With a bolt of adrenaline, I jumped over the couch and he came for me, a manic rage filling his eyes as he followed. I grabbed one of Saint’s pretentious pieces of abstract art that was nothing but twisted metal and threw it at him with a yell of defiance. He ducked it, coming at me faster as the smile on his face fell away and a grimace took its place.
I gazed over his shoulder to the door, my hopes failing as he continued to block my path.
“I’ll teach you how to show gratitude,” he growled, cupping his junk at me and fear crashed through my body. He hounded forward and I threw another punch as he got too close, one to the gut and a second to his side. He caught my wrist on the third blow and twisted until I screamed.
He threw a meaty fist at me and I was too slow to escape it as it slammed into my chest and knocked me down into Saint’s armchair beneath him. Pain blossomed through my skin and it took several seconds to catch my breath.
Merl leered over me, laughing as he reached out to get a hold of me, but there was no chance I was going to let him touch me with his greasy hands. I threw the heel of my palm into his chin with a shout of rage and his head snapped backwards.
I scrambled over the back of the chair as fast as I could then raced down the hallway as his footsteps came after me again.
He was like the fucking terminator.
I rushed into Blake’s room, throwing the door shut behind me but there was no fucking key in the lock. It flew open the second I made it to the bathroom and I raced across the pristine tiles as the creep chased after me. I threw the next door wide, rushing into Kyan’s room, my gaze set on the window.
My heart thumped madly as I jumped onto the bed, hurrying over it and hopping down on the other side, reaching the window. I fumbled with the catch, my fingers shaky and it cost me too much time. Merl wrapped a hand in my hair and yanked me backwards, tossing me onto the bed. I screamed as he dropped over me, the scent of tobacco and body odour filling my nose. His hand latched around my throat and he pressed his full weight down to keep me in place as I thrashed wildly beneath him.
“Does Kyan Roscoe know how to fuck as well as he fights?” he purred as I thumped and kicked and scratched, his grip so tight, my vision was already fading. “I made a pretty penny on you two that night at the pit. But I’ve been fighting since you and your boyfriend were just a babe, sweet girl. You can’t win this bout.” He curled a finger in my hair, admiring it.
Sickness swirled in my stomach as I started to black out. But I couldn’t give up. If darkness claimed me, this man was going to do unspeakable things to me. And I couldn’t – no, I fucking wouldn’t let that happen.
An answer came to me and I stuffed my hand under Kyan’s pillow, my fist closing around the huge ass hunting knife he kept there.
I slashed it toward my attacker, slicing it into his side and he roared in pain, releasing me in an instant as he reared back.
I was up like lightning, dragging down lungfuls of air as I slid off the bed, stumbling into the nightstand as I fought the dizziness his attack had brought on.
Come on, move, Tatum, move!
“You fucking bitch!” Merl’s voice carried to me as my ears rang and everything faded in and out of focus.
I have to move.
Have to run.
The world started to sharpen again and I ran for the door just as he got off the bed, clutching his side. I just saw the flash of murder in his eyes before I fled out of sight, sprinting down the hall as fast as I could and tearing back into the lounge.
My eyes locked on the exit, but before I got there, a fight broke out. Punches were thrown and toilet paper went flying as an all-out riot filled the doorway, shouts of rage and desperation tearing through the air.
“I’m coming for you, whore!” the booming voice of my attacker turned my blood to ice.
There was no way out. No fucking way.
Except…shit!
I turned towards the crypt, powering across the room and taking the steps two at a time as I threw the door open and ran down down down, tearing through the gym as my lungs laboured in my chest.
Just keep moving. Never stop moving.
I sped through the archway, passing the prayer rooms where all of the food had been stockpiled, sprinting past them to the gate on the other side of the space. Saint had said the tunnels would lead me all the way out to Sycamore Beach. It was my only hope.
The keys hung on the wall and I snatched them from the hook, trying the first one in the gate. I jiggled it in the lock, but it didn’t give and I swore as my hands shook even harder.
Yanking the key out, I tried the other one, knowing I was wasting precious seconds.
“Well lookee here. I’ll kill some time with you, blondie, then keep all this food for myself.”
I glanced back at Merl as he strode toward me with a hungry glint in his eyes.
With my hands shaking like crazy, I forced the key to turn.
The gate swung inwards and I leapt forward, turning back to shut it with a yell of hope. His huge body barrelled into the metal gate and I was forced back as I couldn’t hold it.
I fled, terror bouncing through my limbs as I tore off into the darkness, hearing his boots thumping along behind me.
I ran harder and faster than I ever had in my life, but he kept coming after me.
I clutched the knife tighter in my grip and sprinted into the pitch black, praying I wouldn’t stumble or fall or find myself at a dead end. Because if I did, I was going to have to fight for my damn life.
I ran uphill as fast as I could, sprinting flat out towards the church spire I could see poking out above the trees beyond the lake.
My heart was thrashing with panic and my muscles burned with an electric energy which begged to be set loose on these fuckers who had come to destroy our bubble of sanctuary.
At the last staff meeting, we’d discussed the idea of looters trying to come up here now that the stores were running so low on essential supplies, but Brown had been convinced that we were nowhere near the point at which that would be a concern. Well now look. Look what had come from being underprepared and overestimating the good in people.
I should have known better. I’d seen first hand how ruthless people could be when it came down to it. At the end of the day, when someone was backed into a corner, all of their morals went out the window. Even the sweetest little old lady would cut your throat if it meant her grandkids didn’t starve to death. It was the human condition. And I couldn’t claim to be any better. All I could claim was that I didn’t have a single soul in this world to look out for like that aside from myself. Or at least I’d thought I could claim that. Until Tatum Rivers had called on me begging for help.
I couldn’t remember the last time someone had needed me like that. Hell, I couldn’t think of a single other person in the world who would even consider calling me. Let alone calling me first. So either Tatum was just as alone as I was in this godforsaken place or she actually trusted me more than anyone else.
I didn’t know if the idea of that terrified or thrilled me, but I did know there was no fucking way I was going to let her down.
I didn’t know what the fuck had happened during that call, but the screams had been enough to send my imagination into overdrive. I’d started running for The Temple instantly and as I’d closed in on it I’d finally remembered something that could help me. I could see exactly where she was using the GPS tracker on her watch. And as I checked it again, my heart leapt as I saw that she’d made it out of the church.