He spotted his laser pistol beside him. He had one chance to get this right. He moved one hand and snatched at the pistol. The zombie was already pushing forward, its gaze on his throat. Nik jammed the pistol into the creature’s face and fired. Even with part of its face gone, it was still trying to get at him, moaning and snarling.
A sword slashed down and the creature’s head rolled away.
He looked up. “You should have gotten out!”
Nera extended a hand. “You’re welcome.”
“You were right near the exit.” Anger poured through him. “Why didn’t you get to safety?”
She just raised a brow. “We need to keep moving.”
“Phoenix? Darc?” Galen’s voice came across the static-filled comm line. “We’re all out. Where are you two?”
Dammit. Nik eyed the distance to the entrance, and the mass of zombies busy chewing on the agents they’d managed to kill. “We’re on the other side of the lobby, we’ll?—”
“No time.” Nera pushed Nik and pointed. Another mob of zombies was loping in from a different corridor.
Completely cutting them off from the front door.
Shit. His chest tightened. Now they had nowhere to go.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Nera looked around. “We need to climb. Up there.” She pointed.
Nik spotted the mezzanine display level that ringed the lobby. “What if they can climb?”
But she was already pressing a small button on the wrist of her gloves. After New York, they’d both traded their regular gloves in for these upgraded versions the security team used. She pressed a hand to the wall and then climbed upward like a spider.
She glanced back at him. “If you have a better idea, I’m open to it. After we put a little distance between us and them.”
He pressed the button to activate his nano-gloves. The tech in them let them adhere to the wall like old Earth geckos. He shot a final glance at the converging zombies, and climbed.
He reached the ledge a moment after Nera did and pulled himself over. He looked down at the lobby.
The zombies couldn’t climb. They could jump, and a few of them were slamming themselves against the walls, trying to reach Nik and Nera. But the ledge was too high.
“They don’t have enough coordination,” Nera said.
Nik touched his ear. “Galen? Avril? We’ve reached a safe location on a high ledge in the lobby. But there are too many zombies. We can’t make it out.”
Galen cursed. “Fuck. Okay, hold on for now.” He sounded a little out of breath, and Nik guessed he and the others were running back to the ship.
“How long until we reach radiation exposure?” Nik asked Nera.
She stared at her timepiece. “Twenty-five minutes.”
He closed his eyes. There was no way they’d make it back in time. “Gunn. That asshole made sure the zombies herded me right across the damn lobby.”
“Really?”
That low, lethal voice raised the hairs on his neck. He opened his eyes. “You can’t kill him. And you should have gotten out when you had the chance.”
“Shut up, Niklas.”
He sucked in a breath. Then he reached out and grabbed her hand. “Hell of a second date.”
She made a small, choked sound that might have been a laugh.
