Unbound

Chapter 14

Hayden peeled the girl off him. "It's fine. You're fine. Let's just get out of here, ok?"

She stared up at him, eyes big and so dark he almost thought they were black. Then, probably noticing he had something written on his shirt, she glanced down. Her brows lifted and she swept her gaze back up, a small smile tugging her lips upwards. Now that Hayden had a good look at her, her face probably wasn't flushed only from the running, and her inky eyes had an almost glassy look to them.

"Christ, you're drunk," he muttered.

"And you're a virgin," she said coyly, trying to flutter her eyelashes.

"And?" Was this really happening. "Look, we need to go. Up. Stairs, see them?" As if to illustrate his point, the glass in the door behind them let out a resounding Crack.

She glanced around him, face paling. "Oh god, that's right, holy shit."

Hayden gripped her by the shoulders and turned her around, pointing her in the direction of the stairs. "Go." She went. Hayden tried to ignore the way her dress, already short as hell, rode up her thighs as she climbed the staircase in front of him. She had this amazing sway to her hips, something like what he imagined Shira would have. He sighed, for a second wishing he were back at the Grand AM, listening to her talk through the radio.

Ahead of him, the girl giggled. "Enjoying the view?"

"Huh?" His vision cleared and he remembered the girl in front of him, her bottom swaying from left to right. Oh, that, right.

"Hmph," the girl huffed. Did she not remember the horde of crazies outside the glass door, which was breaking even now?

"Sorry," he said. "Might want to move faster." Could these zombies, Taken, whatever, climb spiral staircases?

"Whatever," the girl said, but she did move faster.

They reached the second floor and found themselves in a sea of naked and half-dressed mannequins. In a corner of the room hung a ladder, with a door open in the ceiling that most likely led to the roof. He glanced around, and catching no sight of Zareen, assumed that's where she went.

"Up that ladder," Hayden told the girl, pointing. She teetered over to it on unsteady legs, stopped half way, and puked up what smelled like half a liquor store.

"Uuuugh," the girl said, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

Thankfully, that completely cleared Hayden's mind. "Up," he said, pointing again. Without waiting for her to move, he started gathering up mannequins and throwing them down the stairs. A few made it all the way to the bottom before they started clogging up the works, making the stairs impassable for anyone trying to climb. He turned to see the girl's legs vanishing through the hole in the ceiling, and sighed in relief.

The door downstairs finally gave way, or else they managed to break through one of the display windows. Either way, the sound of snarling, angry customers filled the store below.

Hayden tipped one more mannequin into the stairs, this one wearing a pair of Bermuda shorts and an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt, before running for the ladder.

He poked his head into the dark night above and climbed out onto the roof. Zareen gave him a hand up and they joined the party-girl at the edge of the roof, staring down into the street they'd just left.

"Great," Zareen said, pointing.

Hayden followed her gesture and saw a few of the zombies had managed to climb into the car they were going to steal.