AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The darkness fades. Not completely, but enough to see the comforting amber eyes staring up at me, and the beautiful pink lips forming words I can’t make out. I think she’s saying my name. She looks worried. She shouldn’t look this worried. I can fix it if I can figure out what’s bothering her.
The passing days.
My dead friends.
Alone. Alone. Alone.
Her lips press against mine and the world stops.
Her fingers curl in, lightly scratching my cheeks, and the empty forms of my friends disappear.
Her body presses against mine and the darkness fades.
My hands cup her face, one sliding back to grip her hair. We break our kiss and the sounds come back. The birds in the trees above. Footsteps pounding the earth, getting closer. Our breaths coming out in pants and mingling in the air between us.
“William,” she whispers. I can hear her now. Not clearly, but she’s coming through. “Come back to me, William.”
“How did you get here?” I tip my head down until our foreheads are touching, her gentle hands still on the sides of my face.
“The gunshots. I heard them and came running. You were the only one I didn’t see. Then I saw this hole caved in. I screamed your name, but you couldn’t hear me, so I jumped down.”
“Now you’re stuck, too.” Guilt gnaws at me. She’s trapped down here now and it’s all because of me. The only person who’s life I care about, other than my two best friends. Another life I’ve ruined.
“Stay with me, William.” Her hands press against my cheeks, applying pressure and grounding me. “We’re not stuck. Griffin and Max will get us out. And even if they don’t, you and I could work together to get out of here. We’re not trapped here, William, I promise you that. You’re not alone.”
Her words touch a part of me I didn’t know could still be reached. Somewhere deep inside of me. My eyes flutter closed and I breathe her in. The scent of the living overpowering the stench of the dead. She’s here with me. I’m not alone anymore.
Something hangs alongside the wall beside us. A rope. “Take it,” she says. “I’ll be right behind you.”
“I’m not leaving you down here.” My eyes pop open and meet hers. She looks as stubborn as I feel.
“Neither am I,” she whispers.
“We threw down the rope, someone can climb,” Griffin’s voice calls from above.
“Find a ladder,” Emily calls up to them without breaking eye contact.
“We didn’t see a ladder,” Max adds.
“Then make one,” she says. “We’re climbing out together.”
Minutes pass. Maybe hours. I don’t know, time means nothing. I’ve got Emily in my arms, fighting away my demons. All that matters is her. Her mere presence pushes back images she’ll never see. Images that have haunted me every day since the dead rose.
Eventually, two ladders appear beside us. One sturdy and metal, and the other handmade with ropes and pieces of wood. I make Emily take the more sturdy one and we climb out together. She refuses to take a step faster than me and I realize that this woman jumped into a dark hole of the unknown solely because I was in trouble. No one’s done that since Griffin did all those months ago.
Now, as I sit by the fire while she leans with her back against my chest, and my arms around her, I realize something monumental.
I’m no longer alone.
“How are you holding up?”
Griffin looks up from where he’s leaning over the counter, studying something. “My stitches are perfectly fine,” he growls, making me smile. Emily has been giving him shit for busting his stitches and his reaction has been worth it every time one of us asks.
“You’re lucky we had that first aid kit. I can’t imagine how she would’ve tried to fix you up otherwise.”
“Yeah, yeah. Did you come in here for something other than giving me shit? Are you and Max on a schedule now?”
I grin and shake my head. “No, but that’s a good idea. Let me go find Max.”
