Page 6 of Bound in Ashes

Jack wasn’t going to let that slide.

With that one glance, I knew it was time for the real reckoning.

I should have been afraid.

Instead, my pulse kicked with anticipation.

TWO

Asia

Jack circled the trucks and looked at the grass where corpses were strewn.

Then he locked his eyes with mine.

Looked at me like I was the next zombie to annihilate.

I took a step back.

Breathed squeezed from my lungs on a strangled exhale, and I swiped my hands down my thighs, needing to channel the trepidation⁠—

Who was I trying to kid?

It wasn’t trepidation.

It was fear.

Jack’s gaze didn’t waver as he marched toward me, more terrifying than all of the zombies we just killed.

Terrifying and enraged.

My instincts told me to try to placate him, soothe that undeniable rage.

Fear kept me in place.

And with each of his steps, everything faded.

The sound of my uncle and the men.

The livestock.

Everything.

The world, as insane and tumultuous as it was, had been reduced to one single thing.

One person.

“Jack,” I said, my voice low.

He walked so fast, he may as well have been running, but he stopped in front of me.

He was close enough that I had no doubt that he heard me, but he didn’t respond.

Didn’t even speak to me.

He dropped his weapon and reached up, his hands trembling.

He quickly brushed them against his pants, to wipe away the blood, or to steady himself. I wasn’t sure which.