Donovan ignored her.
He didn’t even glance at her for the second time. The only thing in his line of sight was the monster crushing his best friend. He rushed bullets at the monsters, his finger squeezing the trigger of his tactical rifle in a relentless, desperate rhythm.
Empty brass casings rained onto the asphalt, ringing out against the backdrop of a dying city.
"Don!" Elias screamed, his voice bubbling with fresh blood. The monster’s jaws were locked tight on his shoulder, tearing into the muscle. "Let go! Save yourself!"
Donovan’s gray eyes went wild. A raw, unhinged fury twisted his handsome face, shattering his usual cold CEO persona. He screamed angrily at him, his voice tearing through the chaos, "THE FUCK ARE YOU SAYING?!"
Just then, a second shadow blotted out the flickering alley lights. Another monster dropped from the fire escape above, its jagged jaws unhinging as it prepared to share Elias.
Before Donovan could even aim his weapon upwards, a blinding flash of light erupted from the Tank’s mounted cannon. A larger bullet, something glowing that looked like a mini nuclear blast, rushed for the monster. It struck the beast mid-air, obliterating the monster immediately in a shower of black blood and smoking ash.
Donovan didn’t even flinch at the explosion. He was too busy fighting the monster clamping his friend, with his raining bullets, looking wild and angry.
But a third beast was already rushing for his blind spot.
"Oh no you fucking don’t," Sunny hissed.
She pulled a sleek black shotgun from her waist, vaulted out of the driver’s seat, and shot at that one now. The recoil bit into her shoulder, but the beast’s skull shattered like cheap glass.
She didn’t stop moving. Her Agility points flared to life, carrying her forward like a blur. She rushed for Donovan, her boots kicking off the brick wall. She jumped and slammed the side of her hand hard at the back of his neck, knocking him out instantly.
His large body went limp, and she caught his broad shoulders before he hit the dirty pavement.
I am so sorry, hubby. But you cannot fight a horde with just an assault rifle.
At the exact same time, she aimed her shotgun with one hand and shot the monster holding down Elias. The beast shrieked and released its grip, slumping onto the ground.
Elias had already fainted from the agonizing pain, his face pale and lifeless against the wet asphalt.
More screeches echoed from the main street. The horde was closing in fast. Sunny shot at three more beasts coming for them again, pumping the shotgun with ruthless, practiced efficiency. She turned her fierce violet gaze toward the trembling company bus.
"Three of you come out and take Elias!" Sunny commanded, her voice ringing out with absolute authority.
The men huddled inside the bus refused to go out. They pressed their faces against the glass, paralyzed by the carnage and the sight of the dead monsters littering the alleyway.
Sunny fired another round into a leaping beast. "Get your asses out here!" she shouted, her eyes blazing. "If you are not fast, we are all going to die here!"
When the beasts swarm this place, no glass window will save them. They would be trapped in a steel coffin. Her eyes kept darting to Elias and Donovan, sprawled on the floor, completely vulnerable. She shot at monsters coming for them, holding a strict perimeter of fire and smoke.
"I am going to protect you!" she assured the three men, softening her tone just a fraction to break through their panic. "Is there a driver in the car?"
One of the older employees, a man with graying hair and shaking hands, slowly raised his arm and pointed to himself. He can.
Sunny smiled and nodded her head. Good. We have a plan.
The doors hissed open. The three men rushed out, fueled by sheer adrenaline and Sunny’s relentless cover fire. She shot two more monsters trying to flank them from the fire escape. The men grabbed Elias by his arms and legs, hauling him back to the bus. They tossed him inside and slammed the door shut immediately.
Sunny ran up to the driver’s window, speaking fast to the old man. She informed him how they were going to move. "Follow the red truck. Do not stop for anything. If a monster gets in the way, you run it over!"
The old man gripped the steering wheel and gave a firm nod.
Sunny spun around and rushed back to where Donovan lay on the concrete. She bent down and picked up Donovan, hoisting him up.
She didn’t realize a beast had crawled down the side of the brick wall and opened its giant maws right behind her head.
The employees inside the bus banged on the glass. People screamed for her impending doom.
The monster snapped its jaws shut.
But teeth never met skin. A bright green barrier formed around her just as it was about to bite her. The system’s automatic shield flared, throwing the beast backward onto the pavement.
Sunny turned her head, glaring at the stunned beast. "You fucker."
She raised her shotgun and blew its head off.
Click.
Sunny noticed her ammo was down. The chamber was empty.
Time to go.
She rushed to the red Tank, tossed Donovan into the backseat, and entered her car immediately. She slammed the door, hit the gas, and started her car. She drove for the streets, the massive off-road tires crushing everything in her path.
The company bus followed right after.
Sunny made sure it was keeping up, her eyes constantly darting to the rearview mirror. The city was a burning warzone. Smoke choked the air. Monsters flipped cars and chased screaming pedestrians, their claws tearing into concrete and flesh alike.
But Sunny didn’t know if it was pure luck or the system bending reality to help her, but the drive to Donovan’s hideout that he had planned was easier than expected. The horde seemed thinner on this specific route.
They pulled into the fortified underground parking lot of a secluded corporate building on the edge of the city. The reinforced steel doors slammed shut behind the bus, cutting off the shrieks of the dying city.
The employees piled out of the bus, shaking and crying. They surrounded Sunny, their voices overlapping as they thanked her, including the old man who drove the bus.
"Listen to me," Sunny said, raising her hands to quiet the crowd. She handed a large medical kit to one of the men. "Use these meds for Elias and anyone else who is hurt."
She opened her spatial pendant and dropped several large crates onto the concrete floor. She gave them a good supply of food, even though she knew that Donovan had prepared enough inside this specific hideout despite her actions over the past week.
It eased her guilt just a tiny bit.
"Wait here until Donovan returns," she gave them strict instructions. "Do not open the doors for anyone."
Before they could ask who she was, she jumped back into the red Tank. She left with Donovan securely fastened in the back.
The drive to her own container mansion was tense, but the Tank’s armor held strong against the stray beasts roaming the highway. She smashed through the final barricade and pulled into her own garage. The concrete walls snapped shut, sealing them inside the bunker.
Safe.
Once she reached her bunker, she immediately rushed to treat Donovan. She hauled his frame out of the backseat, dragging him into the sterile medical room she had prepped on the first floor, laying him down on the white cot.
His shoulder was torn up from where the monster had slashed his expensive suit. She grabbed scissors and cut the ruined fabric away. She grabbed her surgical alcohol and bandages, her hands moving fast.
But as she wiped the blood away, she was already glad it was healing well. The deep gashes were closing right before her eyes. His Awakening was kicking in, rewriting his cellular structure to survive the new world.
She sat back on her stool and wiped the sweat from her forehead.
Then, she realized something.
She noticed he was bare-chested.
The shredded suit jacket and ruined shirt were tossed on the floor. Donovan Fallon’s torso was on full display. Broad shoulders, carved muscles, and a defined chest that looked like it was sculpted out of warm marble.
A few stray drops of sweat glistened on his pale skin.
Her heart rate spiked. A loud ringing started in her ears. Her face flushed a deep, violent shade of crimson. All the adrenaline from the battle vanished, replaced by an entirely different kind of panic.
Oh my god. The author was holding out on me. Words on a page do not do this man justice.
"Fuck he is so hot," she blurted out to the empty room, fanning her face with her hand.
On the cot, Donovan slowly opened his eyes.