Chapter 49

  Natalie held onto him while he gulped air, the taste of copper filling his mouth with every breath. After a moment she helped him sit up and he wiped his mouth.

  "You're good, just breathe a minute,” Natalie said, offering him a genuine smile and patting his back. "We really need to stop meeting like this. That's two you owe me."

  Adam managed to raise an eyebrow at her, but even that small effort felt exhausting. "Amir?" he croaked.

  Natalie shook her head. "I haven’t seen him. Or Jessica. She charged up the stairs while we were still tying Marcus up. Maybe he ran when things started going south?”

  "Help me... up." Adam started to get up and Natalie pulled him the rest of the way to his feet.

  "I'd tell you not to push it, but something tells me you're not going to listen." She made sure he was steady before letting go. "I'm surprised you can even stand after that. Things really are changing..."

  Adam looked down at Rashid's body. It was obvious now the man was dead. His eyes were open and they stared at nothing. The side of his neck was missing, and his collarbone had been crushed by the crowbar strike. Adam stared at the lifeless body, the weight of what he'd done pressing in on him from all sides. He'd killed someone, not a monster, not a creature, but another person. And he didn't know how to feel about it.

  They made their way through the kitchen and around the corner into the living room. Jessica sat on the couch, her face and arms soaked in blood. She sat staring off into space, not looking up as they approached.

  Amir lay on the floor in the middle of the room, barely moving. He looked like he had been flayed. Deep gashes crisscrossed his chest and arms, exposing muscle and the off-white of bone. The carpet surrounding him was drenched in blood and Adam had no idea how the man was still alive, or what had happened.

  He stood over Amir's fading form, staring down. "I don't know what happened to make you the way you are, but I wish things had been different. We could have helped each other survive, instead we’re still killing each other. It makes no goddamn sense." Adam briefly considered putting the man out of his misery, but the mad grin on Amir’s face made him hold back.

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  "Careful... Adam..." Amir choked, his eyes flicking to Jessica sitting motionless on the couch. "That bitch... has teeth." Amir twitched once and then fell still, the malevolent grin permanently locked in place.

  Adam glanced at Jessica. She still sat on the couch, her eyes focused intensely at the far wall.

  "Jess-" he started, but Natalie put her hand on his arm and shook her head.

  "I've got this,” she said. “Can you go check on Hector and Samantha?"

  He nodded. "Sure."

  "Oh, Adam?"

  "Yeah?" he said.

  "When you're feeling up to it, can you turn the power back on?" she asked, before sitting down next to Jessica.

  "Okay."

  He turned and headed back to the basement stairs, stepping carefully to avoid the gore that littered the kitchen and hallway. Every time he thought he had a grip on this new world, something ripped it away and reminded him just how brutal it really was. Before The Voice he hadn't liked movies that were overly gory or graphic, and now he was standing knee deep in human remains, some of which he'd helped put there.

  Adam put his hand on the bare concrete wall, focusing on moving one foot after the other until the stairs met the basement floor. Marcus lay on his side, eyes closed and blood smeared on his upper lip. Adam thought he saw his chest moving, but he wasn't sure in the dim light. Hector sat on the laundry table, his arm around a sobbing Samantha's shoulders.

  "Everyone okay?" he asked, then shook his head. No one was okay. "Are either of you hurt?"

  "We're alright. Just shaken up. How bad is it up there?" Hector asked.

  Adam glanced at Marcus, ignoring the question. "Is he alive?" He wasn't sure which answer he preferred.

  "Yeah, just taking a little nap," Hector said.

  Samantha wiped her nose and mouth with the back of her hand. "He didn't look tired to me."

  "We had to insist." Hector withdrew his arm from her shoulders and gave Adam a tired smile. "Natalie has a mean chokehold, but he didn’t want to stay down. The fucker bit me.” Hector showed off an angry looking bite wound on his previously uninjured arm.

  “We were going to come up and check on you, but then we heard you talking to Natalie,” Samantha said. “Did you find Amir?”

  “Yeah. He’s…” Adam shook his head. “He’s not going to be a problem anymore.”

  “Good,” she said, getting up. “I need to go see Nat.”

  “She’s with Jessica, but be careful. It’s rough up there.”

  Samantha nodded and headed upstairs.

  "I'm going to take a minute,” Adam said, making his way to the corner and sitting down heavily. If something came crawling out of the woodwork, it could have him first.

  "You're going to sleep?" Hector sounded surprised.

  "No. Just resting my eyes." He leaned his head against the cold stone of the wall and in less than a minute, he was asleep.