Chapter 96: 96

NADINE’S P.O.V

We barred the front door first. There wasn’t a lot of furniture left so we improvised.

We took scrap metal that we found lying around and slid a sturdy branch into the handles. I knew it wouldn’t do much, but I hoped it would be enough to deter them a little. We quietly made our way around the building.

Trent said they couldn’t smell us like we originally thought so as long as we stayed quiet, I figured we’d be safe. I could hear them rummaging around inside. I could hear them ripping things apart. The idea of killing them didn’t sound so appealing now that I knew that they used to people but they weren’t people any longer.

The back door was already shut, but we piled more things in front of it.

“I found something,” Joshua whispered. He stood in front of what looked like a little shed.

“What is it?”

“Alcohol.”

“Why is there alcohol in a shed? It doesn’t make sense.”

I made my way over, wondering if he was shitting me, but he was right. Inside the shed, hidden behind some work tools were several bottles of alcohol. It looked like we’d stumbled across someone’s secret stash.

There were bottles of whiskey and cheap beer. All of them unopened and forgotten.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” he asked, his lip quirking.

“Alcohol is an accelerant,” I mumbled as I grabbed a bottle. “it would be a shame for it to go to waste.”

We grabbed as many bottles as we could, emptying them around the building. We did so as quietly but quickly as possible and we almost got away with it. We would’ve if a bottle didn’t smash.

I’d stopped abruptly, I didn’t know Joshua was behind me. He walked right into me and the bottle fell to the floor. The sound echoed through the air and I froze, hoping and praying that they didn’t manage to hear.

For a second, I thought we’d gotten away with it when I heard a window smash behind us. I didn’t wait to see, I just took off running.

A scream crawled up my throat but I forced it down. The last thing I wanted was to attract more monsters. If we were lucky, it was just this one and we could outrun it.

A snarl pierced the air, followed by heavy footsteps as the monster ran towards us.

“Duck, Nadine!”

I didn’t wait to hear why, I did as Joshua asked, bending over with my hands over my head to shield me. It was not a moment too soon because the monster leaped over us, snarling in front of me.

I reached for my knife, throwing it and I watched as it sunk straight into the monster’s skull. It fell to the ground with a loud thud and a whine. I knew we only had a moment before the others would find us.

I retrieved my knife and turned to Joshua. “Do you have a match or a lighter?”

He nodded. “Why?”

“Start the fire.”

“Nadine-”

“Start it now.”

He murmured a small curse under his breath before nodding and reaching into his pocket for the lighter. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

“I hope so too.”

It only took a second for the fire to start. It licked up the path of booze we’d created, climbing up the walls and into the building. I didn’t wait to watch what we started, I just headed for the front doors. It was well past twenty minutes and I knew for a fact that Rowan would be pissed and worried.

The thought had barely crossed my mind when Rowan rounded the corner. He reeked of diesel and fuel but that didn’t matter to me as he wrapped his arms around me.

“What the fuck happened?” he asked. “Why didn’t you show?” I opened my mouth to speak when he noticed the fire behind us. “Fucking hell.”

“We found some booze,” I told him. “One of the creatures heard us. They’ll notice the fire soon. They’ll start trying to run. Amy will wait for us before-”

A loud bang filled the air. My ear drums rang as the entire ground shook.

“Look!” Joshua yelled. One glance up at the sky showed bright orange flames. “I thought she was supposed to wait.”

“Apparently not. We have to go. If she already blew up the can then we have seconds before the generator blows up too.”

He didn’t need to explain, I already knew what that meant.

I ran as fast as my legs could carry me.

Amy was already waiting at the gate, holding the metal open for us. Behind us, I could hear the fire crackling, I could hear the monsters howling as they tried to find their way out.

“Come on!” Amy screamed. “Quickly!”

I’d barely crossed out of the fence when I heard something break. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that they’d broken through the front door. They rushed out in pairs, some with bad burns, some covered in flames already.

“They’re escaping. We should-”

“There’s nothing we can do.” Rowan placed a hand between my shoulder blades and gently pushed me. “We have to save ourselves. The place is going to blow in-”

I’d seen explosions on television. I’d seen how destructive they could be. I’d listened to experts describe how catastrophic an explosion was. I was so paranoid when I was younger that I never took electronics into the kitchen.

As the building exploded, I couldn’t help but remember one description that stood out to me.

Someone once described it as beautiful. He said that the colors almost made you forget how deadly it could be. He said it felt like coming face to face with the sun: breathtaking but dangerous.

I was thrown back hard. I barely had time to register Rowan wrapping his arms around me and taking the brunt of the hit as we slammed into the hard ground. Even though we were so far from the fire, I could feel the heat against my cheeks and skin.

I barely registered screaming but I wasn’t sure if it was from me or from someone else because nothing made sense. My ears were ringing, my head pounding and my throat dry.

The howls of pain were barely audible over my confusion.

“We need to go,” Rowan mouthed. It took three tries for me to understand what he was saying. “We have to get out. The fire will spread.”

I nodded slowly and allowed him pull me to my feet.

My ears were still ringing, my legs still shaky but I managed to walk. Each step felt like torture.

Amy and Joshua were behind us, following closely. Neither one of them looked much better than I felt.

I couldn’t tell how long we walked, but it felt like hours. We didn’t stop until we had to, until our legs couldn’t carry us any longer. Thankfully, we were able to make it to a small store. Thankfully, the door was open because I doubted Rowan could pick the lock.

“Do you think they’re all dead?” Amy asked as soon as we got into the small, dark space. “Did we kill them all?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Some were already running. We don’t know how tough they are.”

She exhaled deeply. “What do we do now?”

Unfortunately, I didn’t have an answer to that.

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