I’d cut down infected and ungodly with the twins at my front and the kings at my back.
I’d dodged—they’d attacked.
They’d dodged—I’d thrust.
On repeat.
For hours.
We’d picked up the discarded weapons of the infected, and all of us had fought with the more dangerous enchanted swords while the infected screamed and ungodly screeched in the darkness.
It had been hard to discern the locations of my teammates as they’d moved like shadows around our foe.
It had been messy.
Disturbing.
I’d only used the sword and had hesitated to fling daggers because I could not ensure that I wouldn’t hit someone on my side. It had been hours of close combat.
My arms had trembled from exertion.
Then, about an hour ago, a sudden explosion had collapsed a portion of the large room where the fighting was concentrated, and my earpiece had fallen out.
Enchanted swords had swung through the rubble in a blur of bodies. Ungodly had screeched and attacked beside them.
I’d stumbled out into a hall.
I’d barely had time to throw a dagger at an ungodly’s neck as I’d brandished my enchanted sword.
The ungodly had surrounded me.
Dust had been in my eyes, and bricks had been falling.
Bedlam.
I’d turned and sprinted, fighting off ungodly as they chased after me as I ran into the dark. It was disorienting.
The building was a maze of overlapping narrow halls. False walls and dead ends.
That was about an hour ago.
In the present, I sprinted around yet another corner, struggling to breathe as frustration made me panicky.
Squelsh. I kicked something wet.
Torches flickered and illuminated the streaks of gore and entrails that covered the corridor.
Had I already run past that severed head? Was I going in circles?
I kept running forward, refusing to look down at the severed body parts strewn over the stone floor like discarded clothes.
The stench was awful.
Gore covered mostly everything in the compound.
Every hidden room.
Corridor.
Crack and crevice.
I struggled to breathe, and ice crackled as it spread out around me and encased the body parts.
“Stay calm, find the rest of the team,” Jinx’s voice echoed fuzzily in my head.
A part of me was convinced I was hallucinating her voice and I just wanted it to be our guardian-angel connection.
I was lost.
Bond sickness made me queasy, but it wasn’t unimaginable pain, which meant the kings still had to be nearby.
I was most likely running in some sort of circle outside the big room where the battle was concentrated. What didn’t make sense was that I should have run around and found the entrance by now.
The only logical explanation was I was going in a circle.
A scream bubbled up my throat.
Stupid corridors.
I ran faster through the dark, stumbling and desperate. Panicky.
If only I could find them.
A bone-chilling bear’s roar echoed louder than before.
Shadows stretched and contorted around me as the silence smothered.
I was losing my mind.
Without sunlight, I couldn’t tell if we’d been fighting for hours or days. The compound housed thousands of people, and the battle felt never-ending. It didn’t help that almost every infected was armed.
I was lost in a sprawling compound filled with trained warriors.
A mecca of ungodly.
My foot cramped in my boot as I turned another corner, arches burning as I searched desperately for a door out of the maze.
I slipped again but kept my eyes straight ahead as I pretended not to see the streaks of gore in my peripheral vision.
The corridor was gleaming in cobalt ice.
I was losing control.
Walls and floors melded as my vision blurred. Everything was spinning.
I was losing my mind.
I turned down another dark corridor, then skidded to a stop, then doubled back—it was the outline of another hidden door.
Tightening my core, I kicked and prayed it was an entrance to the main battle where I’d lost my teammates. I prayed the men were inside.
Wood splintered, and it whipped open.
I was wrong.
An infected woman screamed and swung a sword at my face.
My reflexes were the only thing that saved me as I brandished my stolen weapon.
My stomach sank as I took in the cramped dark bedroom.
Sparks flew as steel banged together, and I towered above my foe, taller and stronger. I easily overpowered the infected and pushed my sword closer to her neck.
Her features glowed in the blue light of our enchanted swords.
Innocent eyes were wide with fear. “Why?” the woman whispered brokenly.