front corner of the showroom, larger than the rest and sitting much higher. Built for rough terrain, not pavement.
It was exactly what we needed.
“Yep. That’ll work.”
The light moved across the windshield as we got closer, reflections slipping over the glass in a way that made it hard to tell what was real and what wasn’t.
I adjusted without thinking, angling my body to get a better line of sight.
Suddenly, everything became clearer, too clear.
I could hear Stain’s boots behind me.
Each step.
Each breath.
Even the slight hitch in it.
And under that—something else.
A faint scrape.
“Hold up.” I raised a hand.
Stain stopped immediately. “What?”
I tilted my head slightly and tried to focus.
There. Faint.
Fuck! Under us!
“Don’t move,” I said, quickly.
Too late. The thing quickly emerged from under the truck. A hand shot out, grabbing Stain’s ankle and yanking him down hard. He hit the tile with a sharp grunt, and the tire iron skidded across the floor.
“Son of—!”
The infected dragged itself out from beneath the chassis, body twisted, one arm bent wrong, eyes locked on him.
Stain kicked hard, trying to break free. “Beck—!”
I was already moving. Much faster than should be physically possible.
I crossed the distance in two steps and grabbed the thing by the back of its shirt, hauling it up and off him.
It twisted instantly, snapping toward me.
I raised my knife and stabbed it in the eye, and the infected went slack in my grip.
I shoved it away, letting it hit the tile with a heavy thud.
Stain rolled onto his side, grabbing his ankle.
“You good?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he grunted. “It didn’t get me.”
I watched him for a second longer than I needed to, making sure he was telling the truth.
There was no blood or bite.
I turned back to the truck.
“This is it,” I opened the door and looked inside.
Stain pushed himself up, limping once before straightening. “Yeah,” he agreed. “Let’s just hope—”
“No keys,” I finished, already checking the ignition.
I looked toward the front desk.
The board and rows of keys hang in neat lines. “They have to be there. I’ll grab them.”
I moved back across the showroom, slower this time. More aware. My hearing expanded enough to pick up Max back in the Service Bay. The scrape of something outside the glass—I saw a fly fluttering its wings.
Just a long line of strange things that had happened to me since I woke up. Something was off, but I didn’t have time to figure it out now.
I reached the desk. The keyboard sat behind it, with rows of labeled hooks, some empty, most not.
My eyes flicked over them. I didn’t read every tag because I didn’t need to. Something in me just—locked on.
There.
Top row.
I reached for it, but my hand stilled halfway.
A sound. Soft. Somewhere in the building.
I grabbed the keys, digging them into my palm.
Everything else in this place felt off—too still, too clean—but those keys felt like they still belonged to the world before.
“Got them,” I turned in Stain’s direction.
He didn’t answer. His attention was fixed on the floor.
I followed his gaze and saw a thin streak of blood cross the tile between two of the cars.
It looked fresh.
My jaw tightened. “That’s not good.”
“No, it's really not," Stain agreed.
I opened the truck door, about to climb in, when Max suddenly barked sharply and urgently, catching my attention.
Everything in me snapped toward it. “Taryn.”
I was already in motion.
The service bay quickly came into view. I noticed something low to the ground inside it.
Moving fast.
Too close to where Taryn was.
Max had it pinned halfway, body low, teeth bared, snapping in controlled bursts as if he were trying to keep it off her without fully committing.
Smart.
I didn’t slow down. My knife flashed up and down so fast it blurred. Metal struck bone, and the creature jerked. I stabbed it again so deeply that my fist, on the knife's handle, sank into its flesh, and it dropped.
I wiped the nasty blood off my hand on a greasy rag lying on the floor.
Max didn’t trust that the creature was dead and circled tightly, hackles raised, growl rumbling as if he was ready for it to get back up.
I grabbed his collar and pulled him back. “It’s done.”
He didn’t take my word for it and kept watching.
“Good, boy,” I scratched behind his ear.
I checked on Taryn and was relieved to find her exactly as I’d left her—cheeks pink from fever, with her pulse quick.
“Time to go, Fox.” I lifted her into my arms, right where she belonged.
“How are we getting this truck out?” Stain said from behind me.
I didn’t answer right away. My eyes tracked the layout.
Front showroom—the glass was blown out in places, but not enough clearance for something this big.
The main service bay door—
I looked toward it.
The frame was bent inward, and one of the support tracks was warped where something had slammed into it.
“Shit,” I murmured.
We’d get stuck halfway through and be dead before we could back out.
I shifted my attention to the interior opening between the bay and showroom, which wasn’t an option either—cars had been shoved sideways through it, metal crumpled and jammed tight like someone had tried to barricade it… or escape through it.
Either way, it wasn’t happening.
My gaze moved further down the service line.
There.
A wide roll-up door. The chain was still looped through the handle.
“That one,” I nodded toward it.
Stain followed my line of sight. “That should work.”
He grabbed a crowbar off a nearby cart.
I glanced at him. “Why not use the one you’ve been killing infected with?”
It was still hooked through his belt loop. He patted it as if it were something personal. “I don’t want to damage her.”
I came close to smiling, but with my Fox down with this fever, I couldn’t manage it.
Stain jammed the crowbar into the chain and leaned his weight into it.
The metal creaked, then groaned. Snapping with a sharp crack that echoed through the bay. It was way too loud.
I stilled and listened.
Outside, I heard scraping and movement, but nothing inside.
“They heard that,” I muttered.
“Then let’s make the most of it.” Stain shot back.
He tried to lift it, but the door didn’t move. “Help me, asshole.”
I looked down at Taryn in my arms. I wasn’t putting her down again. I adjusted my grip, then stepped in beside him and grabbed the handle.
Stain rolled his eyes.
I narrowed mine, daring him to comment. “On three.”
We lifted.
The door resisted at first, then gave with a grinding protest, metal dragging against warped tracks as it rolled inch by inch upward. I didn’t know why Stain needed my help. This thing was light as air. The only problem was that every inch we moved it, it sounded louder.
Halfway up—
I froze.
“Stop.”
Stain went still instantly.
I tilted my head, listening. Outside, there was more movement. Feet dragging and that strange clicking.
It sounded like the infected were heading toward us from several directions.
“We’re about to have company,” I said quietly.
“Yeah?” Stain grunted. “I don’t hear anything.”
“Trust me. They're coming.”
We lifted again, and the door climbed higher.
Finally, the opening yawned wide enough for the truck—but barely.
“Good enough,” I pressed my lips to Taryn’s forehead.
Still too hot.
“Get her in,” Stain was already moving.
I was a step ahead of him.
Carrying her to the passenger side, I kept my head on a swivel, aware of the open space behind me and listening for anything out of the ordinary.
I felt too exposed, knowing Taryn’s life depended on me keeping her safe. I set her down carefully, then adjusted her head and arm to make her as comfortable as possible.
“Just a little longer, Fox,” I murmured. “I’ll get you home.”
Max jumped in immediately, planting himself between her and the door, a low growl building again.
Good.
I slid into the driver’s seat with the keys in hand. The engine roared to life—deep, heavy, and powerful.
Way too fucking loud, but it didn’t matter at this point.
“Straight out,” Stain said, climbing into the back seat.
“Really?” I glared at him.
“Take it easy, big guy. I was just trying to help.” He held out his hands in a placating gesture.
The mirrors cleared the frame by inches.
“A little to the left.” Stain muttered.
I adjusted as the front tires bumped over the threshold. Then the frame caught hard, and we jerked to a stop, metal grinding against metal.
“Fuck!” I growled out.
“Don’t stop pressing the gas,” Stain snapped.
I glared at him, still pressing the pedal to the floor. “No shit!”
The engine roared louder, tires spinning for half a second before catching. The frame screamed as it tore free—
Then the truck dropped out into the lot with a heavy thud.
“They definitely heard that,” Stain grunted.
The infected were already moving toward us. Way faster than before.
“Fuck—here they come!” Stain yelled, already pulling out his gun.
I hit the gas, and the truck surged forward, heavier but much stronger than the last one.
A body slammed into the side. Then another.
Hands scraped along the doors, teeth snapping at the glass.
I kept going, not bothering to look because I didn’t give a fuck about anything but getting Taryn home.
“Left!” Stain shouted, firing out the window.
I cut hard.
The back end fishtailed, tires catching just enough to keep us from spinning out.
We clipped a cart, sending it flying.
Max shifted beside Taryn, growling. I glanced over for half a second and saw her head rolling slightly with the motion of the truck.
“Stay with me, Fox,” I muttered.
Something stepped into the road ahead, but I didn’t swerve. I hit the fucker head-on. The impact jolted through the frame, but the truck didn’t slow.
Finally, the road ahead opened up.
My grip tightened on the wheel, and I felt something crack.
“Shit.” I forced my hands to loosen.
What the hell was happening to me? I could hear everything. The sound of Stain and Fox breathing. Max’s ear twitching slightly as I shifted gears. The crickets outside the vehicle.
Every detail.
Every sound.
Too much.
“You good?” Stain asked from the back.
“Yeah.”
It was a lie, but I would be. As soon as my Fox got better. Nothing else mattered but that.
“We need somewhere secure,” Stain shifted on the seat.
“Yeah.” I agreed.
“You got something in mind?” He asked.
“Yeah.”
I didn’t elaborate.
He’d see soon enough.
I kept my eyes on the road before flicking them back to my girl.
Everything else in this world could burn.
Everything else but her.