Alive Like Us

by Quinn Hallows

  She kept the structure in her mind as she swung her legs over the windowsill, the movement awkward and precarious thanks to her handcuffs. She faced the building and dangled, stretching until the tip of her boot caught on the narrow ledge of the watchtower’s base.

  Oh God. Was she really doing this?

  The wind blasted. One hand slipped free. She cried out, imagining herself as a red, pulpy mess at the foot of the watchtower. Her breath was shallow. Quick. She let go, the air rushing past her. Her fingers caught the bottom ledge and she jerked to a stop. Her hair whipped across her face, and she peered through the strands, focusing on the rickety ladder that descended from the belly of the watchtower. The distance stretched into miles. She’d have to swing on the ledge and release. If she were lucky, she’d be close enough to grasp the rungs.

  Otherwise, it was a long way down to a bloody, broken end.

  She kept her attention glued to the ladder as she swung her legs forward once. Twice. And released.

  She flew through the air, her wrists hitting a rung. She grasped it while her feet scrabbled for purchase on the nearest rail. The sudden stop sent her chin colliding with the wood. She bit her tongue and tasted copper as pain exploded in her mouth.

  But she wasn’t falling. She was alive. Now that the impossible part was over, the descent was easy, if relatively awkward, thanks to the ladder’s minor incline. When she finally made it down, she glanced up at the watchtower and shivered. The distance between the ladder and the edge of the building seemed impossibly long. No human could make it. Had her strange blood made it possible?

  She shook her head, banishing the thought, then spun towards the walkway, searching for someone in charge. The area was vacant. Silent. The soldiers must have already settled into position and were awaiting orders. As it should be.

  A familiar boy jogged by, holding a flaming torch. Sanna caught his elbow. “Hey—have you seen the Lieutenant?”

  The boy jerked out of her grasp and kept moving, though he shouted over his shoulder. “The Lieutenant’s in position on the wall. Ivan and Raj hauled someone to the church. Word on the street it’s a traitor.”

  She stopped, her shoulders drooping. It was a waste of precious time to search every cubby and hidey-hole in the wall for the Lieutenant. Her best bet was to head to the church and warn her father an Alpha was coming. Then he could announce it to the soldiers.

  A horn blasted. The horde must be moving. Sanna sprinted down the narrow walkway, hurdling over empty weapons barrels. She turned onto the main road and skidded to a stop, nearly running into her grandmother.

  “Sanna!” Anne gasped, her dark, silver-streaked hair whipping across her face. “Where were you? I’ve been looking everywhere. I was so worried. Is that Outsider with you?”

  Sanna closed the distance between them, lifting her hands to show her cuffs. “Kelsey and Simon locked me in the observation tower. I think they’ve made some pact with whatever is controlling the horde.”

  “A pact?” Anne recoiled. “With an Infected? How is that even possible?”

  “That’s precisely what I want to ask her. She also said there’s an Alpha coming. People should take cover.”

  “Kelsey was caught trying to unlock the main gate. Your father’s interrogating her right now in the church. Wait—" Anne reached for Sanna as she started down the street, catching only air. “Wait!”

  The siren cried again, drowning out Anne’s pleas as Sanna raced down the street. The buildings on either side of her were dark and shuttered, as if the whole town was holding its breath. She only hoped it wouldn’t be their last.

  SHE WAS ALIVE. THE sight of Sanna disappearing into that damn church filled Kai with sudden, heady relief. For a moment, not even the horde about to scrabble up Erling’s walls mattered. Then he noticed who she was with and all his would-be happiness shriveled.

  Anne Larson had gotten to her first.

  Damn his luck. It was entirely Theo’s fault—he’d made such a fuss with Kai leaving that he swore the doctor was about to give himself a heart attack.

  Kai dove into the church alley, pulling Frankie along with him. The last thing he needed was to become a prisoner. Again. But he also had to get Sanna out of Erling. He was almost certain she was the reason so many Infected had gathered in the first place. If they could sneak out during the siege, maybe that would buy them a few precious hours to make their escape.

  He really couldn’t ask for a better distraction.

  Kai shrugged off his pack, hiding it in the shadows, and ignored the worry in Frankie’s liquid brown eyes. “Stay,” he ordered. Frankie whimpered, and he patted the dog’s silken head. “It’ll be okay. I promise.”

  He mounted the church’s steps, doing his best to ignore the ache in his ribs, and opened the front door as quietly as possible.

  He spotted Sanna and her mother gliding through the darkened sanctuary. Kai followed them, slipping through the shadows. They were headed towards the stone altar at the base of an arched stain glass window.

  Kai waited for a moment, then inched closer. His gut told him to run—his wounds hadn’t even begun to heal—and the soaring stone walls seemed to press in on him from all sides. He peered around the corner. The setting sun lit up the window, sending a kaleidoscope of jewel-toned light spilling onto the floor. A young, brown-haired girl sat in the center of it, her knees drawn up to her chin.

  “What were you thinking?” Raj shouted at her, veins popping in his thick neck. Kai muttered a curse. Of course, Raj had to be here too, all two hundred plus pounds of him. There was no telling what that lunatic would do to him if he got caught.

  “Trying to open the gates with a horde outside?” Raj continued. The girl

  flinched as he loomed over her. “Did you want to get everyone killed!”

  “You could be hanged for this, Kelsey,” Ivan warned from the front pew. He hunched over with a sigh, bracing his elbows on his thighs. Exhaustion lined his craggy face. “Just think what that would do to your poor parents. Losing two daughters in a year.”

  The girl—Kelsey—lifted her chin. “I did what I had to do to protect Erling.”

  “Protect Erling?” Ivan scoffed. “Did you fall on your head, girl?”

  “I did what he told me to do.”

  “He’s lying,” Sanna announced, stepping forward. Kelsey’s face blanched. “He won’t spare anyone. “He hates humans.”

  “What are you girls talking—” Ivan’s good eye widened as Sanna raised her hands, rattling the handcuffs clamped to her wrists. He surged up. “What’s going on here?”

  Raj shook his head and fished a key from his pocket, tossing it to Sanna. He turned back to Kelsey “Something tells me this one has something to do with it.”

  “What have you done?” Kelsey gasped, still staring at Sanna. “You’re suppose to be in the tower.”

  “That girl and Simon locked Sanna in there for hours as some kind of sacrifice!” Anne said, her boots clicking on the stone floor. “She tried to have Sanna killed!”

  “Sacrifice?” Ivan roared. “What the hell is going on here? Who are you girls talking about?”

  Sanna unlocked the cuffs and rubbed her wrists. Kelsey screamed, barreling towards her. Sanna averted, grabbing Kelsey by the arms and using her momentum to send her sprawling. A moment ticked by, punctuated by the girl’s labored breathing. “It’s not fair!” she screamed, pounding the floor with her fist. “We’re all going to die because of her. Just like Tess. It’s all her fault!”

  “I didn’t kill your sister, the Infected did. She fought hard to get us out of that place, and I’ve realized the best way to honor that—to honor all of them—is to keep fighting.” Sanna held out her hand to the girl. “What about you?”

  Kelsey glared up at her, blood staining her bottom lip. She knocked away Sanna’s hand and stood.

  The stained-glass window exploded above them.

  Kai lunged for Sanna as the shards rained down, tackling her to the floor. They ro
lled, crunching on glass. He tucked her beneath him and zeroed in on the dark, gaping hole rimmed with jagged fanges of glass.

  A frigid wind blasted through the opening, extinguishing the torches and plunging the room into sudden darkness. Muffled war cries and the rumble of thousand feet spilled into the church. The siege had begun.

  “C’mon,” he dragged her up. They had to get out of here. Now.

  “Did you see anything?”

  “No,” He whispered. “And I don’t want to stick around to find out.”

  “Sanna?” Anne whispere. “Where are you?”

  “Here—I’m okay.”

  Flint sparked. A torch was lit. Light spilled onto Ivan Iron Tooth’s craggy visage. “Anne?”

  Kai pulled Sanna towards the front door, hoping he’d get her out before they noticed. He had no such luck.

  “Freeze, Outsider,” Raj bellowed.

  Kai turned and froze. The guy had an arrow leveled at him.

  “I’m here to help her, that’s all,” Kai said, splaying his hands out in surrender. They were less than fifteen feet from the exit, and he hoped that Sanna would follow when he made a break for it.

  “She has us,” Ivan helped his wife stand. “She doesn’t need you, Outsider.”

  “Now!” Kai snatched Sanna’s wrist and sprinted towards it.

  “Stop him!” Anne screamed. “He has Sanna!”

  They were nearly there when Sanna dug her heels. He looked over his shoulder, but the terse command died on his lips when he saw her pale, bloodless face. Her gaze was glued on the far corner of the ceiling.

  She senses something. Kai’s heart slammed against his ribs. Terror crept down his spine.

  “I’ve got you—” Raj skidded to a stop, his voice fading into silence. He felt the presence too.

  A pregnant hush settled over the church. Another torch was relit and held high, but the flickering light did little to dispel the shadows that seemed to expand around them. The sanctuary was dark as oblivion.

  Wood groaned and creaked above them. Kai jumped as something massive thudded to the ground. It drew closer, glass crunching beneath its feet. It paused and drew in a long, rattling breath.

  Sanna found Kai’s hand and squeezed.

  Kai’s stomach fell to his knees. His instincts told him what his mind refused to believe—they were not alone. And they were good as dead.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Ivan grabbed a flaming torch and plunged into the black depths of the sanctuary. Instincts, sharpened by a lifetime of war and blood, told him the monster was near. He held his battle axe high and heard Raj’s heavy footsteps fall in behind.

  “Ready, old friend?” Ivan whispered.

  Raj grunted. “To the death.”

  Ivan snorted. “I ain’t dying. Not today.”

  A shadow scrabbled across the wall and melted into the dark trusses overhead. Claws skittered over the beam, sending a shiver down Ivan’s spine.

  “You don’t have to do this,” Anne clung to his arm. “Please—”

  “It’s our best chance. The Alpha is here. If we can destroy it, the horde might scatter. Erling will be saved.”

  She pulled his arm, a delicate bird trying to compel a bear to move. “Please, don’t—”

  “Anne,” Ivan brought her hand to his lips. “Take Sanna and get out. I’ll take care of this.”

  “No.” She shook her head, her voice clogged with tears. “I’m not leaving you.”

  He glanced at Raj, whose lips tightened into a firm line. Ivan turned towards his wife, who dark eyes were as beautiful as the day they’d met. “Go.”

  Tears slid down her cheeks. “Come with me.”

  The beams creaked above them. Ivan shoved Anne away as the creature fell from the sky, landing on all fours between them, shifting its focus to Raj.

  Ivan searched for Anne. Their gazes locked. She was safe. Silent tears slid down her cheeks as she pressed her fingers to her lips and then lifted them. Damn if he didn’t feel the warmth of her kiss from across the room.

  He loved her. He’d always loved her.

  “Mom!” Sanna shouted from the far corner of the room.

  The monster rose to its full height, dwarfing them all. A cross between a human and a dragon, it unfurled its leathery wings, which nearly stretched the length of the sanctuary. Ivan guessed it was female, given the cancerous necklace of growths protruding from her collarbone. She snarled, her lips peeling from the rows and rows of sharp teeth that crowded her mouth. Though the creature was born from human flesh, Ivan saw no signs of her origins in her hairless, elongated body.

  “Ivan!” Anne sobbed.

  Ivan ignored her. It had to be this way. Anne was no fighter, and Sanna was their only grandchild. Their future.

  Adrenaline flooded his veins. His axe felt light in one hand, while the torch burned in the other. “Over here, monster,” he bellowed, charging the Alpha. “I’m the one you’re fighting!”

  The beast jumped and landed a few inches from him. He shoved the torch into her chest with a fierce cry. Her flesh sizzled. She shrieked, leaping away. Ivan swung his axe but was too late. It cut through her arm, shattering the bone. A deep wound, but not enough to kill.

  She’s fast. Too fast. There was only one way for this to end.

  “Raj, get out of here!”

  “But—” Raj began.

  The Alpha cut him off with an ear-splitting shriek. Ivan urged Raj on with a nod. He scowled, and for a moment, Ivan feared he’d refuse, but he faded into the darkness instead.

  This is the only way.

  The monster flapped her great wings and lifted off. Ivan swung his axe, sinking it deep into her forearm, cracking through the bone.

  The Alpha hissed, baring her teeth. Venom arched through the air and sizzled through the metal of his helmet. He threw his axe down and scrambled to take it off. It was too late. The liquid had already eaten through the metal of his helmet. He swallowed his scream as it seared his scalp. It wouldn’t be much longer.

  The Alpha’s yellow gaze shifted to Raj, who was scuttling out of the broken window.

  No. Ivan gritted his teeth. He had to protect them. Anne. Sanna. Raj. He had to give them a chance to escape. But the venom was working its way through his skull, muddling his thoughts.

  The curtains.

  Ivan took aim and threw his torch. The flame spread over the velvet mound, devouring the dusty fabric.

  “H-Hey over h-here,” he lifted his axe, struggling to focus on the monster who’d suddenly split into two. He stumbled forward, in her general direction.

  She watched with reptilian interest as he neared, easily dodging his clumsy swings, as if waiting for the venom to work.

  It was happening sooner than he’d hoped. His arms became leaden, his fingers fat, useless sausages that couldn’t hold his heavy axe. His knees buckled, and his weapon clattered to the floor.

  She lunged.

  He was ready.

  He unsheathed the dagger at his side and aimed for her temple but got her stomach instead. She shrieked, a deafening sound that put his teeth on edge. He yanked the blade upwards, gutting her. She sagged against him. The stubby horns outlining her forehead and cheekbones scraped against his skin. They were nose to nose.

  “I’ve—I’ve g-got you now,” Ivan slurred.

  She bared her teeth, and her vipers’ fangs descended. Her fetid breath washed over him. It was all over. Whether by acid or a fatal bite, he saw his death reflected in her soulless eyes. But there was something else in those opaque depths. A glimmer of recognition.

  “Cate?” he rasped. No. It couldn’t be. She was gone. Maybe it was his melting brain, his conscience playing a final cruel trick. Regardless, Ivan was sure that Anne’s daughter was there, buried beneath the layers of sores and scars.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  The church was engulfed in flames in a manner of minutes. The fire was a living, breathing thing, a demon that leapt from curtain to curtain, scaling the w
alls and devouring the wooden pews of the sanctuary. If it weren’t for Kai’s manacle grip on her wrist, pulling her down the aisle, Sanna may have stayed there, horrified and grieving, until she was nothing more than flecks of ash on the wind.

  Another window exploded. Sanna ducked as glass rained down around them. The fire feasted on the sudden rush of air and doubled—tripled—in size. The immense heat and smoke stole her breath.

  Kai pulled her through the raging furnace. Heat licked her skin, and she imagined it melting like wax. They made it to the broken window, and he pushed her ahead of him. Her shins banged against the overturned pews as she scrabbled up to the opening. The frigid air was sweet relief.

  Kai gave her a shove and suddenly she was flying through space. Pain ripped down her forearm. She landed hard on the ice-glazed road and rolled to her side. Warmth trickled into the crux of her elbow. Blood. Her gaze rose to the jagged fangs of glass that lined the window. She clutched her arm to her chest and coughed, her lungs raw from the acrid smoke.

  Kai landed beside her. Soot streaked his face like warpaint. “Are you okay?”

  Before she could answer, a greatsplintering sound came from the church as a pillar of sparks shot into the night sky. Amber light flooded the street. She realized they were alone.

  Sanna bolted up. Where were her parents? Raj? Kelsey?

  A feral roar came from the depths of the fiery building as Raj barreled through the broken window, his massive body silhouetted by the red-orange flames.

  Sanna raced towards him. Anne’s limp body was draped over one of his shoulders. She was still breathing. “Raj, where’s Ivan?”

  Raj shook his head, his expression grim.

  “What?” Sanna looked at the burning husk of the former church. The flames were cavorting up the outside walls and devouring the roof, casting a hellish red light on the rest of Erling.

  They’d die in there. Her father and Kelsey.

  “Don’t,” Kai said, grabbing her wrist. “It’s too late. You can’t save them.”

  Sanna looked down at his tanned hand. Her coat sleeve was torn, dark and stiff from frozen blood. And yet...the cut on her forearm was gone. She was healed.