RU in? - 1st novel in the Ruinsaga series

Chapter 19 .

Lily

Mason walked up to the gate and discussed something quietly with the man. The woman who stood by the man stared at Hunter and Victory. She ignored the rest of us. The morning light streamed all around us. The morning air was chill. Birds chirped from the trees up above.

Mason turned back to us. "This is Erik and his wife Salene. Erik says you can have the backpacks you requested. Wait here."

Erik, his wife and the others behind the fence turned to leave.

"So you're not going to tell us how you got out?" Mrs. Smith directly addressed Erik. "I saw you and your wife. You were in that room with the broken window. We went in there too. What happened to those zombies? They were torn apart."

Couldn't she feel how dangerous this man felt? The hairs on my arms still stood on end. Erik waved a hand to the other men with him and they disappeared back into the woods. Then he turned back to us.

"I don't know," he said with a knowing smirk. "Maybe it happened after we broke out the window. Maybe the zombies turned on each other."

"We've never seen the zombies turn on each other though," Darren said. His voice grew quieter as Erik's eyes turned to him. Darren looked down at his feet.

"You know it wasn't the zombies," Hunter said.

"Do I?" Erik asked dangerously. He opened the iron gate and stepped through to our side of the fence. The atmosphere was already tense, but it grew more so as he and Salene drew closer to us.

He walked up to Hunter. Hunter was tall, but Erik was taller and more muscular. Not to mention he had this presence that no one else I'd ever met could match. He stared down at Hunter. Hunter quickly looked away. Victory hid behind Hunter's back as Erik's wife stared at her.

"Do you want to tell me face to face what I do and don't know?" Erik's eyes burned into Hunter. Hunter shook his head without looking up at the bigger man. "Did you rescue these parents from that party?" Erik asked him. "Did you go inside the house?"

Hunter didn't answer him, but Grant did. "Yes, we did," he said with bravado.

"Did you see your parents?" Erik asked Hunter completely ignoring Grant.

"Don't," Hunter said quietly as if the word choked in his throat.

"Because I did," Erik went on. "Your father fell with the first flash of green light. Did your sister go inside too?"

Erik waited for a response, but neither Hunter nor Victory answered him.

"No. She didn't," Maria said.

"Did you tell her what you saw?" Erik addressed Hunter. "I can tell you exactly what happened. Your father fell. When he stood, he was a zombie. Your mother could have defended herself, but she didn't. She just let him bite her over and over."

"Stop!" Hunter shouted. He shoved Erik away from him hard. The wind began to pick up. Mason, Salene and the rest of Erik's people tensed. Crouched a little even as if they were preparing to pounce on Hunter and his sister. I took a step towards Hunter. My grip on the handle of my ax tightened. I would protect him if I needed to no matter how much Erik frightened me. Molly ran erratically around Arthur's legs as if she didn't know what to do or maybe extra protection for Arthur.

Erik stepped back in front of Hunter with one quick movement. They stared at each other with hate in their eyes. Grey clouds began to drift in with the wind.

"Careful," Erik warned. "You don't want to challenge me." They stared at each other only a few moments longer before Hunter dropped his eyes. With that simple movement, Erik's people relaxed. Molly settled next to Arthur.