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Cain leaned his scythe against the train and held out his hands. “For fuck’s sake. Jump.”
Don’t ask me why I trusted him. I leapt, and he caught me in those burly arms. I let myself lean my face against his chest for a second. Just one. Because the guy quickly dropped me to my feet and grabbed his scythe.
“Let’s go.”
“Go where?” I muttered.
“We’re not far from an exit. Stay close.”
As if I planned to go wandering. We walked past my train car to the next, the doors also opened with bodies hanging half in, half out.
“Stick close to the wall if you don’t want to step on anyone,” he advised.
He didn’t have to tell me twice. I hugged that concrete like we were in the beginning stages of dating and did my best to not hyperventilate when my foot slid on a patch of something wet. The car after had its doors closed, and people pressed against its windows, cameras upheld, some shining lights, others videotaping. I turned my face away and basically became a tick on Cain’s ass to avoid being seen. Last thing I needed? Williams spotting me on some viral video.
Next, we came alongside the head of the train. An emergency light inside illuminated the smashed windshield. No sign of the conductor.
Cain said nothing as he set a brisk stride, one hard to follow as we left the weak light behind and it turned dark. Dark enough I couldn’t see my own hand in front of my face. I worried about tripping or running face-first into something. Say, like a demon’s mouth.
Ahead, far in the distance, bobbing lights.
“Help is coming!” I’d never been so happy to—
“Argh!” The shrill scream came a second before one of the lights hit the ground.
More yelling and the arriving rescuers suddenly became more victims.
I didn’t even realize I clung to Cain until he murmured, “There’s an access door three yards ahead. Time we got out of the tunnel.”
The door wasn’t locked. Even better, once inside, there was light. Praise be!
Cain paused long enough to crouch and wedge something in the seam between door and floor. On the one hand, it would prevent the monsters from following. On the other….
“No one else will be able to escape this way,” I pointed out.
“Whose life are you more concerned with? Those of people unlikely to make it to this door, or your own?”
Before I could argue that made us selfish, he started up the stairs. Since I wasn’t about to stay behind alone, I trudged after him. Despite the door being blocked, I couldn’t help glancing over my shoulder, convinced I heard the scrape of claws and that the demons had followed. I didn’t realize I was hyperventilating until Cain barked, “Calm yourself.”
“Fuck you! I will not calm down,” I huffed. “I just saw a whole bunch of people getting slaughtered.”
“Don’t tell me you mourn for strangers.”
The callousness had me blurting out, “Have you no empathy?”
“I do, or I wouldn’t risk my life to fight demons. But I also know that falling apart because people died accomplishes nothing.”
“Maybe we should have stayed to fight.”
“We?” He snorted. “Don’t you mean me?”
“I killed a demon,” I reminded.
“By accident. Are you sure you can do it again?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. But you certainly can. You fought like eight of them on your own.”
“Twelve, actually. I had to take care of a few when I moved from my car to yours.”
