That’s when he heard her crying out.
He looked around.
The woman on the road.
The infected on top of her.
“Help! Come on, man! Please!”
Noah wanted to leave her. Wanted to let the infected tear her apart.
But then he had a better idea.
He lifted a hand.
Felt a force within him.
And then he tightened his grip.
The infected shook.
Writhed.
Saliva and blood drooled from its mouth.
“What’s happening?” the woman shouted. “What the fuck’s—”
It all happened so fast.
A popping sound.
The infected’s skull bursting open.
Brains and blood splattering all over the woman on the road.
“Shit,” she said. “Shit.”
Noah walked over to her.
Lifted his knife.
Pointed it at her.
“On your feet,” he said. “Right this fucking second. We’re doing things my way from now on. Whether you like it or fucking not.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
It all happened so fast.
One moment, Kirsty stood there. Haunted look in her wide eyes. Her face all pale and horrified. The look on her face like she was about to tell Iqrah something.
“Iqrah, I…”
And then there was a bang.
Iqrah jumped. Almost dropped Bruno on the ground the second she heard the bang.
She looked up. Tried to understand where that bang came from. Tried to see the source of it.
And then she saw it.
Blood seeping out of Kirsty’s mouth.
Her feet staggering from side to side.
Confusion replacing the horror and the terror on her face.
And then another blast.
Blood splattering right out of her throat.
Iqrah jumped again. Screamed a little. Clutched tightly on to Bruno, who snored and slept through it all, still weak after his last incident.
All she could do was stand there as Kirsty stared at her.
Blood pooling down her neck.
All she could do was watch as she put her hand to the back of her head.
When she pulled her fingers away, Iqrah saw the blood and the flesh on the ends of them.
“Don’t…” Kirsty said. “Don’t…”
Then there was another blast, and Kirsty fell to the ground before her.
Iqrah stared down at her. Heart pounding. She didn’t want to leave her because she didn’t want to be alone. And it was Kirsty. She was a good person. She’d always been a good person.
But the blood on the back of her head. The way her skull had cracked open, torn apart by a bullet.
She was gone.
There was no fighting for her.
She was gone.
She looked up and into the distance and saw them.
Three of them. Half-expected them to be dressed in Society gear at first.
But they weren’t. They looked… different somehow. Like they had the Society black on, but with a red smear across the front of their clothes. Like a marking. A marking that made them different from the normal Society.
She knew she was probably reading too much into it. She didn’t have time to read anything into anything right now.
She saw these people lift their rifles.
One of them, a man, shouted out: “Don’t move another muscle, Iqrah! We’re here to help you!”
We’re here to help you.
After just gunning down Kirsty right before her eyes.
She took a few steps back. Held tightly on to Bruno. He lifted his head. Looked up at her. Growled a little, then rested his head again. Her arms were so heavy. She didn’t know how much longer she could hold on to him, only that she had to. She couldn’t let him go. Not now. She loved him, and he was Noah’s dog. She’d already let Noah down. She couldn’t let his dog down too.
“Iqrah, please,” the man said. “I’m sorry you had to witness that. But that woman just then. She was a danger to you. She wanted to take you some place grim. We want to take you some place nice.”
What were they talking about? Did they know Kirsty? No. They were bullshitting. They had to be.
She took another step back.
“Please,” the man said, lowering his rifle this time. “Your parents. We have your parents back at our place. All they want is to see their girl again.”
Iqrah froze.
That promise.
That promise of her parents.
If they were bullshitting… how would they know?
“Come on, Iqrah,” the man said. “I know you’re afraid. And you’re right to be. But you have to believe me. That woman there—Kirsty, she was called. She was trouble. Up to no good. You have to believe me. You have to believe all of us. It ain’t safe for you out here. Come with us, and we can get you back to your parents, and you can learn the truth about everything.”
Iqrah stood totally still. Frozen to the spot. Heart pounding. Rooted to where she stood because of those words. That mention of her parents.
“Come on, Iqrah,” the man said, arms raised now. Rifle pointing nowhere near her. “We don’t have to have any more trouble now.”
She stood there, and for a moment, she wanted to believe in this guy. For a moment, she truly wanted to believe he was right. That they had her parents. That her parents were okay. That they were here to help her, and they were going to take her to them.
And then she saw it.
Just in the corner of her eye.
One of the guards at the back. Switching his rifle on the top. Switching its mode, probably to sedative darts, like she’d seen the other Society guards do, the ones without the red stripe.
“Iq…”
She didn’t hear the rest of what the man said.
She turned to the left and bolted.
Right away, she felt something whoosh past her neck. Heard the guard who’d been speaking with her curse.
“Fuck it. What the fuck, Dave?”
And then some commotion.
And the next thing she knew, more of those darts were firing at her, all around her.
She ran past a car. Ran into an alleyway, Bruno in her arms. She couldn’t run as fast with him. She was getting out of breath. Her arms were aching. Her chest was tight.
And she could hear those footsteps getting closer.
She looked over her shoulder.
Saw nothing but shadows.
She turned around again. Ran past an old bin. The skeleton of someone—probably a homeless man—sat at its side.
She just had to get to the bottom. Take
