27. Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Hector
Charon’s heartbeat thumps steadily beneath my ears.
Cold air from the shattered window cools the sweat and blood on my skin, my hole aching from his cock still buried inside me. It twitches as I shift, turning my head to gaze up at him.
His eyes meet mine, blue as deep as twilight, wrinkling at the corners when he smiles at me.
In that smile, I find my undoing. More so than what we just did, or the man I just killed. There's no pity in it, no malice. No fear. He looks at me like I'm something precious.
My fingers curl against his bicep as I breathe him in, trying to memorize his warmth, the comforting rhythm of his pulse, the way his breath hitches when I press my lips to his sternum.
“Thank you for showing me how to live,” I murmur.
Charon’s brow furrows as he mouths something I can’t hear before kissing my temple lightly, so damn soft that tears sting behind my lashes again.
How can he be this way? After everything he's been through, everything that happened tonight, how can he still be so gentle when the world has hurt him over and over?
Maybe someday, he'll teach me. If we survive the night.
As if on cue, a groan rattles through the air, followed by the wet smack of something heavy hitting the door.
Charon tenses beneath me.
I turn around just as another body slams into the wood, harder this time. And then another. The hinges start to creak.
Our time is up.
He eases me off his lap, cock slipping free as I force my legs to cooperate. My body protests, but I move anyway, pulling on my clothes because survival demands it.
The shattered window still gapes, glass blown out, jagged teeth glinting in the dark. Beyond, a red moon sparks off the water, and a shudder wracks my frame at the thought of plunging into those dark depths.
“We have no other choice, do we?” I rasp, flinching when another biter slams into the door, no doubt drawn by the sound of my gunshot.
Charon climbs through first without hesitation, carefully avoiding sharp shards before turning to offer me his hand .
I step back instead, heart pounding as I stare at the black waves below, churning with something unnatural. Another bang rocks the door behind me, wood screaming as it splinters.
“ Hector .” Charon’s voice is only a whisper, his hand still outstretched, blue eyes wide and pleading.
I know I should reach for him. I want to trust the fall, but I swear something’s moving in that water. It smells like rust and decay. There has to be another way. The roof, or maybe another room? Maybe we could fight our way out—
Before I can deliberate too long, the door explodes inward, making me jump. The first biter barrels through, half its face hanging by sinew, a gurgling screech tearing from its throat. Others follow, pouring into the room like a flood of nightmares.
Charon grabs me from behind, wrapping his arms around my waist.
“Wait—” I start to shout, but he hauls me through the window just as something grazes my leg.
It takes me far too long to realize that we're falling. A scream tears from my throat, the night air whipping past as the world disappears in a blur of rising water.
The cold swallows us whole on impact, filling my nostrils and lungs with a bitter liquid that chokes me down. The current rips me from Charon's arms as I spin into the torrent.
My ears ring with the silence of pressure. Something brushes my ankle, and I kick out, heart lurching when my leg clips debris, dislodging the rifle. Everything burns. My lungs scream for air.
Forcing my eyes open, I spot a shimmer of light above, slicing through the murk. I swim toward it mindlessly, clawing with heavy muscles. My fingers break the surface first, then my mouth. Air rushes in, flooding my senses with dizzying relief.
“Charon!” I cough, blinking away the water’s sting.
There’s no answer, just the sound of fire crackling in the distance and the splashes of biters following us out the window.
“Charon, where are you?”
Still, nothing other than the snarls and howls closing in fast.
Panic claws at my chest. I spin again, treading water frantically.
We went under at the same time. He should’ve surfaced by now.
Why hasn’t he surfaced?
“Charon!” My voice breaks, swallowed by the night.
A piercing caw answers back from above as a shadow cuts through the rising smoke.
“Nyx?”
She circles twice, then dives low, shrieking with urgency before veering off toward the east bank. My gut twists as I force my body to follow, teeth chattering. Every inch feels like a mile. The water thickens with filth and blood, the growls behind me growing louder.
Finally, a figure comes into focus;
Charon, floating face down against a half-submerged plank of wood.
“ No ,” I breathe, surging forward to grab the back of his shirt and haul him upright. His head lolls to the side, eyes closed…but he’s breathing. It's shallow and strained, but it's there, puffing in a cloud around his face. Fresh blood pours from a wound across his cheek .
“You stubborn asshole.” Wrapping my arm around his chest to keep him above water, I glance up at Nyx to lead the way again. Where, I've no idea, but I follow her with everything I have left because anywhere's better than this river teeming with biters.
The shore is still far, the night is still hungry, and neither of us is safe yet.
Charon feels like dead weight in my arms.
Every stroke toward shore is a battle, my limbs screaming. He’s too heavy against the current, but I push through the exhaustion, unwilling to let him go. Not when his heart is still beating against my ribs.
The water thickens with sludge the closer we get to land. Something oily and foul slicks past my leg, and I gag, swallowing another mouthful of filth. Behind us, the slap of rotted limbs splashing into the water moves closer.
“Come on,” I grit, tightening my grip on Charon’s chest. “Just a little further.”
Nyx screeches again, wings slicing the air as she banks sharply, disappearing into the mist. I want to scream after her, beg her not to leave us behind, but when I look up again, I see it.
Land .
A broken dock, half-sunken, the warped wood groaning under the lapping tide.
Beyond it, a cracked tower rises tall on a distant bluff, half-swallowed by vines.
I recognize it from old photographs Father used to show me.
A lighthouse, some relic from old times that used to guide ships to shore.
The river's current must have pulled us closer to the sea.
My foot finds the riverbed first, slipping in the muck.
I use the last of my strength to drag us forward, inch by agonizing inch, until we collapse onto the bank in a heap.
Storm clouds thunder above the mist, dark and slightly tinged with crimson, a warning of red rain approaching.
My chest tightens anxiously at the thought of getting caught in a downpour.
Rolling Charon onto his side, I slap at his back roughly, hoping to dislodge whatever might have gotten into his lungs. He jerks suddenly, convulsing as murky water erupts from his mouth in a choking gasp, coughing so hard his whole body shakes.
“Breathe. It's okay, get it all out.”
Another violent cough leaves his throat, then another, until finally his breath steadies into shallow pants. His hand scrapes weakly against the mud, fingers curling toward mine when his eyes crack open beneath swollen lids. He’s ghostly pale, his lips tinged purple, but he’s breathing .
“We made it,” I whisper, cradling his face. “Charon, we fucking made it.”
His lips move, but I miss what he mouths when lightning cracks open the sky—electricity skitters across my skin, corrosive and toxic. Rain isn't far behind.
My eyes swing toward the lighthouse cutting through the fog on the hill. “We have to move.”
Pressing a quick kiss to his temple, I clench my teeth and let him lift me up.
With his arm slung across my shoulders, we begin the climb, both of us using each other for leverage.
Mud sucks at my boot, the weight of him dragging me down.
Charon's head rolls against my shoulder, but somehow he helps me up the winding slope.
“Almost there,” I grunt, shaking from the cold.
Lightning strikes again, illuminating the lighthouse like a ghost, its paint stripped and glass shattered.
By the time we reach the gaping entrance, my muscles scream from exhaustion.
I shoulder through right after Nyx with a snarl, falling into the dark just as the first drops of rain come crashing down.
Charon immediately collapses, taking me with him. We hit the floor hard , and I land on his heaving chest, my heart hammering in my ears. His eyes flutter open, only for a second, blood still leaking from the cut on his cheek.
“We’re here,” I croak, gripping his arms as spots begin to dance in my vision. “You’re safe. I’ve got you.”
A hint of a smile pulls at his mouth before he slips back into unconsciousness. Lightning strikes once more, illuminating his face, and it's the last thing I see before darkness also takes me, too.