When Night Falls (11 page)

Chapter
Eleven

As plans went, theirs was a bad one in Scarlett’s opinion. Moving between a handful of levels was one thing; but to descend even deeper, through the labyrinth of abandoned decks was something else. Who was to say the infected weren’t all clustered below, waiting for their next meal to amble stupidly into their midst?

When she voiced her concerns, she was met with groans and exasperation, except for Rolf who kept the others from dumping her butt somewhere and taking off.

“The escape pods are a level above the boiler room,” she tried again, hoping against all odds that someone would see sense.

“What’s your point?” Kiera demanded.

“Well, isn’t the boiler room where the infected were being kept? If they escaped, odds are they’re on those two levels.” Why was she the only one seeing what a bad idea this was? It wasn’t inter-galaxy time warping, too complex to comprehend. “We’re walking straight for them.”

“Let’s close as many levels as we can,” Rolf said with that same frustrating level of calm. “We’ll think of a plan when we need to. Right now, that is our goal, to get to the pods and get off this ship.”

“What about Hunter?” she growled through her teeth.

“Jesus Christ!” someone swore loudly.

Rolf’s hand closed over her elbow and she was pulled aside from the group. He lowered his head and dropped his voice.

“Look, they’re scared, okay? Let me take them to the pods. I swore to you not to leave until I’ve found Hunter. I always keep my word.”

Despite her hesitation, she couldn’t help accept his promise. What else could she do?

“I’m staying with you,” she said.

“No—”

“He’s my friend!” she cut him off. “I’m not leaving him … or you.”

He seemed to jerk back at her remark. His frowned, forming a thin line in the center of his brow. “Scarlett—”

She put up a hand and shook her head. “I am not going to ask you to die for me, Rolf. I’m staying with you.”

The muscles on his face contorted like she’d physically struck him. His jaw muscles flexed and his gaze dropped to her mouth and stayed there, even when he spoke again.

“Funny thing is.” His eyes lifted to meet hers through the murky shadows. “You wouldn’t have to ask.”

Without allowing her the chance to respond, he turned and walked back to the others.

Scarlett watched him go, a warm flutter working up her stomach and into her chest. She felt the tingle of it all throughout her spine like a tender caress. But it ended quickly when she caught Kiera’s narrowed blue eyes. A spear of guilt had her dropping her gaze and focusing instead on the task at hand.

She knew they couldn’t stay aboard the ship. But where would they go? Things hadn’t exactly been paradise since the world ended, but being stuck in a pod and shot into space wouldn’t be a picnic either, especially when they didn’t have a destination and those pods could only travel for so long before running out of fuel. Unlike Dawn Light, they weren’t solar powered. Then there was the issue of food. They had some now and there was some in the pod, but it wouldn’t last forever, and with no way to replenish, they were as good as dead anyway.

Nevertheless,
as much as she hated to admit it, Jack was right; she really didn’t want to get eaten.

They took the stairs south
. Rolf led with Jack next to him, holding the data port. Mac ambled behind with a sheet bulging with food. Lance had another bundle, this one full of water canisters. In their other hand, all the boys carried their enforcers, the stunner set to max—the highest it would go. She and Kiera had each been given an iron pipe wrenched off a table to be used as a weapon.

As prepared went, they were not
, but it was better than nothing.

“What do you think happened to the captain?”
Kiera’s voice floated from the darkness, just to Scarlett’s right.

“Probably dead,” Lance mused. “Unless she’d gotten the injection.”

“She must have,” Scarlett heard herself say. “Dr. Ora was only giving the shots to the mentors and higher ups. Novices had to wait and book theirs, except for that girl back there. She got hers early because her father pulled some strings, or something. No doubt the captain was the first.”

“So why didn’t she turn before everyone else?”
Kiera asked. “She looked fine the last time we saw her. She wasn’t sweaty or shaky like that girl in the equipment room.”

“Maybe it works differently for everyone,” Jack said. “If that girl got hers the day it was announced, ahead of everyone else, then a lot of those people should have turned after her.”

“No one here got their injections, did they?”

Scarlett had nearly forgotten just who her companions were.
If there was a class system still in play, everyone in that group was from first class. Including Rolf. They were the sons and daughters of the elite. This had been just another cool vacation for them, a chance to get away from their rich and privileged lives. They weren’t there because their grandmother had found a job onboard, giving them and a friend a free ride.

“R
olf wouldn’t let us,” Kiera said, adoration coloring her tone. “Of course, he was right.”

Scarlett ignored the prickle of annoyance. “What made you decide not to?”

The beam of light bobbed with Rolf’s shrug. “Didn’t feel right.”

So, she hadn’t been the only one to sense the weirdness of the boosters.

“Why didn’t you?” Jack asked, somehow making that innocent question sound like an accusation.

“Same reason,” she muttered, looking down at the floor.

“I saw your buddy in line for it with your grams,” Lance said.

Scarlett nodded. “Yeah, but he didn’t get it.
I asked him. There was a waiting list.”

Jack scoffed. “You didn’t think to tell your best friend
and grandmother the boosters could be dangerous?”

Offense shot through her
and she staggered to a halt. “Of course I tried to tell them!”

Jack stopped as well and rounded on her.
“Clearly you didn’t try hard enough.”

“Hey! What’s your—?”

“Quiet!” Rolf came to a stop, one hand up to stop the others. “There’s something moving ahead.” He flicked off the torch.

Sweat slickened the metal rod in
Scarlett’s hand as she tightened her fingers around it. Fear shot adrenaline into her heart, sending it cracking against her ribs. A small, cold, and clammy hand brushed her arm, making her jump as little blunt nails cut into her flesh.

“It’s them!”
Kiera whimpered, squeezing herself behind Scarlett, using her as a human shield.

The stench met them before the hollow sound of something heavy dragging. Decay punctured every second that passed and they didn’t run.

“We need to go!” Her voice cracked with terror. “Before they reach us.”

“What level are we on, Jack?” Rolf demanded in a hushed whisper.

The data port blipped on, the green glow broken only by Jack’s finger sweeping across the screen. “Abandoned red zone.” He hesitated, not that it was required. The sharp inhale from the group was response enough. “Level seven.”

Rolf cursed. The groaning behind them rose, getting closer.

“We have no choice,” he said at last. “We can’t go back.”

“It’s the red zone!”
Kiera squeaked. “We can’t go in the red zone! That’s where the chemical—”

“Well, we can’t stay here.” Jack switched off the port, casting them in darkness. “It was three years ago. The toxins are probably gone by now.”

“What if they’re not?” Scarlett had to ask. “We’d just fry up in there.”

“Why is she even here?” Jack snapped. “She’s no help at all.”

“Hey!”

“Enough!” Rolf snarled. “Jack, lead the way.”

The torch flared to life. It was exchanged from Rolf’s hand to Jack’s. The beam swept over the wall.

Jack swore. “We’re in between two levels. We need to go down a flight.”

Rolf took the light and hurried to the edge of the stairs. He swung it down. Through the bars, they could just make out the ambling, distorted shapes shuffling up towards them over the fallen remains of the latest victims. The walls around them were painted crimson and glistened beneath the light.

He spun on his heels and hurried towards them. “Back!” he instructed, motioning with the light towards
level eight.

Their combined footfalls thundered through the tight space
in a cacophony of animal panic. It spurred the fear pumping through their veins, fueling the primal, human instinct to flee. Kiera kept a tight hold on Scarlett, becoming a deadweight slowing her down. It took all of her self-control not to shake the girl off.

Below them, the scuffles amplified. Quickened. For one horrific moment, it felt as though the creatures were giving chase. Their groans grew closer, gaining.

“Faster!” Rolf growled, and Scarlett realized it wasn’t her imagination. They
were
gaining.

Thinking fast, she shook Kiera’s hand off her arm. She reached out and blindly grabbed it instead and held tight.

“Come on!” she said, shoving the girl ahead of her. “Go!”

Kiera stumbled. Scarlett grabbed her around the middle and hauled her up. Together, they stumbled their way up the stairs after the others.

“This way!” The torch flared on and waved into the dark opening of the door Rolf held open.

They scrambled through and the door slammed shut behind them with a resounding
bang.
A split second later, something else hit full force into the other side. Kiera screamed. Scarlett jumped. The others scuffled back a step as the low, rumbling growls oozed through the cracks. Systematic pounding echoed off the steel, resounding blows that mirrored the frightened patter of their hearts.

“Jesus! Jesus!” Lance panted.

“Come on! We need to keep moving.”

Gathering as much of their wits as they could find, they fumbled their way through the familiar maze of the Vendor Level. Every sense crackled, painfully alert to the smallest of sound. Scarlett kept a tight hold on Kiera’s hand, more out of fear than helpfulness, as they shuffled deeper towards the back. The hollow emptiness was no buffer for the booming anger of fists meeting metal following them all the way from the door. Scarlett wondered how much longer the creatures could keep that up and if they would ever stop.

“Where are we going?” Kiera asked, sounding exhausted and close to tears. “This isn’t deck eight.”

“They were gaining too fast for us to stop,” Rolf answered, sounding as breathless as the rest of them. “There’s another emergency escape—”

Bang!

The group came to a skidding halt. It suddenly made sense why the banging seemed so close, like it was all around them. Rolf’s plan to utilize the second stairway was dashed by the relentless pounding coming from the other side.

“We’re surrounded!” Kiera shrieked. Her free hand grabbed at Scarlett’s sleeve, nearly tearing it.

“This way!” Undeterred, Rolf pivoted on his heel and marched back the way they’d come. But rather than return to the first stairway, he turned right and shoved open the nearest door. He reached inside and manually switched on the lights.

It was another storage area brimming with broken pieces of furniture and discarded wrappers. Someone had been using it as a hideaway. There was an airbed pushed into the corner, piled high with blankets and pillows. Food containers and empty bottles littered the ground, and there was a data link forgotten on a crate next to the bed. The room smelled of sweat, sex and something sickeningly sweet like candy.

“Close the door.” Rolf told Mac, who set his bag of food down and hurried to do it. Rolf grabbed several pieces of broken wood and jammed them around the doorframe before turning to Lance. “Give me a hand.”

Dropping his bundle, Lance ambled over. Together, they moved the bigger pieces of furniture in front of the door, stacking them until there was none left. Only then did Rolf turn to the rest of them.

“We’re safe for now, but no arguing. No loud noises. Got it?” At everyone’s nod, he exhaled. “Good. Okay, so it’s clear they’re coming up from the boiler room.” Scarlett refrained from shouting,
I told you so!
“I think the majority of the passengers had had the same idea as us and headed for the escape pods, not realizing…” He didn’t need to finish that thought. The picture was vividly clear.

“So what do we do now?” Jack asked.

Rolf cleared his throat. “They’re moving up through the ship. I think if we hole up here for a little while, we can bypass most of them and fight the rest on our way down.”

“Fight?” Kiera squeaked. “You mean we have to actually go near those things?”

“We don’t have a choice,” Rolf said. “Those doors won’t hold them forever, nor can we just stay here. We need to get to those pods.”

“There are seven thousand passengers,” Scarlett murmured. “Even if you subtract those that were killed, the number of infected severely outweigh—”