When Night Falls (Regeneration Series Book 1)

by Airicka Phoenix

  The sickening splat as the iron rod connected with the side of the creature’s head sang up her arm. Blood exploded from where it impacted. The thing crumpled to the ground and Scarlett struck it again and again until she was sure it wasn’t going to move again. The second one grabbed her while she was trying to catch her breath. It clamped strong, bony arms around her, chaining her arms to her sides as it snapped rotted teeth at her face.

  She cried out, jerking back. The creature seemed unaffected by her attempts. It followed her movement, getting closer. Then his entire head burst like a firecracker inside a pumpkin. Brain matter and gore splattered all over her, hot and sticky. The arms confining her dropped, as did the creature. Behind him, Jack met her eye. He said nothing as he turned his enforcer on the next one.

  Trembling, Scarlett staggered back a step, using her sleeve to wipe at her face. Her stomach muscles convulsed and she willed herself not to be sick. Not now. Swallowing down bile, she hurried to where Lance stood, enforcer rapidly firing in one hand and holding Marvius with the other.

  “Let me take her,” she said. “They need you.”

  Lance didn’t argue as he ducked out from under Marvius’ arm and dove right into action taking down the one creeping up behind Mac as he fight to keep Kiera safe. Scarlett tucked Marvius’ arm around her shoulders and helped Jerol take the weight.

  Mac, with Lance’s help, drove a good portion of the monsters back, clearing enough space for maneuvering. He took Kiera’s arm and shoved her, not hard, but just enough to propel her out of harm’s way. Without his protection, Kiera scrambled up the steps and clamped on to Scarlett.

  “Move back!” Rolf roared.

  Scarlett tried to, but Marvius was completely deadweight. Her legs dragged, catching on each step, forcing them to lift her each time. Having worked the fields for three years, Scarlett had reasonably good upper body strength, but not enough to lift a whole person. Jerol helped, but it was obvious it was beginning to wear him down. Sweat poured off him in streams to soak his green T-shirt. He was breathing hard and looked about a second away from fainting. Scarlett hoped he didn’t. She was pretty sure she wouldn’t be able to carry them both.

  “Kiera, grab Marvius’ legs. We’ll cart her up,” Scarlett panted as sweat rolled into her eyes, burning them.

  “Leave her!” Kiera snapped. “She’s slowing us down.”

  “I’m not leaving her!” Jerol growled.

  Scarlett opened her mouth to tell them both to shut up when another wave of creatures surged up the stairs. The wall the boys had made wasn’t enough. They broke through.

  “Take my pipe!” Scarlett shouted at Kiera. “You need to—”

  “No! No, no, no!” Kiera wailed, scrambling behind Marvius.

  “Kiera!” she growled through her teeth as the first creature leapt at them.

  Scarlett wacked it with the pipe the best she could while keeping a grip on Marvius. The swing wasn’t high enough and only caught it in the shoulder, barely fazing it. It came at them again, face rotted, eyes bulging. She kicked. The heel of her boot caught it in the knee. The gut churning crack was only a small satisfaction as it toppled backwards into the three coming up behind it. The trio tumbled down the stairs. But it wasn’t enough. Five more took their place almost immediately.

  For a split second, Scarlett doubted they would make it. Was this the end? Terror paralyzed her before she caught herself. No. She had to fight. She had to find Hunter. Dying wasn’t an option.

  Fueled by a new wave of determination, she swung and stabbed. She kicked and shoved every single creature that came her way. Her arms ached, her shoulder throbbed, but she wasn’t going to die.

  Then she heard it, the low, guttural growl of a rabid dog about to attack. It shouldn’t have been a surprise, but it wasn’t from the things in front of her.

  In her arm, Marvius shuddered. Her entire body convulsed like someone had prodded her with a stunner on low. The foul stench of decay wafted off her even before she raised her head and opened her eyes. Speckles of yellow marred the white as melted irises swiveled with an almost disorientated roll in hollow sockets.

  “Mari?” Jerol croaked, his ruddy face washing of all color as his wife’s head lolled in his direction.

  Scarlett opened her mouth to scream a warning when Marvius attacked. It was so fast. Too fast. There was no time to stop it. No time to do anything but watch as Jerol’s eyes bulged and his entire body went ridged. Blood spewed like a broken faucet from the massive chunk Marvius tore from his throat. It rained down the front of his shirt and soaked the steps beneath his feet. Kiera screamed as it hit her in the face. It was that that jolted Scarlett awake. She thrust Marvius away and scrambled backward, nearly tripping on Kiera as she tried to put some room around herself as everything caved in around her. Her breathing pulsed in her ears, a fierce beat that matched the discord of her heart.

  “Scarlett!” Rolf’s voice cut through her panic.

  It snapped her back to the danger she was in. Her head shot up, her eyes searching the sea of monstrous faces until she found his. His beautiful brown eyes met hers and she was struck by the unhampered terror she saw in them. So wild and untamed, she could almost taste it.

  They were separated by a full flight of stairs, separated by no less than a dozen drooling and diseased creatures. Plus the third wave that came at him from the other side. He was surrounded, yet the terror she saw wasn’t for his own life.

  “I’m coming!” he shouted and blasted the creature closest to him.

  Scarlett opened her mouth to tell him to save himself when sharp talons sunk into the flesh of her upper arms and tore strips as it shoved her into the wall. Somewhere over the ruckus she heard Rolf’s cry out her name, but the rumbling groan from the creature holding her muffled it. Teeth yellowed and rotted gnashed and snapped inches from her cheek as she strained her body to ward it back. She tried to twist her head away, tried to kick out, but it had her pinned.

  “No!” The rage in Rolf’s voice shook the stairway. It snapped like the end of a vicious whip and rang with desperation and fear.

  Her own heart was palpitating with regret, so much regret. It was stupid now and the worst time to think about, but she wished she’d let him kiss her that afternoon behind the corn stocks. If she were to die at that moment, she would never know how it would have felt. Then there was Hunter. He would never know what happened to her.

  Then, just as she was certain it was all about to end, the creature was yanked off her. It stumbled down two steps before the top of its skull was crushed in by an iron pipe.

  Kiera squeaked and dropped the pipe. It hit the step with a clang and rolled. Scarlett dove after it and snatched it up before it could roll down the stairs. She raised it quickly and started swinging, bashing in as many in the head as she could before it became apparent there were just too many.

  “Kiera!” She grabbed the other girl by the arm and dragged her up the steps along with her. “Get the door open,” she said. “Open it. Now!”

  “What about Rolf?” Kiera shouted.

  Scarlett kicked creature in the gut and sent it rolling down the stairs. Her head came up as she searched for those brown eyes.

  They met hers again over the carnage and she knew she couldn’t leave him.

  “Go. You go,” she told Kiera, giving her a shove.

  “What? Alone?”

  “Do you want to die?” Scarlett snarled at her. “Go! I’ll cover you.”

  Sniffling, Kiera ran to the door and slammed her hand down on the scanner. Scarlett heard the locks disengage and the door swing open as she turned to face the creatures.

  “Scarlett, go!” Rolf shouted at her as he backhanded an infested then shot it. “Go with her!”

  Stabbing a creature in the chest with her rod, Scarlett shook her head. “I’m not leaving you.”

  The pipe was slick with blood and sweat, but she held on to it with every ounce of strength she had in her. She beat every infested that came up th
e stairs until her arms burned and she was sure she’d die from exhaustion. She wasn’t made for fighting. She hadn’t been trained to kill. It only took one creature to body slam her and the other to pin her down when she hit the landing on her back to end her brave attempts.

  Dazed and sore, she couldn’t find the strength fast enough to fight, not even to shield herself when they climbed on her, their rancid stench filling her nostrils. She tried to cry out, tried to breathe, but they were crushing her lungs. It was pure stubbornness that had her twisting her torso and elbowing one in the jaw. She grabbed the other one by the throat and held on even as its skin melted into her hand and caked beneath her nails. With her free hand, she searched for the pipe she’d dropped. Her fingers closed around it and, in a single, fluid motion, drove it into the creature’s temple, where it lodged.

  The first one grabbed at her, but she shoved it off and rolled, coming up against the door Kiera had gone through. Breathing hard, she kicked out, catching the infested in the face with her boot. Its nose shattered. Blood spewed, but it kept coming at her. She kicked again and again until it dropped and lay motionless.

  Below, the boys were driving back the ones coming towards them from the deck below while simultaneously struggling to take down the ones making their way up towards Scarlett. There weren’t as many between her and Rolf now. The stairway between them was littered with fallen and decomposing bodies. More lay strewn in pieces at their feet and down the second row of stairs. Blood painted everything a violent shade of red that would forever haunt her dreams. It dripped from the railings and rained down the walls to form thick puddles beneath their feet. The stench of it had turned the air sour so all they could breathe was disease-ridden blood.

  Scarlett struggled up to her feet, swaying as her head spun. She breathed hard through her mouth as she worked to keep upright. Her weapon was still wedged in the brain cavity of an infected. She was empty-handed but she still took a step forward.

  “No!” Rolf slammed the butt of his enforcer into the face of an infected, then kicked it to the ground before stomping down on its head. “Get back, Scarlett.”

  “Rolf—”

  “Find Kiera!” He said to her. “Find her and stay with her until we come get you.”

  She started to shake her head. “No, I—”

  “Go!” he growled.

  Mac charged up the stairs as the ground rumbled beneath their feet and another swell of infected charged at them. Without missing a beat, he zapped an infected in the back of the head and body checked another over the railing until he stood next to Scarlett. His hand closed over her arm.

  Rolf tried to follow the path Mac had made, but no less than six infected moved to take over. They trudged on the fallen bodies of their comrades, uncaring. But it was those bodies that kept them from climbing up towards Scarlett. It was what kept the alive ones rooted several steps below her. They couldn’t climb over without sliding back down. But they were learning quick that they could crawl over.

  “Mac! Go with her,” Rolf instructed, working with Jack and Lance to cut down the crowd. “Keep her safe.”

  Mac gave a nod and began dragging Scarlett back.

  “No!” Scarlett wrenched free. “We stick together. You said—”

  Those devastatingly beautiful eyes rose up and found hers. Determination sparked off their rich surface. “I’ll find you, Scarlett. I promise.”

  She had no strength to stop Mac when he disengaged the lock on the door and shoved her through. The last thing she saw was Rolf bare his teeth and plunge into the bloodthirsty horde and get swallowed. Then the door shut between them and there was nothing.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Why did you do that?” The heels of her hands slammed into the well-toned muscles of Mac’s chest. Her frustration sang like sharp barbwires up her arms to course down her spine. “Why … I have to go back. I have to—”

  He grabbed her around the middle and pulled her away from the scanner when she leapt for it. He shook his head rapidly.

  “We can’t leave them out there!” she screamed. “We have to help.”

  Again, he just shook his head, his face full of grief.

  A sob escaped her before she could stifle it. “We can’t leave them!” she cried.

  Mac continued to just watch her, his lips drawn into a thin line of sympathy. But she didn’t want his sympathy. She wanted him to move so she could get to Rolf.

  A soft scuffle in the distance momentarily distracted her attention, and Mac’s. They both stiffened as they turned to scan the room. She doubted either of them had paid much attention when flesh-eating monsters were trying to chew on their skin, but they noticed now. The room was completely unfamiliar. It was dark and cold and held the faint scent of sulfur, melted copper, burnt human hair and paint. A chill stole through Scarlett as she realized just where they were. What room they’d stupidly stumbled into.

  Mac’s hand closed over hers and he pulled her back, tucking her behind him. His free hand tightened on his enforcer.

  The thing in the shadows shuffled again. Scarlett’s hand tightened in Mac’s.

  He turned his head and caught her eye from over his shoulder, his glinted in the semi darkness with a subtle warning to keep quiet. He nudged her back, propelling her until her back struck the door. He released her hand and made a staying motion.

  “No!” she hissed, grappling to grab him again. “Stay together!”

  He patted the air the way one might pat a dog on the head in a familiar, stay put gesture. Then he pointed at the scanner, then at her, then at whatever was behind him. She didn’t speak sign language. No one really did anymore. With the technology able to detect and cure a fetus in the womb, what parent would willingly opt to have their child come out less than perfect? But Scarlett knew what he was telling her. Run. Run and leave him, leave him like she had left Hunter and Rolf.

  She opened her mouth to tell him she wasn’t leaving another person behind when the thing grew closer. Mac turned away from her and raised his enforcer. Scarlett held her breath.

  “Mac!” A blonde flurry burst out of the shadows and slammed into Mac.

  It happened so fast that not even Scarlett saw it coming until Mac had staggered back three steps. His arms flew around the tiny figure clinging to his waist.

  “Kiera?” Scarlett inched closer and peeked around Mac at the other girl.

  Kiera pulled back but kept her arms around Mac as she turned big, startled eyes towards Scarlett. Then they swung past her, searching.

  “Where’s Rolf?”

  Scarlett dropped her gaze.

  “You left him out there?” Kiera shrilled, detangling herself from Mac to storm over to Scarlett.

  “I didn’t have a choice!” she snapped back. “I wanted to stay—”

  The soft scurry of feet broke through her explanation. Mac’s weapon hand jerked up again. He used the other to motion Scarlett and Kiera back.

  “No!” Kiera darted in front of him, hands up. “It’s okay. They’re friends.”

  Scarlett started. “They? Who’s they?”

  Kiera twisted her head around to the wall of black. “It’s okay!” she shouted. “They’re with me.”

  From somewhere behind her, something zapped like the harsh crackle of electricity being used on a faulty wire. The lights overhead flickered then burst to life, drowning the room in its dim glow. Scarlett squinted, then blinked in surprise at the room that was revealed.

  It looked like a gentlemen’s lounge where men could go to smoke cigars and drink whiskey. Those rooms no longer existed as smoking was banned and drinking could only be done with a permit, but she’d read about them.

  There was a solid wood bar on her left and a sitting area with soft, leather chairs and a wood fireplace on her right. Straight ahead was an enormous, arched opening that led into another section and from that section, people were filing out. Men and women and children, they inched forward in a tight crowd. They looked scared and hungry, but most
of all, they looked apprehensive as they took her and Mac in.

  “Survivors?” Scarlett murmured quietly.

  “They came down here trying to get to the pods, then got stuck because of those things out there,” Kiera explained.

  Mac turned to Kiera. He jabbed a finger at the crowd, then used the same hand to touch her face and brush back her hair and peer into her eyes with concerned intensity. It was such an intimately personal gesture that Scarlett felt momentarily embarrassed to be standing there witnessing it.

  Kiera shook her head. “I’m okay.”

  Mac seemed to relax. He let his hand drop and faced the crowd again. He slowly holstered his weapon, then splayed his hands across his chest, then point to the marshal’s sash around his arm.

  The crowd didn’t react for a moment, but very slowly, they parted and a tall man in his late forties, early fifties, stalked through. He had a kind face with soulful hazel eyes and a neatly cropped mane of salt and pepper hair. His skin reminded Scarlett of a potato, light brown and riddled with pockmarks. He carried himself with regal confidence and it was clear he was the man in charge.

  “I am Silos. Commanding operator.”

  Scarlett waited for Mac to take charge the way Rolf always did and realized a little too late he couldn’t.

  “I’m Scarlett. This is Mac and you’ve already met Kiera,” she introduced.

  Silos took them in one by one, his appraisal quick, but she knew it was thorough. The neatly trimmed triangle of hair around his mouth flexed as though he were chewing on something. Very slowly, his mouth opened. But no words came out when there was a loud gasp from somewhere in the crowd and her name ricocheted off the walls like an explosion. Scarlett stared as the crowd was rudely shoved and jostled and a figure stumbled free of its tangles, face flushed, hair in disarray, and glasses askew. Green eyes alit with joy met hers a split second before an all too familiar grin split their face.

  “Hunter!”

  She had no recollection of running to him and throwing herself into his arms but that’s where she wound up, held tightly to his chest as she sucked in the comfortable smell of him.