Olga drew a breath to reply, but this time she caught it before it passed her lips. As the threat of her response died, some of William’s tension left his upper body.
“Besides,” Gracie said, “you saw how Hawk behaved on the roof when he felt the need to be a hero.” The hunter’s face reddened while Gracie addressed him directly. “Thankfully, there was only one of them. The last thing we need is him planning to go to war against an army. It’s better he doesn’t know where they are.”
Since they’d entered this city, the moon hadn’t shone bright enough for their needs. But now William stepped from the dark stairwell, the silver glare dazzled him. He rubbed his stinging eyes before looking up the length of the tall tower. Lines of windows ran all the way to the roof. The tallest building he’d ever seen, it appeared even taller since he’d looked from the top down. Not only could he gauge the climb, but he now also had a better sense of the fall.
The wind continued to whistle through the gaps in this tower and many around them. Just another ruined building. As abandoned as all the others in the city. How could they know what slept on the twenty-first floor if they hadn’t witnessed it? How could they know what resided inside any of the structures? Thank the heavens they had Gracie as their guide. They’d be dead without her.
“You all ready?” Gracie said.
The nods passed all the way down to William, who shrugged his compliance. He took off after the others, led by Gracie across the wide road.
A row of one-storey buildings on the other side of the street. They’d once been stores of some sort. Gracie boosted from a window ledge, caught the roof of one, and pulled herself up.
Some of William’s strength had returned, as if having his feet on the ground revitalised him.
All the others took a path to the roof. Max managed it with the least effort. He threw his war hammer up ahead of him, kicked from the window ledge, and pulled himself up without breaking stride. William did the same with Jezebel.
Gracie had already set off across the flat rooftops, Olga on her tail. The small firecracker refused to be beaten or left behind, even if it killed her.
Some of the buildings had gaps between them of only a few feet. William retrieved Jezebel, held her with one hand, and took them in his stride, chasing after Matilda like he used to when they ran through Edin. And like when they ran through Edin, she moved as if she’d been born on a high wire. Her lightness of foot, her grace and balance, she flew across the rooftops with soundless steps.
Several shops ahead of William, Gracie halted and lowered into a hunch. Olga followed suit. Hawk, Max, Dianna, Artan, and then Matilda did the same. William dropped just in time, the snarling fury of the diseased charging past them on the road down to their left. They were on a mission, their crimson glares fixed on a point in the distance. As oblivious to William and his friends as they were to the scavengers and sentries undoubtedly watching them from the shadows. The pack’s snarling and hissing faded, and William lifted his head. Hopefully, they’d run into a mine.
Gracie took off again, jumping from the last shop to the ground and tearing across the next cracked road.
The jolt of William’s landing snapped through his body, but he didn’t have time to manage the aches. Matilda, as the next closest to him, had already reached the halfway point in the road. He gritted his teeth and chased after her.
The stadium loomed large. Another feat of engineering unlike any he’d encountered. Imagine what it had looked like full. Imagine being a protector, slaying the diseased in front of thousands of spectators.
Metal stairs ran up the outside of the stadium. The others reached them, their feet beating a tattoo against the steps until they reached a part with a section missing. Three or four stairs had fallen victim to corrosion. Gracie cleared the space, the gap meaningless. Olga, not to be beaten, followed next.
The others all made it look easy. Weapons in hand, they leaped as if certain of landing. Lactic acid burned William’s calves.
Matilda cleared the gap, taking it in her stride. But he didn’t jump like her; they both knew that. When Matilda stopped to check on him, William slowed down. He didn’t need an audience.
“I believe in you,” Matilda said.
William leaped from the first broken stair too early. Only one hand free, Jezebel in the other. White-hot agony slammed into his shins as he landed across the edge of the next step. Nausea gripped his stomach and clamped his testicles. Sweat lifted on his brow. He clung to the stairs with a shaking hand.
Matilda locked a tight grip over the back of his wrist. She had him, but she gave him a moment before she helped him back to his feet. A smile he hadn’t seen in a while lit her features. “Well done.” His heart swelled when she kissed his cheek. “Now come on, hopefully it won’t be long before we’re at Gracie’s community.”
More grazes, William’s shins stung from where he sweated into them. He stumbled up the remainder of the zigzagged staircase. At the top, the roof stretched away as a vast expanse of white corrugated steel. The webbing of rusting bars over their heads, he followed the others across the oval stadium.
Gracie, Olga, Dianna, Hawk, Max, and then Matilda all vanished through a torn hole in the corrugated roof. William held Jezebel down for Max to take before he lowered himself and dropped.
Thousands of blue sun-bleached plastic seats ran away from them in both directions. Gracie perched on one, her face glistening with sweat. Max and Dianna had sat down too, Artan standing next
