Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 106092 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106092 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Despite him being the boss of all these people, I like how he consults me. Like we’re apocalypse partners.
“Are you up to it?” I ask, dipping my head to indicate his wound.
His half grin is sexy and makes my stomach flutter. “Thanks to you, I’ll manage. Feeling lots better.”
I rise to my feet and then help him to his. He picks up his jacket and gingerly puts it back on. It’s torn all to hell and bloodstained.
“Better take the ax with us,” I say, smirking at him as I pull on my backpack. “People might think you’re an actual zombie and not just a corporate one.”
He flips me off but dutifully hands off the ax. The others look at us expectantly.
“Sit tight,” Kellen instructs. “We’ll assess the situation and be back to make a plan.”
Kellen opens the door and steps through it. The wind is blowing and it’s still sprinkling a bit, but the worst of it is hopefully gone. Seawater swells and splashes against the side of our building, however not as intensely as it was when the cruise ship blasted through here.
“Holy shit.”
Kellen’s barely uttered words have me coming to stand beside him. The scene before me is hard to comprehend. It’s like something out of one of Jesse’s video games.
This can’t be real.
There’s water everywhere. Almost like I’m on one of Aaron’s charter fishing trips in the deep sea, except instead of standing on the Angler-traz, we’re perched on some random building in the financial district. I don’t know what I expected when I got to see what was left of our city, but it wasn’t this.
The number of buildings sticking out of the water I can count on two hands. Everything else is just…gone.
We’re never getting out of here. No one is coming to save us. Miles of ocean as far as the eye can see completely surround us. We are so fucked.
Despair claws its way up inside me.
What’s the damn point? Kellen should have let me drown rather than revive me. This is all too much to take.
The dog starts yapping again, snapping me out of my rapid crash into hopelessness. I scan the few buildings around us, trying to pinpoint where it’s coming from. About a hundred yards away, I see movement on a fire escape landing.
Squinting, I notice it’s the same Chihuahua I saw on the elevator what feels like a lifetime ago. Its elderly owner is nowhere to be found. How the poor pup made it from this building to that one is unknown to me, but I’m sure it was extremely terrifying. He’s lucky to have survived.
“We have to save it,” I grunt, dropping my ax to the rooftop beside me.
Kellen finally breaks his silence and whips around to glower at me. “Are you kidding me? You’re not swimming in that water again.”
Ignoring him, I yank off my backpack, jeans, shirt, and shoes. Once I’m ready to swim, I make it to the edge of the building to assess the murky, churning water below the surface.
Kellen’s footsteps crunch on the loose gravel behind me. His hand curls around my bicep and squeezes.
“I said no,” he growls.
Snapping my head to look at him over my shoulder, I bite back, “You’re not my boss, Kell. You may be theirs, but you’re not mine. I’m going to rescue that dog.”
A flash of terror gleams in his eyes, lurking behind his sudden anger. “You can’t! You’ll get yourself killed just like Frannie and Brian!”
“I’m saving the damn dog. End of story.”
His jaw muscle ticks as he affixes a hardened glare on me. It may work with his subordinates, but not on me. That dog will die unless I help it. It’s all alone with no food or water.
I pull my gaze from Kellen’s and survey the choppy waters once more. If there were sharks, I’d see their dorsal fins. I think I’m more at risk from debris and actual buildings beneath the surface than another shark encounter. Still, a shiver of apprehension skitters down my spine.
“Please,” Kellen rasps out. “Don’t do this. I can’t save you if shit goes south.”
“I don’t need rescuing,” I grunt out.
He opens his mouth to argue some more, but I use the element of surprise to my advantage. I tug from his grasp, take a running jump, and then land feet first into the water, which is better than headfirst.
Quickly, I kick back up to the surface, not eager to be underwater so soon after my near drowning. When I emerge, I can hear Kellen bellowing my name behind me. A wave swells toward me and I barely keep my head above it.
The dog starts barking in earnest now that it sees me in the water. I take a huge breath before swimming hard against the wave. Once I make it over it, I let it pull me toward the building where the dog is making its presence known to the world. Kellen doesn’t stop hollering my name, which is mildly annoying but easily ignored.