Page 83 of Whispers of the Dead

Damon yanks me behind him. “Turn back. Now.”

We whirl around and sprint for the entrance we came from, only to slam into the locked door.

“No. No, no, no.” I shove my shoulder against it, but it doesn’t budge.

Damon grabs the handle, fisting it so hard I half expect itto break, but it doesn’t. “We’re trapped.” He slams his palm against the steel. “Our only option is to fight. Fucking shit. He said this tunnel would be clear.”

“You think it was a trap?” Cole faces the oncoming horde.

“No, Avery wouldn’t do that,” I say.

“Doesn’t mean the guy who led us here wouldn’t either. We don’t even know that guy,” Damon points out.

Benji swings the torch into a rotter’s skull. It crumples to the ground, but the others keep coming, unfazed. They claw at us with grotesque hands and yellowed nails. Lola snarls and lunges. Her teeth sink into a rotter’s calf, and her body twists with feral energy as she yanks it down to the dirt. The downed rotter thrashes, grasping for her, but she rips a chunk from its leg.

“Holy shit, Lola,” I breathe out.

“Knew I liked that dog,” Cole says.

I snap out of my amazement. “We have no weapons.”

Damon whips out a metal bar, like the dregs used. The next rotter that reaches us convulses before collapsing to the dirt with its head rolling away, detached from the neck.

“You grabbed a taser,” I say, a little breathless. “That was smart.”

He grins over his shoulder at me. “Figured it’d come in handy.”

Cole snaps a rotter’s neck with his bare hands, then hurls the body into another. “Eugene must’ve grabbed the second taser before he fled, because I couldn’t find it. I can’t wait to kill that bastard.”

Damon lunges forward and tases another rotter, leaving a space open in the process. “Yeah, get in line. He has a lot of deaths to die.”

A rotter stumbles toward me. I grab a loose rock from the ground and smash it into its face, caving in the skull. Lola barrels past me to slam into another rotter with her fullweight. She snaps her teeth at its leg, then its hip when it falls, then its throat, tearing it open with a vicious shake of her head, and I’m so glad she’s on my side. Rotter blood splatters across the tunnel walls.

Another rotter gets near me, but Cole grabs it by the throat, and slams it against the wall before tossing it down and stomping its head into the ground. I suddenly wish we would have found shoes for the guys before going on this adventure. We should have taken a detour to find some, or even steal them off the dead guys. I hate Eugene even more for not letting me put on any shoes before heading into that large room for the worst surprise of my life. I’m so tired of being barefoot.

Cole glares at Damon, but before he can say anything, another rotter reaches him.

I throw a wild punch, and my knuckles collide with the decayed jaw.

Another rotter stumbles toward me. I duck, grab another rock, and slam it into its eye socket.

Benji sweeps the torch forward, setting another rotter ablaze.

Damon shoves his taser into a rotter’s skull. “Keep moving!” He grabs my arm and yanks me back before another rotter swipes at my throat. “Our only way out is at the other end of the tunnel.”

A roaring scream tears through the space. I spin around, and my heart lurches.

After everything I’ve been through, I never thought something could shock me as much as the sight of Cole getting grabbed from behind while a rotter sinks its teeth toward his shoulder. There’s so much blood everywhere that I can’t tell what’s his and what’s the rotters’. The light from the torch moves around so much that it’s almost like watching an old movie out of focus.

Lola snarls and leaps. Her teeth sink into the rotter’sback. She tears at it, thrashing around until the creature topples off Cole. Damon is there in an instant, ripping the thing away from both of them and throwing it against the wall. He stomps its head into a pulp.

I take a step forward to help them when something slams into me. I hit the wall.

A rotter’s weight crushes against my chest. Its teeth snap inches from my face, and I choke on the foul breath. I shove my arms out to push it back as hard as I can, but it’s too big. Too strong. Its rotting fingers dig into my shoulders, forcing me against the jagged stone.

My arms shake. I can’t hold it off much longer.

There’s a flash of fire, then a burning torch is shoved into the rotter’s mouth. The creature jerks with intense violence as its body bursts into flames. Its skin melts away, and it collapses to the dirt.

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