Page 29 of Desiderium
I can’t just stand here and watch this like some fucking incompetent damsel.
I have to do something.
Now.
I run out of the water and edge to the far side of the beach. Regardless of Hawk’s orders, I need to provide a diversion in order to give the guys enough room between them and the zombies to get off the beach and into the water where it’s safe. I take the silencer off of my pink pistol and shoot off one…two…three…four rounds into the air.
The loud shots get their attention and, as a group, they turn and head in my direction, letting Jax, Hawk and Cole make it into the water. Confirming their safety finally lets me release a breath of relief, but only to have my breath stolen all over again.
“Ah fuck…”
I knew this could happen—that my diversion could draw attention to me rather than simply confusing them for a few seconds—but the sudden change of events makes me freeze in my steps. Panic crawls up my chest, closing my throat. Tunnel vision takes over.
Oh shit…
“ALY RUN!!!!”
The muffled distant sounds hit my ears, but do nothing to calm the tsunami inside my brain. They’re coming. I see death in their eyes. My death. It’s pure intoxicating oblivion racing towards me. A stampede of reckoning, calling for my demise.
Move...
I know I should run. To try and escape. To flee into the safety the water provides. But my body simply won’t listen. It’s shutting down.
I’ve been here before...
They’re getting closer. Within a matter of seconds, they’ll be on top of me. And then.... then it won’t matter. The men I love will be safe and if I managed to achieve that, it would have all been worth it.
Something wet and sharp grabs ahold of my hand and pulls, dragging me out of my stupor and into the mess I’ve made for myself. I’m still numb, ready to face the end, but somehow, my sluggish gaze manages to look down and see what’s gnawing at me.
Sadie.
She shouldn’t be here.
She should be in the water.
Where the guys are.
Where I should be.
But she’s not.
She’s here with me.
Risking it all to protect and save me.
Good girl.
Persistently, she keeps pulling on my hand, gentle enough to not hurt but tense enough to let me know she’s not giving up on me. Her little whines draw more and more of my focus away from my impending doom.
Ok, girl, lead the way.
Finally, my feet start to move. Step by step. Inch by inch. Before I know it, we’re back in the water. Safe. I can hear the undead screeching their defeat from the water’s edge.
When I’m soaked to my thighs, I turn and see the horde swarming the area where we just were mere seconds ago and all the way down to the shoreline. I don’t understand it, but something keeps them from entering the water. Hawkknew about it, though. He knew I’d be safe offshore. That they couldn’t get me here. I wonder if this is how they escaped them last year?
The water creeps past my thighs, then my hips, and finally my chest and shoulders. I still can’t swim for shit, but with a little help from Sadie, buoying my one side, I’m able to make some progress, not stopping my little doggy paddle until I see Hawk, sprinting through the water, swimming as hard as he can in order to get to us.
“Aly, oh my God. What the fuck?! I told you not to move!” Hawk’s voice cracks as he berates me while closing the distance, his eyes telling me just how terrified my little act of defiance made him. He grabs me anyways, pulling me into him, holding me up as he treads water, before burying his lips into my hair. “I told you not to move...,” he rasps out as his trembling hands map out my entire body, searching for any damage. When he’s satisfied that I’m not physically injured, he kisses my forehead, refusing to remove his lips from my skin even as he speaks again. “Don’t you fucking do that again. Do you hear me?” The anxious and exhausted sound reverberating out of him is absolutely bone chilling. “Do you hear me?!” He repeats louder, more forcefully, fully expecting me to answer him.
