Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 120336 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 602(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120336 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 602(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
However, the reprieve was short-lived.
A shout broke through the calm, and three men burst from the back.
Damn.
Weapons raised they charged at me.
Instinct took over.
I aimed, fired, and didn’t think.
One man dropped as his body jerked from the bullet hitting his chest.
Another lunged, and I got him in the head.
The last man barely had time to swing his blade before I sent him crumpling to the ground.
The tent returned to deathly silence again.
I glanced down at the new dead bodies and swallowed.
I’m a monster. . .
I went numb.
Leo fucking did it. He made me. . .no. . .I did it. . .
And if anymore came my way, I would kill again.
I looked up and frowned. “Who else?”
At first, no one moved.
But then after a minute or two, the few who had stayed standing lowered their eyes and stepped back as if distance would save them from my wrath.
I took a shaky breath.
Their gazes darted between me and the bodies sprawled across the floor.
Finally, one by one, those who hadn’t yet dropped to their knees finally did. Their weapons clattered to the ground in submission. The tent shifted from a space of chaos and blood to one heavy with submission and shock.
Say something and then get the fuck out of here.
I swallowed, willing my voice not to tremble. “You made the right choice.”
My vision blurred a little and I swayed feeling dizzy.
I let out a long breath. “Loyalty to me means life. Betrayal means death.”
I swept my gaze over them. “Remember that.”
No one lifted their bowed heads.
Okay. Now get the fuck out of here before they realize you’re just as terrified as them.
My vision blurred again for a few seconds.
What’s wrong with me?
Exhausted, I began to limp away.
Thank God they continued to stay on the ground because I damn sure didn’t look like some fearless leader right now.
A trickle of blood slid down my cheek.
Movement caught my eye.
My breath hitched as I turned my head and gripped the gun.
One of the dead men—I’d shot clean through the chest—sat up, and his lifeless eyes locked onto mine.
Huh? How is that possible?
Blood gushed from the gaping wound, staining his shirt and pooling at his feet.
No.
Like some. . .zombie. . .he got up and began walking my way.
My heart stuttered, fear unlike any I’d felt before gripped my chest.
“What—” The word died on my lips.
Just go. Leave.
I continued limping away, but much faster.
In front of me, another corpse shifted, a man whose skull had been shattered by my bullet. He rose to his feet like this grotesque puppet. Blood and green liquid ran in rivulets down his face. And he began walking too.
“No.” I quickened my steps. “This isn’t real.”
The dead men were silent, yet they followed me.
I glanced back wondering if anyone else was seeing this. But the remaining living men still remained on their knees with their heads bowed.
I have to get out of here.
The tent spun around me.
I blinked rapidly, trying to clear the haze clouding my vision.
After the fourth blink, I looked back and the dead men were back on the ground, motionless. Their bodies lay exactly where they had fallen, as lifeless and cold as before.
It was all in my head. They never sat up or walked my way.
I took a shuddering breath.
My hands trembled so hard that I could barely keep my grip on the guns. My pulse thundered, a wild, erratic beat.
I’m losing my mind?
I was so close to the tent flap.
All I could do was focus on leaving. I would not glance over my shoulder again. I didn’t know what was going on in my head.
Had the blood and death pushed me beyond the brink?
I can’t go crazy. . .
Soon, I stumbled out of the tent.
The crisp, cold air was a cruel shock after the stifling heat inside, but it did nothing to ground me. My limbs felt heavy, disconnected, as if I were moving underwater.
Relief surged in me—momentary and fragile—before my knees buckled.
What if now. . .I end up. . .crazy?
And then I just. . .began to fall forward, exhausted and in shock.
The world spun as the ground rushed up to meet me, but I think it was Leo who caught me and wrapped his arms around my shattered soul.
I closed my eyes and shivered. “I-I’m finished.”
He lifted me up completely and carried me forward.
I could hear his footsteps.
“L-leo?” I blinked, the images of the dead men rising still fresh in my mind, a nightmare that felt too real.
"Yes, Monique.” Leo’s voice was so close which told me that it was definitely him carrying me.
“I saw some of the dead men. . .rise.”
His body stiffened around me.
“They began to follow me. . .the dead ones. . .”
“And what did you do?”
“I kept walking forward.”
“Good.”
“But. . .”
“Yes?”
“A-are the dead men. . .still following me? P-please check.”
He went silent for almost a good minute before answering. I felt the tension in his grip, the way his muscles coiled as if ready to face whatever horror had followed me out and then he spoke, “They’re not following you anymore.”