Guilt (A Zero Spin-Off)

ThirtyThree - Ella

A door slammed open. Or maybe it slammed closed. Either way it was loud enough to have me jolting out of bed and to my feet. I stood in the darkness, wide awake though I knew I couldn't have slept for very long. It was the adrenaline keeping me alert when I would otherwise feel groggy. Something was wrong. Awful. Everyone here knew to be quiet. Had to be quiet. No one would risk slamming through door. My heart pounded so hard against my chest I was sure it would break through my sternum.

I shifted my weight slightly, my fingers tapping out nerves against my thigh as I strained to listen.

Movement sounded from down the stairs. I heard footsteps walking across the hardwood floors, some planks creaking under the weight of whoever was moving. I tried to convince myself that it was the guys downstairs.

The bedroom door was cracked open and slowly I stepped toward it, cautiously planning to investigate the noise.

Maybe Joel accidentally slammed a door. Or Miles dropped a vase or book... or book shelf. They were all trying to clean up some mess. Maybe they hadn't realized how loud they'd been. If they had, I was sure Kyle would have come up to reassure me nothing was wrong.

And then it went quiet.

Deafeningly quiet.

And I could no longer pretend that one of the guys has simply broken something.

If it wasn't them making the noise, where were they? Images of them, hurt, or helpless... or dead downstairs flashed through my mind. I quickly pushed those thoughts away. They were intelligent. Prepared. They knew these sorts of situations and how to handle them. They were probably hiding, waiting for the right moment to make their move.

I stood next to the door, straining to see down the dark hall through the two inches of space. I held my breath, listening for noise. There was nothing for a long moment.

The silence ended.

"Stuff's here." I didn't recognize the faint voice. "This is the one, boys," the same voice said louder. "Find 'em."

My breath caught. For a moment after that it was quiet again. What was happening?

Then, footsteps.

Soft. Light. Sneaking footsteps. The kind that I would have missed if I hadn't been straining to listen.

People were here. Someone was quietly making their way through the house. Up the stairs.

My brain tried to reason that it could be Kyle. Maybe he'd slid past them and was coming for me.

Then it's because I want to. You're my priority.

There was danger, but he would keep me safe. He hadn't lied to me and he hadn't failed to protect me so when he said I was a priority, I trusted him completely.

The quiet footfalls came to a halt at the end of the stairs. From my angle, I couldn't see who was standing there, but in my gut, I knew it wasn't Kyle. He knew which room I was in. He'd have no reason to stop and deliberate which way to go.

Kyle and Miles and Joel were downstairs, possibly hurt. Hunter was more than likely with Zero. Had she woken up? Had he fallen asleep? I hoped they were safe. Zero needed to be safe. I knew Hunter would protect her. His priority. It became painfully clear that I would be relying on myself. Only me.

I stepped back from the door, moving deafly on my tiptoes as I kept listening for movement. Quickly, I crossed the the floor to the nearest window. My fingers gripped on to the string to pull open the blinds and I silently cursed that the door was still open - I'd been too scared to risk closing it - because the sound seemed to scream through the room. Once the blinds were pull high enough that I could open the window, I paused to listen for sound. When I didn't hear anyone rushing me, I flicked the locks and pushed the window up quickly.