Chapter Thirteen

AUDREY

My heart is hammering in my throat so hard I can't breathe. I try to calm myself but I can't. I'm standing at the end of the alley with a huge crowd of Corpses, all of them staring at me. I'm even worse off than I was before. At least then there'd only been five. There have to be at least twenty here.

"Uh, N," I say weakly to get his attention, because he's looking the wrong way having some silent conversation with the Corpse he called Gr. N turns around and I see his eyes widen as he sees the horde of Corpses. My heart plummets. If he's scared too then we're definitely in trouble. Panicked, I reach out for the only sense of safety and security that I have.

I take N's hand.

His hand is cold and dry in mine, like clutching at stone, and I can feel scars and knots where his fingers have broken and healed. For a moment he doesn't move a muscle and then his fingers curl through mine. I'm surprised by how comforting it really is.

I glance over just as he looks up to meet my gaze. Something in his blue-gray eyes softens and I can't help but smile a little. The corners of N's lips twitch upward and his grip on my hand tightens. "Together," he says.

I nod in agreement. "Together." Whatever we do will be done together. I just don't know what we are going to do.

What more can we do?

His eyes haven't left mine, his blue-gray gaze determined and resolute. I know that no matter what, I'm as safe as I can be in the situation. N will protect me to his last breath. I only hope that will be enough.

At least if I'm about to die, I won't be alone.

N nods grimly and turns to face the Corpses with his head held up. However a second later his eyes widen. I turn to follow his gaze and my own surprise catches me off guard.

The Corpses are all still watching us, but they haven't moved to attack. In fact, they have backed up and dropped their aggressive postures. A fissure is forming down the middle, slowly widening as the Corpses back further away, and it's creating a path between us and the bush that guards the alley where the truck is parked.

"What are they-?" I ask in confusion.

N glances from the Corpses to our joined hands and then back. "Dunno," he says. "L-let's go." Not letting go of my hand, he leads me through the gap in the crowd to the truck. "You dr-rive."

I can't help but laugh at the comment. "Yeah, good plan." I climb into the driver's side as N settles himself into the passenger side, wedging his long legs in under the broken glove compartment. It only takes two tries for the engine to turn over and I back us out of the alley. The Corpses shuffle out of the way as I pull out onto the main road and then gun the accelerator.

Asphalt rolls away beneath us as we cruise down the high street, weaving around broken down cars and stray Corpses. I can't go too quickly because only one of the headlights works so it's difficult to see but it's still much faster than walking would've been. Wind tosses the random hairs that have come out of my ponytail around my face and bites at my exposed skin like little needles, a refreshing chill after the stale air of N's house. It only takes a few minutes before we've cleared the edge of town and we're on the open highway.

"We did it. We escaped," I say in awe, slapping a hand against the steering wheel in excitement. It's nothing but road between us and Haven. I'm actually on my way home.

DUKE

Blurred sounds and images fade in and out of my mind, painting a landscape of unease and fear. Every time the distorted world becomes too much I retreat back into the safety of the darkness, that black area in the back of my mind where everything else disappears. It's better there. Less painful.

Except this time it's harder to get back to the darkness. My safe haven is slipping away and I can't escape from the noise and sensations of reality. No, I don't want to wake up. It hurts too much.

It's pleasantly cool here but my body is warm and comfortable. At least temperature-wise. My muscles, however, ache and pound and my skin itches. My head is throbbing in time with my heartbeat, particularly painful in the back of my skull. There's a dull, empty aching in my stomach. Hunger, of course. I'm hungry. And sore.

My throat feels like it's burning and I try to swallow but it only makes it hurt worse. A weak, hoarse groan scrapes out of me. Immediately the ambient noise of the room picks up - shuffling, scratching, footsteps.

"Duke?" The voice is soft and feminine but it still makes my aching head twinge. "Duke, are you waking up?" I try to open my mouth and my lips crack painfully. God I'm so thirsty. "Oh Jesus, right, water. You need water," the woman stammers a bit frantically. A moment later I feel something pressed against my lips. "Drink slowly," she cautions and then suddenly there is moisture, not enough moisture as it drips into my mouth and soothes the burn. All too soon the water disappears and I groan again.

"I'm sorry," the woman says and she does sound it. "Can you open your eyes? Say something? Please?"

It feels far more difficult than it should but I pry my eyes open. The light in the room is white and harsh and I moan, squinting through my lashes to filter the glow. It takes a while for my eyes to adjust to the light and as they do the features of the world around me slowly come into focus. The room is square and the walls are a dark navy - papered, not painted, because I can see spots where the wallpaper is peeling away. I'm stretched out in a slightly too short bed, my feet hanging over the far end of the mattress.

Most curiously though is the figure looming beside the edge of the bed. She's backlit by the bright lantern but I know it's the same woman who was speaking because she murmurs under her breath and fidgets as I'm taking in everything. Her face gradually clears: she's small and pale, with short brown hair and a pointed nose. She's wearing a sturdy green jacket. And she's clutching a rifle which is pointed at me.

"Wait," I say in alarm. I try to raise my hands in surrender but something catches my left wrist and I glance at it in surprise. I'm cuffed. My left wrist is cuffed to the side rail of the bed. "Why?"

The woman smiles and she lowers the muzzle of the rifle slightly. "Oh thank God, I really didn't want to have to shoot you," she says cheerfully. "Sorry, we had to make sure you hadn't been infected. None of us was really sure, you know, not with how you showed up here and then just collapsed."

"What?" I ask in confusion but the memories are coming back to me. The med salvage raid. The Corpses attacking us. Stan dead. Evie dead. Brody dead. Audrey - Audrey missing. I remember driving up to the Compound, and Dwight was there, and then - nothing. "What happened?"

"We're not sure," the woman says. "You came back from the raid alone. Dwight says you asked about Audrey and then you fainted. You've been asleep for days. Dr. Callahan thinks you went into shock."

I finally look up at the woman again, taking in her unfamiliar features. I recognise the walls around me now as one of the spare rooms in Vince's house, but her I don't know. "Who are you?" I ask.

"Oh sorry," the woman says and she adjusts the rifle so it hangs over her back before fixing me with a bright smile. "My name's Jennifer. I work for Vince. Well, I mean, we all do I suppose, he's the boss. But I'm sort of like his personal assistant. He asked me to keep an eye on you while he's gone. You have a pretty bad concussion, we weren't sure you were going to make it."

"Wait, Vince has a personal assistant?" I ask suspiciously. "How do I not know you? I live with Vince."

"I handle the people side of everything, I guess," Jennifer says. "Keeping track of how many people we have and how many work in what areas and what resources we have." She leans her hip against the side of the bed and cocks her head, staring at me. "It's weird to finally meet you."

"You know who I am? How?"

"I hear things," Jennifer says and shrugs.

I raise an eyebrow. "You might want to have that looked at."

Jennifer laughs and shakes her head. "Not like that," she says. "That's my job. I collect information from the people. I was a journalist before all this, it's about the only way I can help out here. It's not like Haven has a newspaper or anything. So I hear things from people. I've heard a lot about you and Audrey."

Pain flashes through my chest at the mention of Audrey. "Has she-?"

Jennifer frowns and looks down at her fingernails. "No, still no sign of her," she says. "Vince has had search crews out looking for her ever since you got back. They're combing all the cities between here and the hospital you were at but as of last night they hadn't found anything yet."

I blink back the burning in my eyes. Audrey is gone. She's still missing. "I'm so sorry," Jennifer says and she sets her hand on mine. "I know you two are really close."

"She's my best friend," I say. I sit up despite the fact that it hurts like hell and turn to Jennifer. "When does the next search party leave?"

"First thing in the morning," Jennifer says and fidgets uncertainly. "But Duke, you just woke up from what was basically a three day coma. You're in no condition to be up and around. You can't-"

"She is my family," I say flatly. "I am going to find her, I don't care what you say."

Jennifer scrutinises me for a minute, and then she reaches into her pocket and pulls out a small silver key. She unlocks the handcuffs around my wrist and offers me a hand. "Fine, but I'm coming with you," she says with a smirk. "Vince ordered me to watch you. I'm doing that. So let's go."

I look her up and down again and grin. "Jen, I think I'm going to like you."