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Trent shakes his head. “We didn’t do anything you wouldn’t have done for us. It’s nothing special. Go to sleep.”
Ryan nods silently before sprawling out beside me. He’s between me and the door again, a position I’m begi
It’s not long before Ryan is snoring away. I look across the fire at Trent, giving him a small smile.
“So,” I say softly, “how much trouble are you guys going to be in really?”
Trent watches me for a second, his face blank. Finally, he says, “A lot.”
I nod, hating it but knowing it’s true. I’m glad he’s willing to be real with me about it. “What can I do?”
“Nothing. What’s done is done.”
“I really am sorry. I didn’t mean to do this to you both.”
“It’ll be worse for Ryan than for me. They were like a family to him. I was only there because of Ryan and Kevin.”
“How did you all end up together?”
He smirks. “How do any of us end up together?”
“You don’t want to talk about it.”
“Not any more than you do. Don’t feel bad about it, though.”
“Which part?” I chuckle unhappily.
“Any of it. I don’t mind and Ryan wouldn’t have done things any differently. If you needed his help, he was going to give it.”
I frown, shaking my head slightly. I’m too embarrassed to look him in the eyes anymore.
“I can’t understand that.”
“Are you sure?”
I shake my head again.
“How many times did you go back under the water for him? How many breathes did you give up? How many would you have given?”
All of them. Every last one of them. I never would have stopped.
I feel dizzy. Disoriented. I take several deep breathes, trying to get my bearings. Trying to find my center, my numb, but it’s been gone too long. I can’t get it back. I want to retreat into myself and hide from everything, all of it that’s not working and the things that are working too well, but I can’t. I’m in the thick of it now. I’m living life surrounded by so many more things than I realized were out there, so many more dangers than I ever dreamed of. There’s so much more to fear than just the Risen, the Colonists and the gangs. There’s so much more to gain. To lose.
I look up at Trent, about to ask him to tell me the story of how he met up with Ryan and Kevin, even if it means I have to tell my own in return. I’m ready for that. I think I can do it. I at least want to try. But the look on his face freezes my breath in my throat.
“What is it?” I whisper, knowing whatever it is, it isn’t good.
Trent stares at me patiently, his weird, light eyes looking white in the firelight.
“We aren’t walking out of here in the morning,” he replies, his deep voice vibrating through my bones.
I swallow hard. “Why not?”
“Because they’re coming.”
My vision goes fu
“I can hear them,” he interrupts me, his voice hushed and calm. “They’re not even trying to hide themselves. They want us to know.”
“Why?” I whisper, my eyes glued on his. My ears straining to hear the evil that speaks only to him.
“Because,” he says, his voice dipping lower. I can hear it then, behind his words. Footsteps. Slow, unhurried. Patient. “They want us to run.”
I bite my lip until I taste blood, willing myself not to cry out. Not to jump up and run, to leave them both behind.
“Who?”
I hear the screech of metal over the pavement. It’s not far off. A blade being drug over the ground. A warning. A promise.
“You know who.”
I nod hard.
“The ca
Chapter Nineteen
Vashon Island
Ali stands at the edge of the water, separated from the rest of the crowd. They’re shouting with excitement because they think they’ve won. But she knows this enemy better than most. Not all of them were there at the start. Not all of them watched the evil grow, seeding from one man, one idea, to ten then twenty then a hundred. Thousands. Tonight, this victory, it’s only the begi
This was always how it was going to end.
“They’re on the run,” Jordan tells her, coming to stand behind her.
She shakes her head. “Tonight they are, but tomorrow…”
“I know.”
And he does. He was there with her at the start. He saw it all.
“Are you hiding?” he asks quietly.
Ali sighs. “I swore I never would again.”
“They’re going to come looking for you soon. Once they realize the prisoners are gone.”
“I know.”
“Are you sure about them?”
She chuckles darkly. “As sure as I am about anything.”
“Sam agrees with you.”
“That is remarkably comforting.”
“Taylor is going to side with you too. He doesn’t believe they were Colony spies. He thinks they were idiots, but not spies.”
“They’re just young,” she says, sounding sad and tired, “and desperate.”
Jordan wraps his arms around her from behind, resting his chin on the top of her head of long, dark hair. She takes his hand in hers.
“I can remember being that desperate,” he mumbles.
“Me too. It’s part of why I let them go.”
“What was the other part?”
She smiles. “They knew Crenshaw.”
He chuckles behind her, shaking her body with the movement. “Oh, Persephone. You have such a soft spot.”
“You’re just jealous he never gave you a name.”
“I’m hurt he named you after a woman married to the king of Hell. What does that say about me?”
“It says you’re strong. Strong enough to endure.”
“Hmm,” he murmurs thoughtfully, not buying it.
“Do you think they made it?” she asks.
“I don’t know. Maybe, if they were lucky.”
“I lost sight of them once most of the ships were burning.”
“It’s a beautiful night for it.”
She grins. “For what exactly?”
When he speaks, she can hear the familiar sound of a smile in his voice. “For smiting your enemies.”
“You know what’s sad?”
“Soy milk.”
She rolls her eyes. “Jordan.”
“It’s not real milk, Ali. It’s imposter crap and I won’t drink it. I won’t drink a lie.”
“Jordan.”
“Tell me. What’s sadder than soy milk?”
“This isn’t the first time I’ve stood in the dark with you watching the world burn.”
He pauses, going serious. “It’s not even the second time.”
“More like fifth.”
“Sixth, I think.”
She sighs heavily, turning to look up at him with watery eyes. “When will it end? When will Beth be safe?”
“I don’t know,” he says softly, shaking his head. He lifts his hand to press it against her cheek. To wipe a stray tear away. “Probably never. Not unless—“
“Unless?”
His eyes drift past her to the burning boats. To the fire on the water. To the shore on the other side swarming with zombies, Colonists and gangs. To the world they outnumber. A world they could easily overrun if only given the right incentive. The right reasons. The right time.
“Unless we end it.”
Watch out for the next book in the
Survival Series, Tearing Down the Wall.
Coming Summer 2014!
Keep reading for the first chapter from
Tracey Ward’s highly rated
sci-fi novel, Sleepless.
Available now!
Prologue
Nick
The first time I saw her, I was dead.
I was rolling down the river with two coins for the Ferryman, heading out onto the infinite, black sea. Worst of all, I was going without a fight.