Broken World (Book 6): Forgotten World (20 page)

No. Not with Axl. I’m more certain of that than I’ve ever been of anything in my entire life. Just like I know that if Dax had made a move on me, I would have pushed him away. There would have been no hesitation. I don’t want him any more than I want this zombie virus.

Footsteps break through my thoughts, and I look up. Axl is headed my way, cutting through the weed-choked field.

When he reaches me, he kneels at my side and takes my hand. “She told you.”

“Why didn’t you?” I ask, unable to look him in the eye.

“‘Cause she was missin’ and you was hurtin’, and I knew it didn’t mean nothin’. You know that too. Hadley was in a bad place, and she wasn’t thinkin’ straight.”

“I know.”

“Then you gotta go in there and tell her you forgive her.”

He’s right, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be an easy thing to do. I’m not even sure how to start, to be honest.

“I may know that I need to forgive her, but that doesn’t mean I don’t feel like she ripped my heart out and stomped on it. I mean, what she did…” I shake my head. “How can I get over that?”

Axl’s free hand moves to my chin, and he tilts my face up so I’m looking at him. His gray eyes are soft and warm when he says, “Because nothin’ these days is certain, and she could be dead this time tomorrow. Maybe not from the baby, but from somethin’ else. If you don’t forgive her, you’ll never be able to forgive yourself.”

He’s right. Of course he is. Axl is always right.

“I know.”

“Good.”

He stands, pulling me to my feet with him, but before he can move toward the house, I throw my arms around him. Hug him like we’re saying goodbye or an angry horde is closing in on us and it might be the last moment we have together.

“I love you,” I say with my face pressed up against his neck. “Always.”

“I love you,” he whispers back.

17

DAX IS HEADING over to meet us when Axl’s hand slips into mine, and together we walk through the overgrown field toward him. In the background, the house is lit up thanks to the candles the guys found, but it’s a lot further away than I thought it was. When I came outside, it felt like I’d only run a couple steps before dropping to the ground. Now that we’re headed back, though, I realize I made it more than halfway down the driveway.

“I hear you found some gas,” Dax calls when he’s still a few feet away from us.

“It ain’t much,” Axl says, “but it’ll get us thirty miles or so. Hopefully, we can find some more before it’s gone.”

Dax stops walking when he’s about a foot away, and his eyes move back and forth between Axl and me. “Good.”

His eyes meet mine, and something in them sends a shiver down my spine. Only I’m not sure what. At my side, Axl tenses like he feels it too, and I find myself glancing toward the house. Wishing for some crazy reason that one of our friends would come outside to check on us. Angus especially. We’re so far away, though. Why did I run so far?

Dax is still staring at us silently when I look back.

“Ginny will have the baby in a few hours,” I say, “and we’ll need to hang out here for a day or so until she recovers. It will give us time to plan.”

“You know we can’t do that,” Dax says coolly.

“Don’t really matter what you think,” Axl says. “You ain’t in charge.”

Dax’s body visibly tenses. “I am the leader of this mission, and I
will
get Angus to Atlanta.”

“He won’t agree to it,” I say. “You can’t force him, and he won’t leave us.”

“That’s true,” Dax says slowly, like he’s thinking something through.

The wind blows, and the trees in the distance rustle. Somewhere nearby, something chimes, but I’m not sure where it’s coming from. I didn’t see any wind chimes when we drove up. The breeze washes over my damp skin, and I realize for the first time how sweaty and filthy I feel after being in the back of the truck for most of the day and at Ginny’s side for hours after that.

I’m too exhausted to fight with Dax right now.

“This is dumb. I have more important things to do than argue with you,” I say, letting out a deep breath.

When I inhale, the stench that comes with it hits me full force.

“Shit,” Axl whispers before I have a chance to say anything.

Dax doesn’t move, not even when Axl and I draw our knives. I look around, back toward the house and the forest circling the property, but all I can see is black. Black sky and black shadows that move like trees. The black outline of the barn and a few smaller sheds behind the house. The moon is out, but it isn’t bright or there isn’t enough of it peeking out of the clouds to help light up the area.

“Where?” I whisper, my voice trembling.

Axl shakes his head while Dax remains motionless.

We should run back to the house, but it’s still a good distance away and I’d like to know what we’re dealing with first. The wind blows again, and this time the stench is stronger, but it also brings with it the sound of moans. They’re coming from behind us.

I spin around, my heart stopping when the figures step out of the black night like they’ve materialized from nothing. Dozens of them moving together, lumbering right toward us. They don’t have far to go.

“Run!” Axl hisses, grabbing my hand as he backs away.

I’ve only taken one step toward the house when Axl’s hand is ripped from mine. He goes down, his body slamming into the ground. He groans but doesn’t move to get back up. Moans rip through the silent night, and Dax’s heavy breathing echoes in my ears, mixing with my pounding heart. All around me, the moans of the dead mix with the wind until I find it difficult to focus.

What the hell is happening?

Dax takes a step toward me, and just like that, everything snaps into place.

He’s willing to do whatever it takes to get Angus to Atlanta.

“What are you thinking?” I hiss, wanting to back away from the man in front of me but knowing I have nowhere to go. Not with the zombies behind me.

“You’ve been holding me up,” Dax says calmly, “and you’re right. Angus won’t leave you behind. At least not while you’re alive.”

My gaze darts from Dax to Axl’s motionless body, then to the horde of zombies who are now only ten feet away from us. I take a step toward Axl, but before I can do a thing, Dax has my arm gripped in his hand. I swing my knife around, but his free hand wraps around my wrist. He twists my arm until a yelp breaks out of me, and the knife falls to the ground. His other hand tightens on my arm and I cry out in pain and the screams only grow louder a second later when he pushes me toward the horde.

“This isn’t how I wanted things to go,” he says through clenched teeth.

“Get off me!” I scream, causing the zombies at my back wail even more.

“I gave you a chance.”

I struggle as Dax pushes me backward, my feet tripping all over each other. He’s moving too fast for me even think about trying to fight back. I can barely stay up. The moans get louder, and my heart pounds violently. I risk a look over my shoulder and find the zombies so close that I can see their milky eyes in the moonlight.

“Stop,” I beg as tears stream down my cheeks and a feeling of desperation comes over me. “Please.”

“It’s the only way. We have to keep moving, and your group is dead weight. If I kill you myself, Angus will never trust me. But I can make it look like an accident.”

He’s crazy. He has to be or he’d know how flawed his plan is.

Which makes him even more terrifying.

“Get off,” I scream as something brushes my back, making my heart pound harder. Faster.

There has to be a way out of this.

I shove back against Dax, twisting my body in the process, and somehow I manage to pull myself closer to him while spinning around completely. My arm gets twisted so hard that I swear my bones threaten to snap, but at least it gets me further from the zombies. Not far enough, though. They’re still moving, and Dax is still determined to get me to them. He tries to push me back, but I grab hold of him, digging my nails into his sides. He curses and jerks, trying to wiggle out of my grasp so he can move me forward, but I refuse to let go. Finally, probably out of desperation, he releases my arm, but only a second later, he has me around the waist. Then he lifts me, and my fingernails slide across his stomach, scratching him but allowing him to break free of my hold. My feet leave the ground, and I know it’s over. Not only is there nowhere for me to grab him, but now I can’t run, either. Can’t do anything but flail in his arms as he moves forward.

Dax presses his face against mine and his lips move against my ear when he says, “You had your chance.”

Then he starts walking toward the advancing dead.

I scream and squeeze my eyes shut, kicking my feet at the waiting zombies, trying to keep them back while bracing myself. Knowing Dax is about to throw me into the growling horde and there’s nothing I can do about it. That this is the end and all the fight has been for nothing.

The crack of a gunshot cuts through my screams, and suddenly Dax’s arms fall away. I drop to the ground, disoriented and confused. My ears ringing and my limbs tingling, and even though zombies are barreling down on me, I can’t figure out how to move.

Hands grab my arms from behind, and I let out a shriek as I twist and pull, trying to get away.

“Vivian!”

Axl’s voice cuts through the ringing in my ears, and I turn to find him standing over me. He pulls me to my feet, but I’m having a hard time focusing. My gaze goes from Dax’s lifeless body—now surrounded by the dead—to the horde still barreling down on us, then to the gun clutched in Axl’s hand. The gun we found just a few hours ago. The gun we hid from Dax.

“Run!” Axl yells.

He moves, pulling me with him, and I finally snap out of it. I put everything into running, forcing my legs to move faster with each step. The dead are right behind us, their moans breaking through the constant ringing in my ears and causing every hair on my scalp to prickle.

Angus, Jim, and Parvarti wave from the porch, probably calling to us to hurry, but I can’t hear them through the buzzing in my ears and the moans at my back. A few zombies come around the side of the house just as we reach the porch, and Axl shoves me in front of him. Toward the front door. My feet pound against the stairs and the wood bows under my weight, but Angus has my arm before I’m all the way up and he’s pulling me inside.

We stumble into the living room, and I’m still panting when I lean against the wall. Behind me, the door slams shut and people start yelling. Then furniture is being pulled across the room toward the door and everyone is talking at once and there’s so much noise that I can barely think, but I do know one thing. The front door isn’t the only way in.

I push off the wall and charge toward the back of the house. Behind me, the front door rattles in its frame, and all through the house, footsteps pound against the floor as moans break through the glass and walls that form the wooden box we’re now trapped in. I reach the back door and flip the lock just as the knob rattles, and Jim comes running into the kitchen behind me. In the other room, the sound of furniture being pulled across the floor screeches through the air.

“Fridge!” Jim shouts, yanking on the useless appliance.

I move toward the fridge even though my limbs are shaking so badly I’m not sure I’m going to be much help. The massive thing moves away from the wall, and Jim shoves it toward the door, straining with the effort. The cord pulls tight, so I lean over and yank it out of the socket before going back to helping Jim. He gets the fridge across the room and shoves it firmly against the door before turning toward the table. In the blink of an eye, the thing is on its side and Jim is shoving it against the refrigerator.

“Let’s check the rest of the place out,” he says, heading back to the front of the house.

In the main room, an antique armoire has been moved to block the front door, and Angus and Axl are busy piling other furniture in front of the windows lining the porch. I hurry to help with my heart pounding in my still ringing ears, barely able to catch my breath. The whole time, all I can think about is Ginny and the baby, and how the virus and the premature birth may not matter at all now. Because we’re trapped.

Once the windows are blocked, Axl and Angus step back, panting and dripping with sweat.

“What the hell happened out there?” Angus gasps.

“Dax.” I still can’t figure it out, but it suddenly hits me that Axl was down and I don’t even know if he’s okay. “Let me see your head,” I say, moving to his side.

“Bastard went crazy,” Axl says as I check him over. Other than a bump on the back of his skull, he looks okay. It isn’t even bleeding. “He must’ve seen the horde from the porch. Knocked me out, then tried to throw Vivian to the dead.”

“Why the hell would he do that?” Parv asks.

“He said we were slowing him down and he knew Angus would never leave us behind,” I say.

“Shit,” Jim mutters. “I knew the guy was nuts, but I never thought he’d do that.”

“Where the hell you’d get a gun?” Angus asks, turning on Axl.

“Last place we stopped.” Axl pulls the gun from his waistband. “Found it in the back and figured it’d be best if that asshole didn’t know.”

“Lucky you found it, then,” Angus says.

The others nod, and I suck in a deep breath. My ears are still ringing, but it’s gotten better. Now I can actually hear the zombies as they pound on the door.

“Are the other windows okay?” I ask, eyeing the furniture piled in front of the main window.

“Should be too high for the zombies,” Jim says, turning to examine the window to our left.

He’s right. This house is built over a cellar, so the main floor is at least three feet above the ground. Not too high for a human if they wanted to climb in, but we’ve never seen a zombie climb anything, and I doubt it would be able to pull itself up, break a window, and get inside.

At least I hope not.

“So we’re good?” I ask, looking around.

“Don’t think there’s nothin’ good ‘bout this,” Angus mutters.

“I should check on Ginny, then,” I say, heading for the stairs. There’s no reason to point out the absolute truth in Angus’s statement.

“Maybe you should go upstairs just in case,” Parv says to Angus. “If the zombies manage to break in you could lock yourself in a bedroom.”

Angus snorts. “I ain’t ‘bout to hide.”

I hurry up, only making it halfway before Ginny’s painful moans bring me back to reality. I’ll let the others worry about Angus. I’ve got other things on my mind, like the fact that Ginny is about to have a baby and we have no idea what to expect.

I shove the door open, and Joshua looks up from where he sits next to Ginny, holding her hand. He looks terrified but also in control. Which is good. Things have gotten even crazier than we could have imagined, and right now we need stay cool.

“Vivian,” Ginny gasps, reaching for me with her free hand.