Hunted_Falling Darkness_Book 3 Page 4

  Kate looked over her shoulder as Will pulled himself into the window. He was up to his armpits when his eyes connected with Kate’s.

  “A little help?” Will said.

  Kate couldn’t stop the smile from curling the ends of her lips. She grabbed his underarms and pulled, but he hadn’t needed much assistance.

  “All right,” Will said brushing off the front of his shirt. “Let us never speak of that again.”

  Kate spun in a circle looking around the room. It was such a disaster that if the key was inside, she knew they’d never find it. She had to hope that it would be inside the main room, but even if it were, that didn’t mean it would be easy to find.

  “Stay back,” Kate said before she pressed her ear to the door. She didn’t hear anything, but she knew at least The Unholy version of Jet was inside the room.

  “What’s your plan?” Will asked.

  Kate shook her head. “I don’t have one.”

  “What if the whole room is filled with them?” Will asked glancing at the pen in his hand.

  “I’ll close the door.”

  Will’s head bobbed up and down quickly, and Kate turned back to the door. Her hand turned the knob, and as quietly as she could, she pulled the door open a crack.

  Kate’s eye darted around the room looking as far as the small opening allowed. She didn’t see anything. Not even The Unholy version of Jet.

  She closed the door and crossed her arms as she turned to Will. “I know he’s in there, but I don’t see anything. The room appears to be empty.”

  “Are you telling me he’s hiding?” Will asked.

  “I don’t think so. He’s just not standing where I can see him.” Kate blew out a heavy breath. “I’m going out there.”

  Will opened his mouth but closed it and nodded. He widened his stance as Kate soundlessly opened the door.

  She stepped out into the room, her eyes moving around as she took in her surroundings. The room was different, but still quite familiar. Jet had changed the layout after he’d taken over, but it was in complete shambles.

  It was almost as if Kate could imagine Jet as he turned into one of The Unholy. He must have tossed furniture, tore things off of the wall, and threw them across the room. The desk in the corner of the room, seemed to mostly be untouched, except for everything that had been on top of it, was now strewn across the floor.

  Kate took a step further into the room, she could hear the rain tapping against the window. The floorboards under her next step creaked, and she froze. Her heart pounded faster as she listened for movement on the other side of the wall.

  She inched closer taking a quick glance at the desk to her right. Kate looked over her shoulder at Will who was still standing in the bedroom doorway. His eyes were wide as he watched her tiptoe across the floor.

  The fingertips of Kate’s left hand brushed against the textured wall. She listened for movement, but all she could hear was her own heartbeat.

  Kate swallowed a gasp when someone touched her shoulder. She turned expecting to see Will standing there, but it wasn’t his blue eyes staring back into hers. The eyes she was looking into were gray with big, round black pupils. She was face-to-face with one of The Unholy.

  The creature opened its mouth as it quickly lurched for her shoulder, but it stopped abruptly and pulled back. Kate saw Will pull his hand back, and his pen sticking out of The Unholy’s ear. It seemed frozen in place, but it didn’t fall to the ground.

  Kate took her blade and plunged it between its eyes. The black goo leaked out of the wound after Kate pulled her knife out and kicked The Unholy to the ground.

  It hit the floor with a heavy thud.

  “That was close,” Kate whispered. “Where did it come from?”

  “It was behind the desk,” Will said staring at the pen sticking out of The Unholy’s head. “Is that one Jet?”

  Kate looked down at the creature and shook her head. But the noise must have alerted him because when she turned, The Unholy version of Jet stepped around the corner and practically hissed in Kate’s face.

  “This one is,” Kate said as Jet charge forward. Kate tried to dodge, but he managed to grab onto her shoulders. Her feet tangled together and both Kate and The Unholy crashed down to the ground on top of the one they’d just eradicated.

  “My knife!” Kate said struggling to keep her arms stiff as she held The Unholy away from her. She was using all of her strength to keep it away so it couldn’t bite her.

  “Where is it?” Will asked, his voice coated with urgency.

  “I must have dropped it.”

  Will hopped over Kate and The Unholy to look at her other side.

  “Hurry!” Kate pleaded.

  “I don’t see… wait,” Will said pushing The Unholy off of Kate. He reached under Kate’s leg and pulled out her blade.

  Will stood up. His stance was wide as he weaved side to side ready to lunge at The Unholy.

  “What is it doing?” Kate asked narrowing her eyes at The Unholy version of Jet. “Why isn’t he coming for us?”

  “What?” Will asked taking a step forward.

  “Those things don’t do this,” Kate said as she slowly got to her feet.

  Will shook his head and took another step forward. The Unholy Jet bared its gross blackened teeth. It looked threatened as it held up its hands.

  Will moved left and then right, it was like he didn’t know how to approach the creature without getting bit. Kate grabbed the knife from his hand and lunged forward.

  The Unholy swung his arm defensively at Kate and when it missed it let out a guttural cry. The pitch rose into an ear-piercing screech that was so loud Kate had to resist covering her ears. It ended the second Kate inserted the blade into The Unholy’s skull.

  “What the hell was that?” Will asked in a high-pitched voice. “I’ve been chased down by groups and groups of those things and never had I heard anything like that.”

  “Me either,” Kate said with an exhale. She looked around the room and jerked her chin toward the desk. “Let’s find the key and get out of here.”

  Will stepped up to the desk and pulled open a door. “My ears are ringing.”

  Kate looked down at the lifeless Jet. His eyes were fixed on an imaginary spot on the ceiling.

  “What are you doing?” Will asked, briefly glancing at Kate.

  She crouched down and winced as she placed her hand inside the front pocket of Jet’s pants. His body felt as though it was rotting underneath her touch.

  “Not in there,” Kate said quickly jerking her hand out of his pocket. She closed her eyes as she dug into the other, but it too was empty. “Shit!”

  The drawers of the desk rattled as Will pulled them open. He noisily rifled through the various things inside the desk stopping when he spotted something.

  “Did you find it?” Kate asked hopefully.

  Will shook his head and pulled out a gun. “Can I keep it?”

  “Only until Ethan sees you have it,” Kate said, her brow wrinkled. “Keep looking.”

  Will shoved the gun into the back of his pants.

  “Do you even know how to use that?” Kate asked.

  “I’ll learn. You can show me.” Will grinned.

  Kate walked over to a shelf near the window and felt along the top edge where she couldn’t see. There wasn’t anything underneath her fingers except for bits of dirt and dust.

  When Will slammed his fist against the desk, Kate spun on her heel to face him. He wasn’t angry like she’d expected. Will was smiling as he dangled a set of keys in front of his face.

  “Bingo,” he said wearing a huge celebratory grin.

  “Thank God. Now let’s get out of here,” Kate said stepping up to the front door. Something out of the window caught her eye, and she pulled back the curtain. “God dammit!”

  “What is it?” Will asked.

  Kate closed the curtain and stepped away from the door. “They’re coming.”

  “Who’s coming?”
Will asked his words hanging in the air.

  Kate turned to him, her shoulders rising and falling rapidly. “The Unholy.”

  6

  Will stepped up to the window and hooked his finger around the curtain. His hand fell away as he took a quick step back.

  “Whoa,” Will said holding both palms up toward the swaying curtain in front of him. “The window!”

  “What?” Kate said as Will grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the bedroom.

  They leaped over the already smelling bodies of The Unholy and dashed to the window. Will stopped abruptly when he looked down and saw the hands reaching up toward them.

  “Shit,” he said sucking in a deep breath before he lurched forward and pulled the window down. “Our odds will be better out the front.”

  Kate nodded and led the way back to the front of the house. She peeked out between the curtains, and a gray hand pounded against the window. They all started to groan and moan louder.

  “I may have just made things worse,” Kate said.

  “They’ll forget about us,” Will said, but he didn’t sound convincing. He twisted his fingers together as his eyes darted around the room. “We just have to wait.”

  Kate frowned. “Remember what they did to your front door?”

  “I can’t stop thinking about it,” Will said wiping his brow. He pulled out the gun from the back of his pants and flipped it over in his hand. “I wish I knew how to use this thing.”

  Kate grabbed the gun out of Will’s hand and checked it over. She shook her head and set the gun down on a nearby table.

  “That won’t be helping any of us,” Kate said. Will narrowed his eyes and shook his head. “It’s empty.”

  “Oh,” Will said.

  “You should look for a knife… there has to be something in here,” Kate said without moving. She was too busy looking back and forth between the windows and the door.

  Will started scouring the messy ground after he checked the other various locations. Jet must have had something other than the gun. After all, he’d been one of Simon’s men, and he was sent here to run the town. He knew that a blade would draw much less attention than a bullet.

  Will threw a handful of paper onto the floor. “It’s not like a knife is going to help me against all of them anyway.” He ran his hands through his hair. “We’re fucked unless they just go away.”

  Kate walked over to Will and took his hands into hers. She looked into his soft, fear-filled eyes.

  “It’ll be okay,” Kate said ignoring the aggressive twisting in her stomach. “They’ll go away.”

  Will’s eyes darted over to Jet’s body. “It was like he called them with that… that noise.”

  A hard ball of sourness formed at the back of Kate’s throat. It was definitely possible that the noise The Unholy version of Jet released when it had felt threatened had called the others to their location.

  “But why don’t the others do the same thing?” Kate asked.

  Will ran his shaking fingers through his messy hair. “I don’t know. Maybe they just haven’t learned how yet? Once they all start doing it… it’s over for all of us. Hell, it’s looking pretty over for you and me right now anyway.”

  Kate started pacing. There were too many Unholy for Kate to fight off even if she would have been with Ethan or any others who were skilled eradicators.

  Their pounding and their groans echoed through the room and penetrated Kate’s head. It was all she could hear. Each noise pulled on her every nerve ending, sending her spiraling downward into a stage of fear she hadn’t felt since the disease first spread.

  Kate hugged herself as she leaned back against the wall letting herself slide down. She couldn’t take her eyes off of a black stain on the floor.

  “Kate,” Will said crouching down in front of her. “Are you even listening to me?”

  “Sorry?” Kate said almost too loudly. To Kate, it felt as though she were sinking… the sounds outside were drowning her.

  Will shook his head and sat down next to Kate. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and squeezed her tightly.

  “They’ll go away,” Will said.

  “And if they don’t? If they break down the door and get inside?” Kate’s voice wavered.

  Will swallowed and tried to force a smile. “They won’t. And if they do, I’ll sacrifice myself so you can get away.”

  Kate turned to Will and stared into his eyes. She slowly shook her head.

  “Why… why would you do that?” Kate asked, her words coming out slowly.

  “For you, I would.” Will looked away. He couldn’t meet her gaze, and she wasn’t sure she wanted him to.

  Kate tried to understand what he was saying but under the circumstances, she couldn’t. Because it didn’t matter what Will would have done, Kate wouldn’t get more than ten feet before The Unholy descended on her.

  Will turned back to Kate and placed his finger on her chin tilting her head towards his. Kate's heart palpitated as she started into his impossibly blue, hypnotic eyes.

  He inched closer. Their lips were inches apart when gunshots rang out. It was like a glass bubble that circled Kate and Will had shattered around them. She hopped onto her feet and dashed to the front window.

  Kate brought her shaking hand to her mouth as the world came back into focus. Ethan was with Lincoln and a group of his men fighting off the crowd of Unholy.

  Will stepped up behind Kate and peered out of the window over her shoulder. “Ethan’s going to be so pissed.”

  “Yeah, he is,” Kate said holding back her hopeful smile.

  “Your knight in shining armor,” Will said bumping his elbow into Kate’s arm lightly. She turned to him to scowl, but the smile on his face made it impossible.

  “There are a lot of knights out there,” Kate said, and Will nodded.

  “I guess he must have been worried when we didn’t go back.”

  Kate nodded. “It probably wasn’t too hard for them to find where we were.”

  “Ethan probably already knew,” Will said softly.

  One by one The Unholy were eradicated. Lincoln’s army was fifteen strong, plus Ethan… Kate and Will would never have been able to make it out alive without them.

  They watched at the window as Lincoln’s army hacked their way through the crowd. Based on the way they worked through them, Kate guessed that it hadn’t been their first time.

  As they finished the last few off, Ethan walked up to the building tried to open the still locked door. Kate dashed to the front door and pulled it open. She blinked several times as she looked up into Ethan’s eyes.

  “Kate,” he said in a rough low voice.

  His glassy eyes showed just how worried he’d been. Ethan was going to give her an earful, but right now she didn’t care. Kate threw her arms around his neck and held on as tightly as she could because if she let go, it felt as though she might start sinking again.

  “I don’t know what the hell you were thinking,” Ethan said next to her ear as he stroked her hair. “It’s okay now. You’re safe.”

  “Maybe safe for now, but not for long,” Lincoln said stepping up behind them. His eyes practically glowed from the anger bubbling up inside of him.

  “What’s that supposed to mean,” Ethan asked, turning sharply to face him.

  Lincoln crossed his arms, purposefully displaying his gun. “You all need to get the hell out of my town.”

  “Lincoln, please,” Kate begged stepping away from Ethan. She clasped her hands tightly in front of her chest. “This was all my fault, not theirs. Please don’t punish them.”

  Lincoln chuckled before turning to glare at Kate. “Oh, trust me, I know it’s your fault, but I can’t stand back and let you risk my people any more than you already have.”

  “They don’t know how to survive out there,” Kate said. If she would have thought it would do any good, she would have dropped to her knees and begged him to reconsider. “It’ll be dark soon. It’s still raining.”


  “I don’t give a flying fuck,” Lincoln said, and Ethan’s spine stiffened. Kate thought he was going to argue… put up a fight, but he didn’t. Ethan exhaled and walked past Lincoln. He didn’t stop to help clean up The Unholy, he just kept walking back to the brick building.

  Kate and Will jogged to catch up with Ethan, but he reached the house before they did. She could hear Lincoln following close behind them, and then Ethan shouting inside of the building.

  Moments later, everyone filtered out of the house. Some looked quite confused and others frightened. Bonnie, on the other hand, looked at Kate and didn’t hide that she was irate.

  “Let’s go,” Ethan said.

  “Wait a minute,” Bonnie said in a squeaky voice as she jutted out her hip. “I don’t have to go with you anywhere!”

  “Yes, you do,” Lincoln shouted from behind Kate. “None of you are welcome here. It’s time to go.”

  Bonnie glared at Kate. “Well, I’m not leaving with her.”

  Kate rolled her eyes. She didn’t miss the smug expression that flashed on Lincoln’s face.

  “With all due respect ma’am, I don’t care where you go, but you can’t stay here,” Lincoln said, shifting his hand to the side to make sure she saw his gun. At that moment, two of his men both obviously armed stepped up at his sides.

  Kate couldn’t let Lincoln send them out there. She and Ethan would be okay in the middle of the night, but the others wouldn’t. Kate thought they were all lucky to have survived the trek from Simon’s town during the night. She didn’t think they’d get that lucky again.

  Kate elbowed Will. “Give me the key.”

  He narrowed his eyes but dug into his pocket and fished out the key. Kate stared at it for a moment and squeezed it tightly in her hand.

  She walked up to Lincoln and swiped a stray strand of wet hair out of her face. Kate swallowed and tensed her jaw. “Let’s make a deal.”

  7

  Kate considered just taking everyone to the storage facility. They could hide out there, but then she’d be responsible for them. Not to mention the fact that it seemed as though no one in her group even wanted to be with her.