Chapter 19
NINETEEN
PARIS
“But I will.” Min-ji materializes from the shadows of the building behind Gabriel, lab coat fluttering in the morning breeze like the little Batman figure I had found. In her hands, a small pistol pointed directly at Gabriel’s head.
His voice carries a note of genuine surprise. “This is unexpected.”
“Let them go,” she says. “Or I’ll put a bullet in your skull.”
The guard holding Miller twitches, his gun starting to swing toward Min-ji.
Gabriel raises his hand. “Hold.”
The gun slips from my fingers, landing in the damp grass with a soft thud. Relief and shame wash through me in equal measure. I couldn’t do it. Couldn’t pull the trigger, even to save myself, to save Knox.
Pathetic.
“Jones, go on.” Min-ji jerks her chin at the fence.
Knox drops down, resuming the attack on the fence.
“Min-ji,” Gabriel’s voice carries a warning note. “Think carefully about what you’re doing. Would you really kill the father of your child?”
What?! “Are you—” Pregnant? In love with my brother? A willing participant in his madness?
She doesn’t flinch. “Yes, I would.”
My brain short-circuits. Wait—they’re… he’s… she’s…
“The child deserves better than you.” Her finger twitches on the trigger. “And so do I.”
Gabriel extends his arms. “After everything I’ve given you—”
“Given me?” She laughs, a brittle sound like breaking glass. “You’ve given me nothing but nightmares and guilt.”
All the pieces click into a horrible place. The way Min-ji always avoided Gabriel. The quiet obedience that never quite reached her eyes. Her self-loathing every time she drew my blood.
Be nice to her.
In the moment Gabriel said it, it didn’t seem much. But now…
He loves her and she…
Knox grabs my arm. “Through. Now.”
I hesitate, frozen in this fucked-up family drama playing out at gunpoint.
“You won’t shoot me.” Gabriel takes a step toward Min-ji. “You need me, ma chérie.”
“I need a man. Not a monster.” Her eyes harden.
Gabriel’s tone shifts, possessive and sharp. “How did you get the gun?”
“One of your guards likes me.” Her mouth curls into a cold smile. “Quite a lot, actually.”
Gabriel lunges at her, and the guard swings his weapon away from Miller.
“Go!” Min-ji shouts at us.
Knox shoves me toward the fence opening. “Crawl! Now!”
I drop to my knees, fingers digging into damp earth as I scramble through the jagged hole. The metal catches on my shirt, tearing fabric as I squeeze through.
A gunshot cracks the morning air.
I twist back, halfway through the fence. “Min-ji!”
Another shot. Then another.
Through the chain-link, I see Gabriel staggering backward, red blooming across his pristine white shirt. His face registers shock, hands pressing against the spreading stain at his side like he can’t believe what’s happening.
“Keep going!” Knox pushes from behind.
I duck through. Knox follows, then Miller, the three of us stumbling down the hillside. Behind us, the compound’s alarms fade as a single high tone dominates my mind.
He’s dead.
My brother is—
She’s pregnant. With—
My feet barely find purchase on slick grass, and Knox’s hand clamps around my wrist, keeping me upright when my knees threaten to buckle.
“SUV should be right ahead.” His eyes constantly sweep back toward the compound.
“I didn’t want him dead.” My legs give out. “I just wanted to be free.”
Knox catches and lifts me into his arms. “Sometimes those are the same thing.”
We’re halfway down the hillside when he halts. My heart bottoms out as shadowy figures emerge from the trees, staggering with that too-familiar gait that screams danger. Five—no, six zombies.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” I clutch Knox’s arm.
He sets me down carefully, eyes scanning for options. “Miller, get behind us.”
“The explosion,” Miller whispers. “It must have drawn them.”
“Shut up.” Knox’s voice is steel. “Paris, you still have that blade?”
I gather Min-ji’s gift from my sleeve, the cold metal suddenly inadequate against rotting flesh and gnashing teeth. “This toothpick?”
Miller’s breathing comes in panicked bursts. “We’re fucked. They’ll be on us in seconds.”
Think, Paris. What would Telly tell you? You need to function right now.
“Wait,” I say. “They can’t see me.” As long as I’m not hostile, they won’t attack me. So what if I clean them up from behind while Knox and Miller make noise to cover mine?
“No.” Knox’s fingers tighten on my shoulder. “Whatever you’re thinking. Don’t.”
“Give me a bigger knife.”
He shakes his head. “You stay behind me.”
“We don’t have time.”
Muscles flex beneath the stubbled skin of his jaw. Without breaking eye contact, he reaches behind him and retrieves a hunting knife from his belt.
“You and Miller stay put.” I stash the toothpick of a knife back into my sleeve and grab the real knife from Knox’s hand. “Make enough noise to keep their attention on you. I’ll circle behind and take them out one by one.”
“That’s suicide,” Knox says.
“No, it’s math. Six of them, three of us. You two distract, I exterminate. Simple.”
Miller’s face has gone ghost-white. “We’re all going to die.”
“You’re worse than Telly.” I roll my eyes. “Look, I’ve walked past hundreds of these things. As long as I don’t startle them, they won’t even know I’m there. But I need you to keep their attention on you.” I never quite tested that theory, but it has to work.
Knox grabs my wrist, his grip firm but not painful. “Paris—”
“Trust me.” I meet his gaze, letting him see the woman who survived alone for a year, not the half-starved prisoner he rescued. “I can do this.” At least this, after I couldn’t kill my own brother to save us.
“But—”
I press a quick kiss to his lips. “Don’t die.”
I circle wide around the zombie pack, my shoes silent on the damp earth. A middle-aged woman in what was once a power suit staggers at the end of the group. Knox claps his hands while Miller pathetically rattles some branches.
I sneak behind Power Suit. Brain stem. Quick thrust. No hesitation. You can do it, Paris. I drive the blade through the top of her skull, using my whole body weight to get it deeper.
“Hey!” Knox calls, clapping continuously. “Over here!”
Her body goes limp beneath me, and with the resistance gone, I stumble forward, knees cracking against the ground as I nearly faceplant onto rotting fabric still faintly smelling of office sweat.
The zombies don’t turn, staying focused on Knox.
Thank God, it works.
I force myself upright and circle to my next target. An older man in coveralls, jaw hanging at an impossible angle. The stench hits me as I approach. Rotted meat left too long in the summer heat. I swallow bile, focusing on the exposed neck, the soft spot where the skull meets the spine.
Steady. I raise the knife again. Don’t think. Just do.
Blood sprays across my face as I drive the blade home. Hot, black, and viscous. I gag but keep moving.
“Here!” Knox slams his own knife into a zombie’s eye socket, wrenching it free with a sickening squelch, and moving onto the next. “Three left!”
A farmer-looking zombie lurches toward Miller, who’s frozen against a tree.
“Move, you idiot!” I run and grab the zombie’s tattered shirt, hauling it backward. The thing stumbles, giving me the opening I need to drive my knife into its skull.
Something grabs my ankle.
A legless zombie crawled through the grass, teeth snapping inches from my skin.
“Shit!” I kick at its face, trying to free myself.
Where did you even come from?
The rotting hand clenches, bony fingers digging into my ankle like rusty fish hooks. I swing the knife down, the blade glances off its skull, leaving only a shallow gash.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck—”
One bite. That’s all it would take for normal people. For me? I never tested it, and I don’t intend to start now.
A blade flashes past my face, embedding itself in the zombie’s skull with a wet crunch. Its grip loosens, fingers slackening as Knox frees his knife.
“Knox.” I stumble backward.
His eyes burn into mine, rage and fear tangled into something primal. “Stay behind me.”
“I was—”
“Later.” He spins, burying his knife into another zombie’s head. “One left.”
One?
Miller screams behind us. I whirl to see him pinned against a tree, the last zombie lunging for his throat.
I dart forward, knife held high, but Knox is faster. He tackles the creature, sending them both tumbling down the muddy hillside in a tangle of limbs. My heart lodges in my throat as they disappear into the underbrush.
“Knox!”
A sickening crack echoes from below, followed by silence.
Oh god. No. Please—
He emerges from the bushes, covered in black blood and mud.
Relief crashes through me so hard my knees buckle. “You—”
“What part of ‘stay behind me’ was unclear?” He stalks toward me, fury radiating off him in waves.
“The part where we all die because you’re being stupidly overprotective.” I straighten my spine, meeting his glare.
“You nearly—”
“But I didn’t.” I gesture to my still-intact body. “See? All here.”
His mouth crashes into mine, his hands cradling my face like I’m made of something precious while his lips tell a different story—hungry, desperate, alive.
I taste blood and dirt and fear, and god help me, it’s disgustingly delicious because it’s Knox.
My Knox. I twist my fingers in his hair, needing him closer, deeper, my body arching into his like we’re magnets finding true north.
He breaks away first, breath ragged against my lips. “Don’t ever fucking do that again.”
I nod, dizzy from his kiss, from surviving, from everything.
“We need to move.” Miller’s eyes dart nervously around the forest. “More will come. And the compound—”
“Right.” Knox intertwines his fingers with mine. “Let’s go.”
We continue down the slope, stepping carefully over fallen branches and exposed roots. The morning light filters through the canopy in dappled patches, making the blood on my hands look almost black.
Miller hurries ahead of us, eager to reach safety, while Knox and I maintain a steadier pace. The forest thins as we approach our destination, and through the last line of trees, I catch a glimpse of metal.
Freedom.
The SUV stands at the base of the hill, nestled between trees.
Finally.
A shadow detaches from behind the vehicle.
Mike.
I should have known it wouldn’t be that easy. Nothing ever is.
His massive frame towers like a mountain, an axe gripped in one meaty hand, swinging it toward Miller, who runs right into him.
“No!” I reach out uselessly.
Miller throws up his hands. “Wait! I did what Gabriel asked! I led them to you!”
The axe freezes mid-swing, suspended in the air like a guillotine awaiting release. Mike’s face splits into a cruel smile. “I know.”
The blade completes its journey, severing Miller’s head with a sound like an axe hitting wet wood. Blood spatters the fallen leaves with crimson, and Miller’s body crumples to the ground, his head landing beside it with wide eyes and his mouth forming a perfect O of surprise.
“You’re next, sweetheart.” Mike heaves the axe onto his shoulder, turning his attention to Knox. “After I deal with your boyfriend.”