Love Among The Ruins-Chapter 126

NADINE’S P.O.V

For a moment, I thought we were safe.

I couldn’t see the monsters and we were moving as fast as we could go. The cars weren’t noisy enough to draw attention. I actually believed that we’d get out of it alive.

That was until the first monster broke out of the trees and headed straight for us.

I wasn’t sure how fast they were, or how fast we could go. There was no guarantee that we’d be able to escape them, and as it was, I couldn’t tell just how much power the cars had left.

"Go faster!" Amy screamed.

"I’m trying!" Rowan snapped.

Amy was trying her best to shield her son from the sight of them but there wasn’t much she could do.

There had to be at least five of them chasing us that we could see through the mirrors. There could be more, but I couldn’t tell.

The walkie talkie in my hands buzzed. "How many are there?"

"At least five," I said to Jen. "Just keep driving."

"We only have about an hour or so before the cars stop. We were driving all day and it’s night now." Camden’s voice cut in. "We have to stop at some point."

I cursed loud.

I turned to Rowan, but his eyes were fixed on the road. He was too focused on trying to get us away from the creatures, I couldn’t ask him to figure out a solution.

Amy on the other hand was too busy clutching her son for dear life. She obviously wasn’t in the right frame of mind either.

"If anyone has any bright ideas, now would be the time," Jen’s voice echoed, a bit panicked.

"Let’s just keep driving."

"That’s not a plan."

"Well that’s all we have!" I yelled, a tad bit too loud. "Let’s just focus on getting as far away as we can. If the cars stop then we fight."

"They’ll kill us."

"Maybe, but not all of us."

She was silent for a while. "Just try not to die."

"You too."

There was no more open communication after that. It was just us trying our best to not die.

I mentally counted how many weapons I had. There were three knives strapped to my body. I knew Rowan had at least three of his own too. Joshua, Jen and Camden could also fight, but that was about it.

I knew Amy wouldn’t leave her son, and I had no idea if any of the people we saved knew how to fight. We were grossly outnumbered and the chances of us dying were extremely high but we still kept going.

I kept an eye on the monsters through the mirror. They didn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon but the car was getting slower. Each passing second felt like torture and tears gathered at the back of my eyes.

This was how we’d die.

This was how we’d perish.

"The car is slowing down," Rowan murmured. "We have a few minutes at best."

Next to me, Amy began to cry and I cursed loud.

I glanced over at the mirror, reaching for the weapon at my waist when I noticed something.

"They’re slowing down," I mumbled.

"What?" Rowan asked.

I didn’t want to believe it either, but it was true. The creatures were beginning to slow down, some had even stopped outright. They were still snarling and baring their teeth mincingly, but they weren’t chasing us, they just stood and stared.

"They’re not chasing us anymore."

Relief coursed through me and for the first time since we left that bunker, I felt like I could finally fucking breathe.

I didn’t stop looking over my shoulder, didn’t stop waiting for the metaphorical show to drop as we kept driving down the road. Even when the creatures were barely a speck of dust in my peripheral, my heart didn’t stop pounding in my chest.

The trucks finally came to a stop in front of a huge suburban house.

"What now?" Amy asked, her voice soft. "Do we just wait overnight?"

I shrugged. "We don’t have much of a choice, do we?"

I opened the door and got out despite her protests. My feet hit the soft grass and I waited. When I didn’t get any inclination that there was a creature around, I headed for the back of the truck. Rowan was by my side instantly, his eyes never once leaving me as we pulled open the back doors.

The people were huddled together, their hands wrapped around each other. I could almost taste their fear as it permeated the air.

"Why did we stop?" someone asked. "Are we safe?"

"Not yet. The cars can’t move right now. We’ll pick up again in the morning."

"So what? We’re just sitting ducks?" someone spar, her voice rising. "The creatures could kill us."

"They will if you keep yelling like that," Rowan snapped and she instantly fell silent. "I understand that you’re tired and scared, but we want what’s best for you."

"How do we know that? How do we know that you won’t just leave us here to die? We’re in the back of a truck for fucks sake."

I sighed. "You don’t."

It was as simple as that.

I could tell they weren’t expecting that response because they all went silent and stared at me warily.

"If I wanted to leave you to die, I would’ve left you in that bunker. We had the chance to run. You heard it. We chose to risk our lives to save you. Why would we do that just to run away now?"

No response.

"Eat something, and sleep. We have about a day and a half before we get to safety, and for the love of everything holy, if any of you still has an implant, take it out now or we’re all going to die."

I waited for my words to settle in, waited for someone to raise their hands, but no one did.

"Goodnight." I said finally. "Make yourselves comfortable. It’s going to be a long night."

We shut the door back and bolted it. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

As soon as it was locked, I began walking. I had no idea where I was going, all I knew was that I needed space.

I walked over to the nearest tree and collapsed against it, letting my head fall onto the rough bark. I could feel Rowan standing behind me, but I couldn’t lift my head to speak. I couldn’t even look at him.

"We’re alive," he whispered.

"For a moment, I thought we wouldn’t be."

He placed a gentle hand between my shoulder blades and everything I’d kept inside all day broke. The tears came first. They were silent but my shoulders shook from the force of the sobs.

In one quick move, Rowan had his arms wrapped around me and my face buried into his chest.

"It’s okay," he whispered, his voice soft. "You’re okay."