Alive Like Us

by Quinn Hallows

  “The voice in the woods,” Sanna said as she approached. “He’s calling them to this place like a siren.”

  The men jolted into their chairs, rattling the silverware. Raj appeared pleasantly surprised, while Kai seemed stunned.

  “You’re all healed up! That’s wonderful!” Raj grinned, his white teeth brilliant. “Merrick said you were cooked like a sausage!”

  “A sausage?” Sanna took the seat across from them. “Really?”

  “You’re...alive,” Kai stammered, shaking off his stupor. “And I didn’t call you that. He did.”

  “I see,” Raj eyed the two of him, his smile broadening. The sparkle in his eyes put her immediately on edge. “I know! How about some stew, Sanna? I’ll go get it and you two can catch up.” He rose from his chair, clapping Kai hard on the shoulder and strode to the kitchen.

  Sanna waited until he was out of earshot, then leaned forward. “So, are you guys like friends now or...?”

  “I wouldn’t go that far,” Kai looked better than she remembered—steady meals had softened the gaunt hollows of his face, and his black eye had faded to a greenish halo. “I just want to get out of here alive.”

  “It sounds like you’ve done more than survive. On my way over here I ran into at least a dozen people who either want to marry you or make you the new captain of the guard.”

  Kai winced at the mention of Ivan’s old position. “I’m sorry about your father.”

  “Grandfather. You know, I think he would have really liked you, if it weren’t for the whole Inferno thing.”

  His lips quirked into a half-smile. “Maybe.”

  Little Reina was right, he really did look like a knight from a fairy book.

  “So, the fire?” she said, wanting to fill the awkward silence that had suddenly spread between them. “Did you really save all those people?”

  “It wasn’t just me.” His gaze dropped to the map. “A lot of people helped.”

  He’s deflecting again. The guy could pull a rabbit out of thin air and find a way to share the credit. “Well thank you, regardless. I appreciate it, especially since Erling didn’t exactly welcomed you with open arms.”

  “More like open dungeons.”

  Her grin fell. He was right—his bruises may have faded but their shadows lingered. She’d brought him here as a favor for saving her life. And first he’d been beaten and now he was trapped with the rest of them, fighting for survival.

  “You could stay, you know,” her heart pounded in her chest. “After we’re done with Iris, this could be your home. No one would let Raj trade you for the bounty now.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Why? I don’t get it. I mean, I know it’s not much, but it’s gotta be better than the Deadlands. And trying to get into Canada is suicide.”

  “It’s not just me. There’s a girl—the unclean one, remember? I can’t...leave her.”

  “Yeah. Right. Ofcourse,” Sanna felt the floor give way beneath her feet, plunging her into an inky pool of embarrassment. “I completely, totally understand.” She known there was something special about that girl—Kai’s face had lit up when he’d spoken about her earlier.

  “W-we could find the Lieutenant and ask him permission,” she managed, the biggest idiot in the territory. “maybe he’d make an exception and then your girlfriend could live here too.”

  “Girlfriend?” Kai laughed. “She’s my kid sister, Esme.”

  “But—” Sanna studied him for a moment, “you just said she was unclean.”

  “I know. I’m not sure what happened. Maybe our mother was unfaithful—our parents met as part of New Hope’s breeding program—or maybe Esme contracted the virus somewhere. Either way, she’s never going to set foot inside a colony, which means I can’t either.”

  “Is that why you left New Hope—because of your sister?”

  “No. We left after my father was arrested for treason. I didn’t know about Esme until we tried to enter Broken Creek and were denied. After that it was all the same, no matter where we went. If we wanted in, we had to leave her behind. Within a year, my mom and brother died, leaving me to take care of her. I was doing a pretty terrible job of it, so when we ran into the Inferno, I joined.”

  He talked about all this like it happened eons ago. “How old were you?”

  “Eleven when we left New Hope. I joined the Inferno when I was twelve, after what happened at Broken Creek. Hayes—the Inferno’s leader—drugged before it happened but...it doesn’t matter. I was still part of it. I knew what the Inferno did to places like that. Six years later, here I am, back to where I started. Broke and homeless.”

  “Where’s Esme now?”

  “With Iris. She agreed to take care of her while I went to get you,” his gaze drifted to the window. “I don’t know what will happen to her if I don’t come back.”

  “Hey,” Sanna folded her hand over his tight fist. “You’ll see her again, I promise.”

  “If anyone can get through that horde, it’s you.” The corners of his mouth kicked upward. Everything about him sung of life—his sturdy wrists, lean chest, broad shoulders. Even the tan, corded muscles of his forearms that disappeared into his crisply folded sleeves. “I believe in you, Sanna. From the minute I pulled you out of that lake, I knew you were special.”

  She froze, fearing that if she moved, or even breathed, the moment would dissolve like snow in water. His eyes seemed darker than before, and she was falling into them.

  He can’t mean it. Not really. At least not in the way his words washed over her, filling her with a warmth that burnished the world around them. She could build a life on those words. One without walls and blood draws and constant fighting. God, how she wanted that.

  He leaned closer, his unique scent engulfing her. She’d never forget it. And neither would she forget the way his lips brushed against hers, so soft, so full of longing.

  “So...um...,” Raj cleared his throat, startling them both as he plunked a bowl of mystery stew onto the table. Rust-colored broth sloshed over its rim. “It’s a little burnt. Sorry.”

  “Thanks, Raj,” Sanna said, pulling away from Kai.

  “You know,” Raj sat down beside her and she knew this moment was about to get a million times worse. “There’s nothing to be ashamed of here. Death and battle have a way of stirring certain...feelings. Merrick’s a good soldier. Competent. Well-liked. Healthy, I’m assuming?” He glanced at Kai, who immediately found the floor engrossing. “You could certainly do worse...”

  “Oh my God,” Sanna stared into the unappetizing bowl of stew before her, and the map beneath it. Erling’s wall snaked across the paper, the town on one side and a row of X’s marking where the horde was on the other. There was so many of them. Too many. Except...

  “I think, Raj,” Kai said, clearly amused, “that if you say anything more she might explode.”

  “Ah, well,” Raj shooed him off. “The Larsons’ aren’t very in touch with their feelings—”

  “The lake!” Sanna shouted, pointing to the vast body of water. “We can use the fishing boats to evacuate the colony.”

  Raj looked down at the map, rubbing his chin. “The water’s half frozen. It would take forever to chip a path through the ice and anyone out there would be sitting ducks for the Alpha.”

  “Not if they all held shields when she attacked and archers provided cover,” Kai suggested. “A few might get picked off, but...it’s better than starving or being overrun by the horde. And once a path was made, it’d be a lot quicker.”

  “We still haven’t heard if Sorenson will send us reinforcements, let alone take on three-hundred refugees,” Raj said. “Besides, people don’t want to abandon their lives here and start somewhere else with nothing.”

  “It wouldn’t be forever,” Sanna said, quickly. “Just until New Hope can get a battalion up here to clear them out. You said so yourself its only a matter of time before the wall is breeched. No one has to die when that happens.”

  “
We don’t have enough boats for everyone to leave at once. And we’d have to find volunteers to clear the path—that’ll be a dangerous—” Outside, the siren wailed, cutting off Raj’s words. His expression hardened.

  “The horde is on the move,” Kai said.

  “I’ll have to find the Lieutenant. Get his approval.” Raj glared out the window. “You lovebirds find me when you’re done with your assignments.”

  Sanna sank deeper into her chair, mortified. She never would have pegged her stony, grizzled mentor as an ardent matchmaker.

  Lovebirds. The man in her dream had been taking care of the Infected. He even called one of them by name. What if it wasn’t a dream at all?

  “Raj,” Sanna called after him. “What was the name of the Lieutenant’s wife?”

  “Ruthie,” he paused at the cafeteria entrance. “Why?”

  Goosebumps prickled across Sanna’s skin. “I think I know where the Lieutenant is. I doubt he’ll have a problem with us leaving.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  Raj grabbed Sanna’s arm as she hurried into the hallway, squeezing tight enough to bruise. “What do you know about the lieutenant?

  “You wouldn’t understand.” She tried to hold free, but he held firm.

  Kai met up with them, frowning as his gaze dropped to Raj’s manacle grasp. “What’s going—”

  Raj leaned in, his eyes narrowing. There was no trace of the affable man from before. “Tell me.”

  “I—I had a vision. I think he’s...” What? Being eating by his infected wife and daughter, whom he’d been secretly feeding for months? Raj would think she’s crazy. “Home.”

  “You had a vision of the Lieutenant...at his house?” Raj said, slowly. His grip on her arm loosened. “That’s it?”

  “Um...” She caught Kai’s gaze over his shoulder. He shook his head slightly. “Yes?”

  Raj’s sharpened expression melted back into affability. “He’s probably hiding under his bed, drinking himself into a stupor again. I’ll go check on—”

  The doors at the end of the hallway flung open.

  A woman whose face Sanna had passed a thousand times clutched its metal sagged to her knees. Bertie, the shopkeeper’s wife. Red drops pattered to the floor from where her arm ended in a stump. “A-a-Alpha.”

  Kai raced to the woman’s side, checking her pulse. “She’s dead.”

  Screams poured in from the open door, flooding hall with the sounds of terror.

  Raj released her. “Take the watchtower, and Kai—join the archers. If the Alpha’s here, the horde will be at our gates soon.” He strode out of the armory, his broad shoulders set in a stiff line.

  She followed after him. Kai closed Berties eyes gently and joined Sanna as she left. Icy air stung her face, numbing her to the mayhem. Then it all came rushing back. Screams ending in soft gurgles, crimson splattered across the snow. The few souls who’d been caught in the open scurried for for the shadows, their arms folded over their heads. A thin shriek cresendoed over them. Sanna shoved Kai out of the way just as a man’s body slammed into the earth, his face smashed beyond recognition.

  The Alpha plucked another person from the street, shredding his tender neck with her teeth and dropping him. A barrage of arrows followed her until as she sailed upward, disappearing into the thick blanket of clouds.

  “Where’d she go?” Kai whispered.

  “There!” Sanna pointed to the gray streak aiming for the archers nestled on the wall. The Alpha nabbed one of them, whose scream ended in a deafening silence. She glided on, snatching people off it and killing them abandon. A few victims managed to sink weapons into her, but they did nothing to slow the onslaught.

  “She’s moving so fast, I can barely tell where she’s heading next,” Kai whispered.

  Sanna could. The Alpha was fast but not that fast. Every time she grabbed someone, she looked at their faces a split second before killing them or dropping them to their deaths. She was looking for someone.

  She was looking for her.

  The man in the woods had sent the Alpha to find her, just as Kelsey had warned.

  “Why aren’t the sirens ringing?” Kai muttered. “They should have gone off the moment she was spotted.”

  Kelsey had probably revealed that Sanna was often stationed in a watchtower thanks to her keen eyesight. “The Alpha took them out first. The spotters didn’t stand a chance.”

  “Look!” Kai pointed to the shadow. “She’s heading into town. What if the people don’t know to take cover?”

  Grandma. Sanna darted out into the open. “Hey!” She shouted, waving her arms. “Over here! I’m the one you want!”

  “What the hell—are you crazy?” Kai started towards her.

  “Stay back!”

  “Don’t be stupid! It’s too dangerous. We just need to hide out till she gives up.”

  “She won’t. Not that easily,” Sanna watched as Alpha swooped around. “I’ll lead her away.”

  “Wait—”

  Sanna took off. The Alpha’s wings flapped as she picked up speed. Sanna would have one chance to make this work, and it’d require every last one of her nerves. She gritted her teeth, tasting ashes, and stuck to the path ahead. She longed for an axe, a knife, anything.

  The Alpha was gaining on her. Sanna glanced over her shoulder and saw the monster’s jaw hinging. Rows of bloodstained teeth, sharp as needles, lined her blackened gums and her amber eyes glittered with malice. She stretched out her arms as the distance shrank between them, eager for a deadly embrace.

  Sanna surged forward, even faster, and at the last possible moment feinted to the left, diving under the Alpha’s wing.

  Sanna rose, her heart racing and skidded onto the main street. Forty yards away, people were still picking through the rubble of the church, oblivious to the attack.

  “Look out!” One of the screamed, pointed to Sanan as she sprinted past.

  She swerved. The Alpha’s claws raked across her shoulder, leaving a fiery trail of pain. The Alpha’s wing slammed into the back of her head, sending her sprawling into the snow. The Alpha doubled-back, ready for the killing blow. Sanna’s heels slid on hidden ice as she scrambled up, arms flailing.

  “Stay down!” Kai shouted from across the street.

  Sanna hit the ground. An arrow ripped a hole through the Alpha’s wing above her. The beast tilted to the side, the edge of her wounded winging catching the ground. She rolled, somersaulting through the snow and crashed into a building across the street.

  A siren blared in a series of short, terrifying blasts. Sanna looked back at the wall rising beyond the drab buildings. Ashen bodies crawled over the edge and joined the growing melee on the walkway. Panic sizzled along her nerves. They were coming for her, just like Kelsey had said. The guard would be overwhelmed, and Sanna couldn’t fight the horde and the Alpha on her own. She needed reinforcements.

  The Alpha staggered up. Her ragged wing was nearly healed.

  “Cover me!” Sanna shouted to Kai as she scrambled up and took off down the street. The Alpha lunged after her, gaining ground despite the slew of arrows Kai fired after it. Sanna tucked her chin, increasing her speed until she thought her legs might fly off.

  At last the Lieutenant’s house appeared on the horizon like a giant skull, its dark windows looking sightlessly onto the muddy street. She hurried up to the front and grasped the doorknob. Locked. She busted it open with a sharp kick and fell inside, shutting the door behind her. The Alpha slammed into it with enough force that her bones vibrated.

  Sanna had destroyed the lock, so the door wouldn’t stay shut on its own. And Kai was probably either a mile away still, or out of arrows.

  The door shook with the force of the Alpha’s impact. She’s going to break it down.

  Sanna scanned her surroundings, searching for a weapon. Light spilled into the cramped kitchen through a window above the sink. The wall of cupboards framing it hung open, their contents spilled across the shelves and countertop. A small tab
le was overturned near the door. She kicked one of its legs free and guided it over with her foot. Not exactly the most effective weapon, but better than nothing.

  The wood near her cheek cracked and bulged, and the Alpha’s gray hand shot through, sending splinters flying. Sanna crouched down, covering her head with her hands. Her gaze caught on egg-shaped doorknob across from her. The door from her dream. Did that mean...the Infected were on the other side?

  It was her only chance.

  Sanna lunged for it, her snowy boots slipping across the linoleum. The back door burst open behind her. The Alpha surged in, but her wings caught on the frame, preventing her from entering. She snarled, trying to squeeze through, then gave up and reached in, her long arms grasping for Sanna as she crawled across the kitchen.

  The basement door creaked open as she neared it, as if beckoning her to enter. A stairwell started at the top and descended into a dark abyss. She glanced at the Alpha, who was writhing and snarling, beating against the threshold with a manic intensity unlike any Sanna had ever seen.

  Hairline fissures shot out from the corners of doorframe. The Alpha would tear the whole house down to find her. She’d break through any barriers that separated them.

  Sanna entered the stairwell, shutting the door behind her. A pale hand gripped her ankle, cold and clammy. She gasped, kicking free. Her balance wavered, her feet slid down the curve of the steps, and she half-tumbled, half rolled down. She landed in a pool of congealed blood.

  She groaned, sitting up. The room reeked with a thick, putrid stench—a mix of wet limestone and decay. A wave of nausea washed over her. She buried her nose into the crook of her elbow and followed the odor. Her sight adjusted, and she noticed a red smear that led to the far corner of the room where the Lieutenant sat like a lifeless doll, his torso a gruesome cavity. He would stay dead. Though the virus could repair almost any wounds, it was unable to manufacture his missing organs.

  Sanna rose and took stock of the rest the basement. It was built of piled stone, creating a damp, subterranean space. Stacks of moldering boxes and junk surrounded her, stuff that had probably been left untouched since the First Night. She followed a narrow path that wound through the piles of forgotten things, around heaps of rusted tools, stacks of papers, brittle with age, a tangled mountain of chairs. A one-eyed teddy bear stared out from its sodden cardboard tomb. She followed the rotten stench around a leaning tower of plastic crates and froze.