by Amy Miles
Her piercing scream nearly makes me lose my grip on the rope. Feeling an odd sway in the rope, I turn my back on the flames behind me and try to look down over the edge. “Zoey, what’s happening?”
Before I can inch my way to the window, a hand tightens around my ankle and pulls me off my feet. The tension on the fabric rope goes slack and Zoey’s scream echoes as she plummets into the darkness.
SEVEN
The scorching heat behind me snatches my attention back from the drop off as I kick at the barbecued Flesh Bag hanging onto my ankle. The thing that was once called Samantha is now more bone than flesh as it reaches for me. Her hair has all but burned away and half of her face is a melted mess of skin.
“Zoey!” I scream her name several times as I bash in the zombie’s cheekbone and nose with my boot but there is no response from below. The flaming monster keeps fighting, trying to claw its way up my body. “Why won’t you just die?”
With a solid kick, I knock the monster away and beat my leg against the ground to put out the flames before crawling toward the towel rack Zoey left behind. The metal is warm to the touch after having fallen too near to the flames, but I grip it firmly and drive it straight down through the thing’s head.
“Nicely done!” I look up to see a figure in the doorway and yank the metal bar free in the preparation for another attack. “Easy, love. It’s just me.”
“Nox?” I wave at the smoke around my face and try to make him out. His dark camouflage blends too well with the darkness of the hall. “Get your ass in here. I need your help.”
I hear his strained chuckle as he shoves against the dresser. “Seems to me like you handled that one just fine on your own.”
Stumbling toward the door, I push against the heavy piece of furniture, and with his help, we shove it back far enough for him and three others to enter. I recognize two of them: one is Warren, the whiny skinny guy who was Ryker’s punching bag back at the farm, and the other is Kenzie. The third is a young black man in his mid-twenties who is currently staring straight at me through the sights of his gun.
“Easy, Cyrus. I’ll check her.” Nox looks me over as he steps closer. When I start to back away from his advance, he raises his hands out in front of him. “I just need to check you for bite marks. That’s all.”
“You honestly think that I would let that monster use me as a chew toy?” I shoot a withering glance in his direction. “There’s no time for you to strip search me so you’re just going to have to trust me when I say that I’m good to go. Zoey needs help.”
Nox grows very still. “Where is she?”
I point to the shattered window. “I was lowering her to the tree below when that thing grabbed me and I lost my grip.” My voice grows thick with emotion as the young girl’s terrified screams replay in my ears and I’m forced to close my eyes to conceal the tears that begin to form. “I’ve been calling to her but there’s no answer.”
Nox whips around and motions for Cyrus and Warren to get to the window. Beams of light appear on the floor, shining from the lights mounted on their weapons as they move to begin their search. Kenzie steps forward, glaring openly at me.
“Easy, Kenzie. She’s not the enemy. I can vouch for her.” Nox shoos her off to put out the fire, but she hesitates long enough to make her anger known.
“Are you okay?” He steps closer to me. His handsome face pinches with concern as he places a hand gently on my arm. He rolls my forearm over and stares at the blood soaking through my temporary wrist bandages. “You’re hurt.”
“I’m fine. I told you that I can take care of myself, but Zoey...she’s not cut out for this stuff.”
“And thanks to you, she’s probably dead by now,” Kenzie snaps as she stomps on the final embers that escaped the wet, smothering blanket she threw over the flames.
“Kenzie!” Nox’s mouth falls open.
“It’s the truth and you know it. She already admitted that she dropped her. Zoey’s death is on her hands.”
“Enough!” Nox steps between us, turning his back on me as he faces his soldier. “She did what she could. That’s all any of us can do in times like these.”
“How do you know that she’s telling the truth? For all we know she could have chucked Zoey to save her own skin. You know the lower level is crawling with Flesh Bags. The chances of Zoey making it is—”
“I found her!”
Our trio races toward the window to find Cyrus circling his light around the tree below. Leaning over, I catch a glimpse of white near the bottom branch of the tree. Several are snapped and broken, evidence of Zoey’s fall.
“She’s not moving,” Cyrus says.
“But something else is.” Nox turns to look at me when I speak, then follows the direction of my finger as I point to the ground below. Shouldering his weapon, he targets his light on the area and his soldiers do the same. The instant the light hits the intended target, an enraged growl rises from below Zoey and we spy no less than four Withered pacing beneath her.
“Oh, shit!” Cyrus wipes sweat from his brow and his light flashes erratically around the atrium. In its light, I spy the white shine of zombie’s eyes on multiple floors.
When I turn to see if Nox noticed, I realize that he is covered in soot and a blackish type of ooze that I think might be congealing blood from one of the Flesh Bags. That tells me he got a bit too close for comfort.
Nox sees nothing beyond the still form of the girl he has sworn to protect. If she wakes and shifts just the slightest amount, she will fall the rest of the way, and in her unconscious state, will not be able to fight back.
I watch as Nox does a terrible job of hiding his dismay and his soldiers respond similarly, shifting from foot to foot beside him. Looking down at the girl, guilt swells up high enough within me to feel as if I’m suffocating in it.
“I’ll get her.”
All four soldiers turn to look at me like I’ve lost my mind.
“Hoist me down and I’ll get her to safety. We’ve already tested the rope with Zoey. I don’t weigh that much more than her, so I’m sure it will hold. Once I have her, I will swing us over to the balcony below, then you can be there to take her to whatever medical facility you have here.”
“Is this girl insane?” Warren stares at me with open incredulity. “We don’t even know her, and after keeping her prisoner for several days, she’s willing to just risk her life for a stranger? I don’t buy it.”
“Your opinion is noted,” Nox says through a tight-lipped grimace and then looks at each of his soldiers in turn. “Anyone else have any better ideas?”
He looks to Cyrus and Kenzie before turning his attention to me, but no one answers. “Fine. Tie her up.”
“What?” Warren steps forward in protest but Nox shoves him back.
“I put my ass on the line to get you on our team, Warren. Fall in line so that I don’t regret that decision.” Nox turns to look at me and for the first time I see genuine fear in his eyes. That is a thing that I would never have thought to see in a guy like him. “Are you sure about this? You look pretty banged up.”
I smile and gingerly cup my bleeding shoulder. “I’ve had worse.”
“Somehow I don’t doubt that.” Nox shifts aside to grab the fabric rope from Kenzie and then loops it tightly around my waist. I grunt when he cinches it extra tight. “Don’t go falling on me, you hear?”
“Why? You going to miss me?”
Nox chuckles but then his smile wanes as he reaches out to touch my hand. “That girl down there is special to me. Take care of her.”
“I will.”
When I start to step toward the window, Nox pulls back on my hand. “It might help to know your name now in case you need help. It would be a bit easier than yelling ‘hey dumbass,’ don’t you think?”
I tilt my head to the side, stretching the muscles in my neck as
I observe him. I ache far more than I want to let on and for a split second, I start to question if I really can do this. In the next second, I’m wondering what sort of psychotic idiot I must be to risk my neck for a stranger, just like Warren said. After losing Cable, I vowed not to care or let anyone else in and look at the mess I’m in now. I guess I will never learn.
“Give me a knife in exchange for my name.”
A small smirk raises Nox’s lips before he turns to Warren. “Hand me your blade.”
Warren snorts and rests his gun against his hip, but a single warning glare from Nox straightens him right up. “You’re serious?”
“Hell yes, he is,” Cyrus chimes in, slapping Warren on the back. “Ain’t you looking at his face, boy? That was a direct order so I recommend that you do as the man says unless you want him to knock you the fuck out.”
In that moment, I decide that I like Cyrus.
With cheeks flaming in anger and his eyes firmly fixated on the floor, Warren hands over his knife to Nox. I stretch out my hand to accept it but Nox holds it just out of reach. “No heroics. Get down and get safe. Anything else and I will be coming down after you. Got it?”
“Is he always this bossy?” I look to Cyrus for an answer. The man just winks at me and I turn away without agreeing to Nox’s terms.
Tugging at the lasso around my waist, I check one final time to make sure I’m secure as the four line up to be my anchor and I head to the window. The air feels much cooler in the atrium compared to the furnace that was recently snuffed out in my room. The darkness below makes me a bit jumpy when I take that first step off the ledge.
From above I hear a shuffling of feet just before I plummet a couple of feet. I snatch in a quick breath and stare up at the window until Cyrus pokes his head over.
“She’s fine. Keep going.” He calls to the others.
“I just shit myself, but sure, I’m great,” I mutter under my breath and use my feet against the wall to slowly walk myself down. Once I reach the break in the wall where the balcony below begins, I swing freely with nothing to help balance me.
“Hey, dumbass?” Nox’s voice calls out over the growling beneath me. “You never told me your name!”
“Took you a while to realize.”
Despite my growing anxiety I smile, but it quickly fades when I see that Zoey is in far more danger than we thought. “I need another five feet. When I give the word, I’m going to need you to let out a few extra feet of slack.”
“What’s that?” Cyrus’s head appears above me.
“I’m going to have to jump,” I shout back.
From the opening above I hear loud swearing and know that Nox has just been relayed the message. A second later, I feel the tension increase on the rope and know that they are trying to pull me up.
“I told you not to do anything stupid,” Nox yells.
“Yeah, well I kinda suck at taking orders, sir.” Before they have a chance to lift me another foot, I wrap my good arm around the drapes and drag my dagger across the fabric with my left hand.
A small gasp escapes me when the security of the lasso around my waist diminishes and I jerk in midair. Clinging to the severed cloth overhead, I hold myself aloft with a single arm. Propelling my legs, I begin to swing, needing to get enough momentum to close the distance between me and the balcony.
“Son of a bitch. Nox, she is cutting the rope!” Cyrus barely gets the words out of his mouth when I sever the final pieces of fabric and drop. I scream when I slam into the balcony railing and the momentum sends me toppling right over the top. I land on my back, wheezing as I fight to catch my breath.
“Dammit, dumbass! Hang on. I’m coming for you!” Nox’s voice trails off as I hear pounding feet and know that they are heading for the same path that brought them to my door. I can’t wait too long before I make the leap to Zoey’s side—every moment counts.
From somewhere above, I hear gunfire and hope that Nox’s team will arrive in time to help me get Zoey to safety.
Pushing myself upright on the balcony, I pause to let the blood rush away from my head while the floor begins to spin a bit. The back of my head throbs from where I slammed into the ground, but when I reach up to remove the flapping bandage over my bullet wound, my hand comes away slick with a large amount of blood. Every single stitch has ripped free and I’m afraid I may have torn the opening a bit.
Yanking the severed lasso of fabric from around my waist, I place one end between my teeth and tear a jagged strip of cloth free. Gritting my teeth, I tie the tourniquet tight around the wound and grip the railing to keep from blacking out.
“Son of a bitch,” I mutter as I swivel my shoulder to make sure I have maintained my range of motion.
Staring at the gap between me and the tree, I see that it’s a good four or five feet leap to clear the gap and hit the main branch large enough to hold my weight. Anything less and I’ll take a nasty tumble.
Hoisting myself back over the railing, I grip tightly to the wrought iron as I try to balance on my toes. The boots that I wear have a thick tread and leave little room for error on the tiny lip.
“Unlock the door!” Loud banging on the hotel room door behind me follows Nox’s voice. They must have cleared the stairwell quickly.
Any doubts that I was feeling about the plan vanish when I hear something hard slam into the door. Sucking in a long, slow breath, I release it and jump. For an instant, I think that I’ve actually managed to get myself safely across the gap, but then I remember why I never was any good at basketball: I suck at jumping.
My fingers tangle in leaves and smaller branches as I begin to fall. I scramble to grasp onto anything solid enough to sustain me as I crash down through a few layers of branches before coming to rest on a limb that would make any tree-climbing kid salivate. The abrupt halt is all thanks to my ribs slamming against the unforgiving wood and, for what feels like an eternity, I gasp to regain my breath.
As I lay there assessing the numerous points of pain, I wonder how many more times I can take a beating before my body gives up.
“You are really starting to live up to your name, dumbass! You should have waited for us.”
Digging my fingers into the rough bark, I start to drag myself up into a better position so that I can flip Nox the bird, but cry out when something wraps around my boot and yanks hard enough to nearly send me toppling right out of the tree.
“Watch out!” Nox’s voice rings in my ears, but the responding shouts sound muffled against the snarls rising from just beneath me.
Looking down over the branch, I can see two zombies jostling for a grip on me, their fingers caught in the laces as they claw at the steel toe of my boot.
“Move your ass! We can’t get a clear shot.”
I throw my weight to the side and look up to see Nox sighting me through his scope a split second before he shifts lower and the deafening report of gunfire echoes around me. There is no cry of pain from below even though I feel the splatter of blood. Instead, the guttural snarls amplify as I stretch open my jaw, trying to pop my ears so that I can hear clearly again.
“Again,” I yell and yank on my leg with all my might.
I’m prepared for the second shot when it comes. The grip on my foot loosens and I pull my foot up onto the branch, breathing hard as I try to still my panic. “You were right,” I shout up to the balcony. “This was a terrible idea.”
Belly scooting across the tree, I make my way to the trunk but scream out when I touch the bark.
“What happened?” Nox yells down from above.
“I need your light.” My voice is tight with pain and when Nox focuses his beam of light on me, I see why. Several three-inch needle-like thorns are buried in my palm.
“What the hell is this?” I raise my palm for the others to see.
“Shit. She’s in one of those spiny trees,” I hear Ke
nzie say. “If Zoey hit those when she fell...”
I don’t need her to finish that thought to know that the situation just went from terrible to deadly in two seconds flat. Taking hold of the thorns, I rip them free with a hiss of pain.
As I look up at the still girl, I force myself not to think about how close we are to becoming a Flesh Bag buffet. Shouldn’t someone have cleared this level by now?
“Can you see anything?” Nox yells down. His light focuses on Zoey while two other lights are directed below. From the corner of my eye, I see the zombies moving beneath me.
“I need to get closer.” Unwrapping the bandages around my wrists, I retie them to protect my palms as I work to stand. It is possible to climb the tree quickly, but not without suffering some serious damage along the way.
“Don’t do anything stupid, love.”
Placing my hands as delicately between the thorns as I can, I hoist myself up. “What’d I tell you about calling me ‘love?’”
I hear Nox’s chuckle but ignore it as I work my way higher. Each hand hold is precarious, and by the time I am halfway to the girl, the outsides of my hands have been sliced and diced. Blood drips freely from my hands, creating a frenzy beneath me.
“If you get a clean shot at one of those bastards take it,” I hear Nox say and his light shifts again to illuminate my path.
“Aye, sir!” I risk a glance up to the balcony and see the other three searching for an opening but the tree is thick and there are many branches between them and the monsters below.
“Zoey?” My voice croaks when I slip and a thorn jabs into my arm. After yanking it free, I clear my throat before trying again. “Can you hear me?”
“Anything?”
I blink as a drop of blood strikes my forehead. Craning my neck back, I see that the front of her pale dress is stained red.
“Oh, no,” I whisper and try to hurry. Each step I take feels like balancing on a bed of nails and one wrong move would impale me.
When I reach the final branch beneath her, I can see that it is worse than I feared. Though much of her body fell on a branch not heavily littered with the thorns, her chest presses fully against the tree trunk and her blood has already stained the bark.