Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 73680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
“Shovelhead!” a voice yells. “Jesus fuck, what the hell is he up to?”
A second voice responds, pitched high for a man. “Probably too busy fucking the bitch we caught. Thinks being second in command gives him all the fucking rights.”
The first guy laughs, making me wince and curl up even smaller. “If he is, Crow’s going to fucking ice him. Eagle-eye’s daughter’s off limits. Crow wants the honor of making a mess of her, ideally while her old man is forced to fucking watch. Crow’s got a hardon for vengeance that’s fucking ten feet long.”
“No fucking kidding. I’ll be glad when we’re fucking done with this shit. It’s bad for business.”
“You going to fucking tell him that?”
“Fuck no. That fucker’s a savage.”
They both laugh. “But seriously. What’s the deal with Shovelhead? Do we have to go in and get him? He’s stupid enough that he might be fucking with the girl, but either way he should be answering his damn phone.”
Crap. If they find the corpse, there’ll be a full alarm. I’m about to nudge Blade, when I realize he’s already disappeared from next to me. God, he moves silently.
The first guy goes down immediately. Blade comes up right behind him before either of them notice, driving his knife into his throat. The only sound he makes is a sickening gurgle that makes me retch. I really shouldn’t have looked, and the heat and moldy smell don’t help.
“What the fuck?” And that’s as far as the second guy gets before he’s down too, leaving Blade standing over them and watching the corridors to make sure there aren’t more coming, while I crouch in the dark and whimper. I’m not cut out for this stuff. No one should be cut out for this stuff.
He must see something about me when I emerge, because he immediately turns me away from the carnage. “I’m sorry, Faith. I’ll do what I can, but if they managed to call down the rest of the club on us, I don’t know that I’d be able to keep you safe.”
I nod, keeping my eyes distinctly away from the bodies on the floor, letting Blade guide me. Yes, he’s a killer, and yes, that terrifies me, but there’s no one else I trust to keep me safe right now. And terrified or not, I know he’ll fight for me to the bitter end.
And today that requires a killer.
“Come.”
The farther away we get from the bodies, the better I feel.
We keep moving forward, trying to make sense of this place. A lot of the old walls have been knocked out, guiding us through what looks like old storefronts, though the windows are all boarded up. Sales counters and displays are still here, though now they’re empty and obviously abandoned a long time ago. Some have been repurposed as makeshift sleeping bunks, but thankfully, no one’s here.
We enter what was probably someone’s break room, with some plastic chairs and tables and an empty vending machine that’s had its glass smashed. Crumpled packs of cigarettes and empty beer cans are scattered on the floor, but still no people. The stink from the bathrooms we pass is revolting, though, which says there’re people around. We must be stuck in some kind of mall from the looks of it, but there’s obviously no cleaning crew anymore.
“Where is everyone?” I whisper. The two guys we ran into made sense, but you’d think a place like this would have more.
“No fucking idea, and I don’t like it,” Blade whispers back.
The next hole in the wall brings us into what was probably a clothing store. It’s two stories, with an escalator in the middle looking like it hasn’t moved since the nineties. But for once the doors aren’t nailed shut. I point and Blade nods, probably thinking the same thing, since he sets a course for it, pulling me with him.
He goes to open the door carefully, but the moment he does, it’s torn open so suddenly it nearly takes him with it.
We found the missing Pit Vipers. Or maybe they found us, since they seem to be waiting for us with their guns out.
Boots ring on metal behind us as more of them come down the escalator. One uses his gun to gesture at us. “Get the fuck out there.”
I look at Blade, but he shakes his head. Crap.
We step out into the food court. What’s usually the coziest part of the mall looks cold and forbidding when all the stores are empty and run down. At one end, the carousel has toppled, the roof collapsed and a bunch of the wooden horses snapped off and lying in a pile.
Barricades surround us, blocking us off from the rest of the mall, but on a podium in the middle, where I can totally imagine cars for sale or local musicians or something else typical for a mall, there’s a wooden throne set up. And right in the middle of it sits Crow.