Page 34 of Marc
There was a noise and we both froze. I looked back down the corridor.
“Quick,” Marc whispered.
He pulled me deeper into the ruins of the rec room. He pulled me down behind the bulk of the couch. There wasn’t much room and we were pressed together. I was practically sitting in his lap.
He carefully peered around the edge. I heard another noise, then the snuffle of a creature. My pulse spiked.
Marc shifted underneath me and I felt the flex of his muscles. I remembered looking at his bare chest. All those sinewy muscles.
Not the time, Colbie.
His mouth pressed to my ear. “Monster.”
I slowly peered around the edge of the couch. A dog-like monster was skulking down the corridor. It stopped, sniffing the air.
God. My stomach clenched.Don’t smell us. Move along.
It paused, maybe for a few seconds, but it felt like an hour. Then it lifted its head and kept trotting down the hall, continuing on its way.
I slumped against Marc. “Thank God.”
He made us wait several minutes, then he nodded. “Okay, looks clear.”
We headed back into the corridor, and turned in the opposite direction to the monster.
“I studied the base layout as a kid,” I told him. “Maybe we can find the control room.”
Marc shook his head. “It was destroyed in the attack. Dad talked about it.”
“Damn.”
“Maybe we’ll find something in the hangar?”
“That’s right near where Hell Squad, the berserkers, and Selena set off the bomb that killed the Gizzida.” It was a part of our history. I really wanted to see where it had happened.
We carefully made our way through the maze of corridors, and thankfully didn’t run into any more monsters. I clambered over a mound of rubble, and down some stairs. It looked like there was something living in the stairwell. There was a nest of old, rotted fabric piled up in a corner of the landing. A rank smell hit me.
“God.” I pressed my arm to my nose.
Suddenly, the nest of fabric moved.
“What the hell?” Marc nudged it with a boot.
I heard chirping squeaks. Three tiny monsters popped their heads up.
“Oh.” They were sort of cute, except for the sharp fangs. They snapped at us, clearly hungry.
“Let’s not hang around for when mama returns,” Marc suggested.
We quickly exited the stairwell and entered another concrete corridor.
“Colbie, I want to clear the air.”
I looked at him. “What?”
“About the kiss.”
My stomach dropped and I turned away. “We agreed to forget it.”
