Guilt (A Zero Spin-Off)

ThirtySeven - Ella

The door swung open surprising everyone in the living including the man coming toward me with a syringe full of zombie virus. Jane, the woman who'd been sent outside to wait for the return of Kyle, Joel and Miles came panting through the door. She looked like a mess, graying hair flattened to her head with sweat. Her eyes were wide, brow wrinkled. Scared.

"He has Sammy."

The man paled, stopping dead in his tracks. Sammy must have meant something to him. I bit back a relieved smile. I didn't need any more context than that to know my calvary arrived.

"I don't know their fucking names. One of her friends." She gestured toward me with the nozzle of her gun, a move I did not appreciate considering how much her hand was shaking.

"Lance?"

Jane shook her head. Either she had lost track of her friend, or he was dead. I hoped for the latter and did my best to push away the awful feeling in my gut that came with realizing I was hoping someone was dead.

"They know we have their bitch."

My lips pursed as the third joined in on the argument. "Take her outside and kill her," he suggested.

"They'll kill Sammy if you do that," Aiden said. My brow drew together. Was he trying to keep them from killing me, or keep his person alive? I wasn't sure. I also didn't think it mattered because at this point the end result was the same. I didn't say what I was thinking which was they would kill all of them anyway. That was what they were trained to do. Find a threat and neutralize it. And maybe they had a little desire for vengeance too.

A window in the room shattered and everyone went on guard as a good sized rock landed on the floor.

"Do I have your attention now?"

I didn't think I'd ever be so relieved to hear the sound of Joel's voice shouting from outside of the house. Aside from sounded pissed off - which seemed fairly normal for the guy - he sounded relaxed, even a little cocky. David walked toward the shattered glass. He drew his weapon and pointed it through the hole, firing. I flinched at the sound.

"Seriously?" Joel asked sounding more amused than shaken by the shots fired. "How stupid do you think I am?" He paused then, not to give them a chance to answer but to make sure he had everyone's attention. "Here's the deal. My boy Hunter out here— You remember him. You tied him to one of your crosses. He has your girl and since the first words from her mouth were 'My dad's gonna kill you.' I'm guessing she means a little something."

Hunter? He wasn't upstairs with Zero? I didn't bother to hide my smile, even when the asshole in charge turned his glare to me.

"Keep smiling, bitch," he said, threatening.

"Don't get all nervous. Hunter doesn't like killing girls. Me? I don't mind. She tried to shoot me so I'm all out sympathy. But I'm not the one holding a knife to throat. Here's what we're going to do. You leave the fucking house and no one has to die. You so much as put a bruise on Ella and I will scalp you."

Maybe it was the way he said, not deep and threatening, but matter-of-fact as if it were just the way the world worked, that had Aiden loosening his grip around my arm. He was still holding me, but he shuffled back a little, putting some space between us. Yeah, Joel was a little scary.

"Get out there David. Find them."

"What?" The guy was taken aback by the idea, and obviously not a fan.

"Go through the back."

"You fucking do it."

They weren't paying me any attention.