AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’ve got it.” Dustin mumbled, gripping my wrist as he tugged me to the exit, and I realized he was back to savingme. I didn’t protest and let him drag me to the door, which opened on cue as we stood in front of it.
The motion of the door gliding against the flooring caught the deathwalker’s attention. We all watched as his eyes grew angrily toward us. He began to sprint faster than I thought possible. His body was almost wavering as if moving more quickly than light. The door shut before he could reach us. However, we didn’t wait to find out if he could breach the iron door.
Instead, we ran down the endless hall. And while Dustin was dragging me, my eyes refused to look forward. It was as if I felt safer staring at my back in case the man appeared. Iknew it was probably making it harder for Dustin to pull me, but I needed that reassurance. I could barely keep my heart from exploding.
We reached the doors, and I remembered the last time I tried leaving. Dustin had caught up with me before I could make my escape. All I could think about was maybe Sasha would still be alive if I had. Perhaps they wouldallbe alive if I had never met them last night at the club. If I had just stayed home like I normally did. Their blood was onmyhands.
“Wait! Where is Tina?” I cried, tugging Dustin back into the hotel. I couldn’t leave without her. I couldn’t have anyone else die because of me. She should have been out here by now.
“She’s pulling up her car,” Oliver said as he grabbed my other hand, pulling me back to sanity.
The two boys were practically lifting me off my feet to get me to go outside. Thankfully, Tina’s little beat-up green Toyota sped around the corner and spun to a halt in front of us as she tapped the window in a panic.
“Come on, ladies! We haven’t got all day!” She cursed.
Oliver took the first pick, sprinting to the passenger door, and I watched as Tina growled in distaste. Dustin and I piled into the back seat as she floored the gas, speeding off before we could safely put our seat belts on. Not that I had any reservations about that plan. I wanted to be as far as possible from this place. From the sadness and guilt that shrouded it. From thedeaththat curled its chokehold on my life.
“Where are we going?” I asked, but my gaze set on Dustin, who wasn’t looking well. His face had gone pale, and his eyes were even paler. He looked starved, and that frightened me a little.
“I know a place we can go for the night. Until we figurethings out.” She said, driving off in a direction I wasn’t familiar with.
Only a brief moment of silence washed over us before Tina yelled out. “What the hell was that thing?!”
I was thankful she was the one who asked because I was dying to know, but I didn’t want to be the first one to break the silence. I could feel the boy’s pain like it was my own. My heart hurt for them, and looking at their sad faces only grew the guilt in my chest.
“A deathwalker,” Dustin growled, staring out the window ominously. “Afuckingdeathwalker.” He was almost murmuring to himself now.
“I can’t believe it can do that. Is that what a deathwalker does? I’ve never seen someone die like that.” Tina was rapidly driving in and out of cars, as scattered as her words. I had to hold my stomach to prevent myself from vomiting what little food I had today across the car cabin.
“The deathwalker from this morning wasn’t nearly as terrifying,” I added. My mind reminiscing on my first walk with death today as I recalled the deathwalker’s hold on me. The sheer memory of it made my skin crawl.
“I still can’t believe you’ve seen not one buttwodeathwalkers now. I mean, they’ve all but been a legend to me. I never thought I’d ever see one in my lifetime.” She was flabbergasted, shaking her head tirelessly.
Oliver peered back to look at Dustin. “It’s not your fault, you know.” Was all he said, knowing the thoughts swirling in his head, no doubt.
“I could have stopped him. I should have been able to stop him.” He was fixating now. Forcefully slamming his fist in the car door as if it could bring back his father and sister. “Theydied because of me.”
“Hey!” Tina growled back toward us at the sound of her beat-up car getting – well – beat up, but the boys ignored her.
“We’ve never faced a deathwalker before. You had no-“Oliver started.
“I have! Ikilledone, did you forget?” Dustin was now yelling; teeth jarred in anger. “What good am I if I can’t protect my family? I was hardly able to protectmyself! If he hadn’t gotten lost in the crowd engorging himself with life-forces, I would have beendead.” A single vein spewed across his forehead as he shook angrily, his eyes radiating with malleus. “I should have been able to kill him.” He repeated this time to himself.
I didn’t know what to say to him. I didn’t know how to comfort him. I felt stuck in the car, speechless, unable to do anything besides become a constant reminder that he and his family were only in this mess because of me. Because of whatever those things wanted from me.
“We have to find mother,” Oliver added. “I am just as upset about Sasha and Father as you. I want that thing to pay! But right now, I think we need to focus on saving the only family we have left.”
He seemed relatively levelheaded for just losing two of his family members in a matter of one day, but I knew people coped in different ways. In the system, you saw more than your fair share of loss spread across numerous families and children. Each child had their own way of facing the trumpet- so to speak. Mine was focusing all my energy on becoming someone of value, someone self-sufficient. I wondered what Oliver and Dustin’s coping mechanisms might be. And I got the sense that Dustin wasn’t the kind of guy that dealt with loss well.
There wasn’t much conversation before the car clunked to a halt. And when we stopped in front of a bright neon sign with a naked girl dangling on a pole, I knew I shouldn’t have expected much. Tina didn’t have many connections, but the ones she did have werethis.
A single bouncer stood at the entrance, his arms crossing over his massive chest as he stood patiently in the dark. Tina skipped out of the car and toward the man, her lashes batting, her body leaning into his until she turned back to us, waving us to come in.
I growled slightly to myself.
I wasn’t sure why I felt so threatened and insecure going to a place like this. Perhaps it was because, deep down, I knew I wanted Dustin to notice me. I knew even though I’d put up these walls, it was the first time a guy had been so selfless towards me. He had saved me twice today despite the craziness of it all. And going to a strip club meant we would be surrounded by beautiful temptresses with skimpy outfits and trashy makeup that made ordinary guys swoon, let alone a succubus whose entire existence was about women like this.
I held my breath as we walked in, eyes staring at Dustin, praying he didn’t give them too much of a glance. He hadn’t touched me since we left the club or even looked in my direction, for that matter. I understood why, but everything in me wanted to comfort him. And looking at him now, he was unwell. I could see it, and I knew Oliver could, too, the way he kept glancing back at us nervously.
