Apocalyptia (Apocalyptia #1)

Chapter 5

Eventually, a man came down the steps, but Crystal could only hear him as she drooped against the wall. It took everything she had to remain still, but her fear only ratcheted even higher as she heard the man step closer to her. She heard him grumble something, but there was no way to tell what he had said, and he didn't seem to care whether she responded or not. The moment he was done speaking, the end of boot was digging into her side. Crystal cringed for an instant and she silently prayed he didn't notice as she allowed herself to fall over on one side. The cold was a shock, but it wasn't long before it numbed. Any other time she would be worried, but in that moment she was just glad her body wouldn't be able to react.

The man eventually tired of whatever he had been looking for her to do, and the familiar clomp of his boots resumed. She let out a silent breath of air as she willed and prayed that Paul would be able to remain still.

"Damn. That's a lot of blood."

Crystal cringed at the man's voice, and her eyes flew open for only an instant as an immediate reaction. In that instant she could see the man hunched over Paul, but she didn't have a chance to see Paul. Cracking her eyes, she squinted in their direction and could barely make out the dark red stain on Paul's blue jeans, which had trailed down to the cuff and was dripping on the floor into a small pool. Her stomach lurched, and she had to consciously will the bile back as it rose up her throat. She had hoped he would stay still, but now she wished he would move — just enough for her to see he was okay. Crystal would have compared his pallor to that of a white sheet, but squinting made it impossible to tell for sure.

The man seemed to make the same assessment, though he was far from worried.

"Hey. Hey, bud. You alive?"

Once again, the man tapped Paul with the end of his boot, and Paul fell just as Crystal had, though much easier than she would have liked to have seen. He was either a very good actor, or worse, he truly had died. The man assumed the worst with a zeal that made Crystal shake.

"Hot damn. Dead as a door nail." With this discovery, the man peered over his shoulder at the staircase, then turned back to Paul's body, rubbing his hands together as if he had found an immense treasure. "And this one is all for me."

With eager hands, the man bent over and gripped the front of Paul's jacket, pulling him farther from the wall and laying him out.

"Damn. Heavy kid. Let's hope he was worth it."

The man tugged at Paul's jacket, reaching in and searching for something, anything. But before he could get his hands on anything, Crystal could just barely see the flicker of his eyelids. The man seemed to notice and paused in his search, bending over a little more to come face to face with Paul. He let out a suspecting grunt, but by the time he realized Paul was alive, it was too late. Paul's eyes flew open and with a cry, he flung forward, knocking foreheads with the man. Crystal cringed at the sound, but had already begun squirming toward the pair of men.

The man cursed. Though his words came out in an unintelligible manner, Crystal was sure he wasn't happy. Thankfully the hit was enough to cause the man to stagger, groan, and hit the floor. He was out, but for how long, Crystal didn't want to know. Unfortunately, the hit hadn't just affected the man, but Paul was also writhing on the floor. Crystal squirmed as close as she could to him, enough to see his eyes rolled back in his head and his mouth moving, but no words were coming out.

"Paul? Paul. Come on, don't do this now."

She started nudging him with her head, but was getting no response. She instead settled for squirming over to the man who had already long since passed out. If she could've, she would have just stayed with Paul until he was better, but they didn't have time for that. Plus, she really didn't want to get yelled at again when he did decide to wake up.