Page 77 of Ghosts of the Dead

“Shut up,” I whisper, but the words are lost in the sounds of pursuit.

Coward. Hiding. Always hiding, Casper.

I tighten my arms around Autumn and will the ghosts to disappear. I push them to the edges of my vision while I focus on the faint moonlight streaming ahead.

We’re almost there.

Luna lets out a warning bark when a rotter lunges from behind an overturned car in front of us. She launches herself at it, tearing the leg from its socket so it crashes to the asphalt, creating an opening for us to pass.

The tunnel is practically trembling now. Groans of metal and cracking stone echo around us. The rotters are howling, furious, and close. The kind of close that crawls along my spine and screams that it’s too late. Still, I keep running and leaping over cars and I don’t stop until we burst into the light of Mars’s flashlight.

Jace and Mars are at the end of the tunnel, straining against the old shell of a car. They shove it across the mouth of the tunnel.

“Move!” Mars shouts through the tunnel at us.

Sweat streaks down his bruised chest as he braces his shoulder against the car. Jace’s teeth grit, muscles straining, the vehicle groaning in protest.

We clear the tunnel right as the rotters slam into the other side of the car. The metal shudders and groans beneath their weight, but it holds. For now, at least.

An engine starts up and light floods the space. “Fucking show off,” Mars mutters before shoving me and Autumn out of the way.

A semi truck drives past us with Jace behind the wheel.He jumps out moments before the truck crashes into the mouth of the tunnel, crushing the car he just helped Mars move. The engine dies and smoke filters out.

Luna prances around with a rotter’s leg in her mouth. Her fur is matted with something I don’t want to think about.

I drop to my knees in the dirt, still holding Autumn in my arms. “You okay?” I croak out.

She pulls back to look at me, breathless. “Yeah. You?”

I exhale, the kind that empties everything I’ve been holding in. It takes every ounce of strength I have to not collapse from exhaustion. The rotters weren’t the only thing I was racing against in the dark back there. I was racing my ghosts. And this time, I won.

Casper. Worthless. Weak. You’ll never outrun us.

My parents’ voices are fainter now, pushed back by the moonlight, by Autumn’s warmth in my arms, by Luna pressing against my side and my friends always keeping us safe.

“Still breathing.” Then, somehow, I manage a grin. It’s tired and shaky, but it’s there. “Guess that’s my heroic moment for the day.”

Her smile stretches wide, and for one perfect second, the world feels quiet again. The ghosts retreat, and all I hear is her breath, all I feel is her heartbeat thudding strong against mine.

“Pretty impressive for someone afraid of the dark,” she whispers, leaning her forehead against mine.

“I think I’m going to be okay, Autumn,” I pant out, my voice shaking. “I think I did it.”

And this time, the voices stay silent.

The world is tooquiet now, despite the rotters howling behind layers of steel.

Lucy is nowhere in sight, and Autumn paces the edge of the clearing with frustration simmering in her eyes.

We think it took us too long to get through the tunnel and we missed her, so we’re going to stay in the area and see if Lucy appears the next night. The area isn’t bad. There’s a small wooded space, a large clearing, and a rundown laundromat where Autumn was supposed to meet Lucy. The place has been gutted, so it’s nothing but concrete walls. Not even a single chair was left behind. It’s not too different from the campsite we left behind.

The others are doing what they can while we wait. Jace scavenges for food and supplies. Mars feeds scraps of dry wood into weak flames to get a roaring fire going. Luna walks a perimeter by Autumn’s side. Everyone is doing something, but I don’t move.

I lean against a tree with my eyes closed and my arms crossed like I’m fine. As though I’m not shaking under the surface. The moment the adrenaline fades, the cracks start to bleed again.

Every time I close my eyes, the tunnel replays like a nightmare on loop. I see the rotters reaching out for us. Feel Autumn’s hand slipping from mine. Remember how she felt in my arms while I carried her in a blind panic. I taste the dust in my throat, hear the sound of rocks crashing down around us, and feel the breathless panic that nearly consumed me.

Then, further back, is home. Screaming. Shouting. The crash of fists against walls. The voices that always said my name wrong, like it was a joke and a weapon all at once, wielded by the ones who gave it to me. My brother standing between me and the worst of it, always taking the hits. Always bleeding so I didn’t have to. Now he never has to bleed again.

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