Page 30 of Faith Among Monsters

My heart fucking stops.

“Faith,” I shout, my voice raw. “Faith! Fuck.”

I shove my gun into my waistband and drop to my knees, yanking a creature off her with one rough pull and tossing it aside like garbage.

Wilkes has his gun trained on it, his eyes sharp, but it doesn’t move. A knife juts from its mouth, the hilt glinting in the low light.

“Dax,” she says, her soft voice a balm.

It almost brings tears to my eyes.

She’s here, on the ground, bloodied but alive. A zombie, dead, lies beside her, its face frozen in a snarl.

I can’t think straight. I snatch her off the ground, pulling her tight against my chest as if I could shield her from all of this. “Inside,” I bark at Wilkes, my voice like gravel.

Faith clings to me, her breath warm against my neck. “What the hell are they on?” she whispers, her voice shaking.

I grit my teeth, the relief of having her alive clashing with my fury. “Isaidstay in that fucking room, didn’t I?” My voice is harsher than I mean it to be, but I can’t stop it. The fear clawing at me comes out like anger.

Inside, I set her down, my eyes immediately scanning her for injuries. “Do you hear me? Stay in the goddamn room.”

“One of them busted the door down!” she fires back, her voice just as sharp, her eyes blazing with defiance. “What the hell was I supposed to do? Wait to die?”

If I wasn’t so angry, if the fucking zombies weren’t still out there, I’d throw her against the wall and—focus, Dax.

Then I see it. Blood.

“Shit.” My hand goes to her side, where her shirt is torn. Blood streaks her skin. “Did it, did it scratch you? Bite you?” My voice drops, hoarse and desperate. “Faith, answer me.”

Her face twists in anger, and suddenly her hands slam against my chest.

“Don’t youevertalk to me like that!” she shouts, her voice rising, raw with fury. She pounds her fists against me, the blows light but relentless. “Don’tyou darestand there and tell me how to behave when youleft me!Youleft me!”

My chest tightens as she shoves at me again, her eyes brimming with tears.

“Do you know how hard it is to fight a goddamn maniac with a knife? Or to climb into a fucking air vent from a bed while the door is being bashed in?” Her voice breaks, but she keeps going, her words hitting like punches. “Or to fall from a rusted fire escape straight into this mess?”

She’s trembling now, tears spilling over as she pounds my chest one last time.

“And,” she bites out, her voice cracking, “What the hell are theyon?”

Wilkes lets out a low chuckle from the corner, shaking his head. “She’s yours, all right,” he mutters under his breath.

I ignore him, my focus locked on her as I pull her against me. She resists for a moment, but I hold her tighter, pressing my hand to the back of her head.

“We’re going to see the doc,” I say, my voice low but firm. “To answer all those questions. But first, are you sure? Did it get its teeth in you?”

She pulls back just enough to meet my eyes, her face pale but steady.

“No bites,” she says softly. “Just scratches from the vent and stairs and falling.”

I exhale, the weight on my chest easing just slightly.

Zombies.The word sounds insane, but what the hell else do you call it? Dead people eating not-dead people. And if they bite you, you’re done.

As crazy as it sounds, I know what this means.

And I know one thing for sure. If they’d gotten their teeth in her, I wouldn’t be standing here right now. I’d have burned the world to the fucking ground.

---