Page 42 of Kat Bethel

The sound of a giant piece of glass snapping made my breathing halt, waiting for the collapse of my shelter. It sounded like the entire building was collapsing.

“You’re going to kill me,” I warned my shadow stalker, hoping that he gave enough fucks to pull back, if only for my well-being.

The seconds dragged before the ear-splitting noise settled into eerie silence that unnerved me more than I cared to admit. My fingers trembled, waiting for the other shoe to squash me.

A cool evening breeze blew over me, and my eyes finally snapped open. Glass and black decay covered every surface. As if this pristine and sparkling library were an old, fading memory.

Pages floated in the air, yellowed and worn. There was a giant hole where I’d been standing previously. Like I was the center point of an explosion of destruction.

A shadow permeated every corner of what was left of the room, even the sun dipping on the horizon couldn’t ease the sense of danger.

“Kid!” My voice broke, and I had to clear my throat.

“I’m okay.” But the answer was numb enough to twist my stomach.

I found him under the computer desk across the way. He was worse for wear. His shelter hadn’t been as good as mine, and a healthy amount of blood trickled down his face, but I didn’t see giant shards of shrapnel in him, so that was a good sign.

He was alive.

I unfolded myself and took a tentative step to find alarmingly soft wood under my feet. This floor wouldn’t last much longer. I forced my voice steady, “We gotta go.”

We didn’t want to be here when everything fell apart.

“You’re safe with me, Dandelion,” the monster whispered sweetly in my ear. The sensation of gentle hands caressed me as if to double check that I wasn’t damaged.

He wasn’t even angry at me.

The thought of seeing him truly malicious made nausea settle in. Good cock or not. Sweet on me or not.

He was dangerous.

It was a wake-up call I needed. He was volatile and destructive. People died because of him.

The kid’s eyes locked onto me with a flat look of defeat that I recognized all too well.

“Kid,” I snapped to get his attention, ignoring the monster on my heels as I carefully inched closer. “We’ll get through this together. I need you to stay with me. Okay?”

His eyes went to where the window wall was nothing more than a rusted framework that didn’t make me feel any better about the situation. I’d hate to see what the support beams looked like.

“Hey! We’re going to be alright.” I took easy steps to where I knew he would be going.

The kid stood up in a way that reminded me of a lifeless puppet, and his eyes never left the window. Tears streamed down his cheeks. “Can you feel that?”

I ran across the floor as he bolted toward the window. The floor wobbled under my feet like gelatin, but I didn’t have time to step carefully.

If the floor fell out from under me, so be it.

I grabbed his hand, yanking him to the floor.

“It sucks, but we’re going to keep our heads,” I commanded him. “And not make any rash decisions.”

“It’s the end.” He sighed with relief, like all the hard work was done and over.

“No. It’s not.” How did I become the representative of life? “Listen to me. I get it. I’ve been there, but it’s not the end.”

His eyes went wide as he stared over my shoulder, much like the man who hung himself did. His fingers shook in my hand, where I still had an ironclad grasp on him. The sclera of his eyes turned veiny and red as if he was having a sudden allergic reaction and his pupils blew until they were uncomfortable to look at.

“The harbinger of ruin is here.” His numb words made nausea fill my stomach.