Lucky and the Killer ✔

I'm the Killer Here

The death of their friend made the shadows ill again. They groaned and screeched like banshees in the night—no longer human and barely alive. Their assault began in earnest, but it was Gray they targeted. Shots rang out as Gray began to pick them off one at a time. The shots could be heard even in the distance where Bella and Felix were.

Bella pushed through the swarm with Felix at her side. When they'd gotten back to the palace and found that everyone was gone, they knew something was wrong. They'd spent the last couple of hours in the city fighting off shadows and trying to find Sarah.

"Sarah!" Felix yelled again. "Where are you?"

They heard the shots ringing off in the distance and gave each other a concerned look. As much as Bella didn't want to, she started to head that way. She had to keep Sarah safe somehow. She had to.

"I'm coming, Sarah," she whispered.

"Let's go," Felix agreed. He took the lead in front of Bella—shielding her from the onslaught of claw marks the shadows dispersed on every side. "Stay behind me."

"Felix," Bella whispered his name, but she didn't have anything to say. Neither did he. They pushed through the group of shadows until their numbers grew thicker and the gun shots much louder.

"This is hell," Felix said as they went. "What are these things?"

"Look!" Bella said quickly. In front of them, King and Lucky stood side-by-side. It didn't take Bella long to realize Sarah was attached to his leg. "There she is!"

"Bella!" Sarah cried when she saw her sister and Felix heading their way. She pried herself away from King's leg and ran towards them.

King looked down as the little girl detached and ran, but he looked back up just as quickly. The crowd was thinning. The shots were still going. He must have come prepared. The shadows kept dropping around them. It wouldn't be long before he was free enough to target Lucky.

"Let's go," King said. He put his hand around Lucky's arm, and he could see the black creep further up her face. "Please, Lucky. I lost you so many times, but this can't be another time."

"It's not about me," she said, and her sad eyes looked out over the fallen bodies of both the people from the home that she remembered and loved and the shadows that she understood. "Look at them."

King didn't want to look. He tugged on her arm, but she wouldn't budge. For the first time in his life, she was stronger than he was. He shut his eyes and then opened them to look. He hadn't seen that much death since Mezdio, and Gray brought about that, too.

"I just can't seem to kill the right people," King sighed. He watched them fall: men, women, children. It would only be a matter of time before Lucky and Zee were zombified themselves—or shot by Gray's poisoned bullets. He couldn't bear the thought of her staring up at him—the way his sister had all those years ago.

"We have to stop him," Lucky whispered.

"We have to get you out of here," King said.

"No," Lucky shook her head, "you can't tell me you don't feel for them. What if it were Liz?"

"It was Liz," King groaned. "That's not the right question to ask. Liz is gone. The right question is...what if it's you?"

"We can't just let him win," Lucky said.

"Why not?" King asked. "Why can't we just give him this world and go?"

"Because it's your home!" Lucky cried—tears started to fall from her face for the first time since the curse had spread. "It's important to me. It's my home, too. They're both my home! Look at them. Can't you see he's hurting them? Can't you see he's killing all over again? How will you stop him when he's the emperor? You have to take the chance now. You have to take over, King."