Page 106 of Dark Fey Captive

Gwen pushed the bundle through the opening as Lettie and I ripped more screen away. The length unraveled, almost touching the ground.

“It’s tied off. I’ll go first,” Gwen said.

I nodded and helped her shimmy her lower half out. With her feet gripping the first knot, she eased herself over the edge.

Lettie and I kept an eye on the infected as she quickly and quietly descended. One of the survivors had fallen behind, and they were attacking him. A good distraction for us. Bad for him.

Gwen landed softly. Lettie hurried to follow. She was halfway down when the guy stopped screaming. I scrambled to get my lower half out the window. Lettie was almost to the ground. I couldn’t wait. Either the infected would notice us or the group in the lower room would. One had teeth; the other had guns.

Suddenly, I free-fell several inches, the length still firmly in my grasp, before it jerked taut again. I scrambled down faster, knowing it couldn’t take both our weights. It let loose when I still had six feet to go.

I landed hard, jarring my knees and twisting my ankle. Gwen pulled at my arm.

Gritting my teeth through the pain, I ran with her. Not fast enough, though. Lettie was sprinting ahead.

Gwen was looking behind us.

“Run, Arena!”

That she wasn’t worried about keeping quiet spurred me more than anything.

I saw Nav. He raced toward us, passing Lettie.

“Go,” he said to Gwen, scooping me up.

She ran ahead of him.

Safe in his arms, I looked behind us. Several infected were chasing us. More were fighting to get in through the shot-out window where several dead infected were draped over the sill. In the room above it, I saw a window open.

A handgun appeared.

My eyes went wide as it veered toward us instead of the infected below.

“Nav!”

The word barely left my mouth when the report rang out.

Nav stumbled and kept running.

I looked at his tight expression. He pulled me in tighter toward his chest, ensuring I wouldn’t get hit before the second shot echoed around us. He jerked again.

“Fucking dodge, Nav!” I said through my tears.

He glanced at me and smiled.

Smiled.

“You said forever,” I said. “You better keep your word.”

“Start the engine,” Gwen yelled.

We reached the dock. Nav sprinted toward the end where Asha was chucking supplies into the boat as fast as possible. Gwen helped her. Lettie scrambled aboard.

Nav reached the supplies and dropped to his knees. For a second, I wondered what he was doing. Then I realized that was it. He’d carried me as far as he could. Right to the end of the dock with the last of his strength.

I scrambled out of his arms and looked at his back.

“He was shot twice,” I said, looking at the twin rivulets of blood coming from the two holes. At least it was slow.