Chapter 5 — Partners By Necessity.

“Everyone move away from the door!” Kael ordered, pulling a metal shelf across the storage room. “Get behind something solid, and don't start running until I tell you to.”

The workers scrambled toward the back of the room, knocking into one another as another impact shook the door. Rue grabbed a heavy flashlight from the counter and searched for another exit.

“There's a delivery corridor behind those shelves,” she told Kael. “It connects to the loading bay.”

“How do you know?”

“I don't have time to explain everything I know!”

“Then stop answering my questions with more questions and show me the way.”

Rue shoved aside a stack of empty crates, revealing a narrow doorway. “Everyone through here. Quickly, but keep your movements controlled. If you knock those metal containers over, the sound will bring every creature in the district.”

The young woman who had questioned Rue earlier hesitated. “What if there's another one on the other side?”

“Then we deal with it when we get there,” Rue replied. “Standing here won't make this door any stronger.”

Kael moved to the front as the workers filed through the passage. Rue stayed behind to help an older man whose injured leg made it difficult for him to walk.

“Can you manage?” she whispered.

“I think so, but I can't move very quickly.”

“Then lean on me. Don't worry about keeping up with everyone else. Just watch where you put your feet.”

A crash erupted behind them as the storage room door finally gave way. The workers flinched, and one of the men stumbled into a metal trolley. It rolled across the floor with a deafening clatter.

The answering shriek came immediately.

“Run!” Kael shouted.

The passage erupted into chaos. Rue caught the older man around the waist and hurried him forward while Kael turned toward the doorway. A Hollow forced its head through the opening, its plated jaws spreading as it searched for the source of the noise.

Kael raised his weapon and struck the creature across the face. The blow barely slowed it, but it recoiled long enough for him to slam the door between them.

“That's not going to hold for long!” Rue called.

“I wasn't expecting it to!”

They reached the loading bay, where a delivery truck stood beside several stacked pallets. The rear exit had been blocked by fallen debris, leaving a narrow gap between the truck and the wall.

Rue pointed toward it. “We can get through there, but we need to move those smaller boxes first.”

Kael stared at the blocked exit. “You want us to clear a path while those things are trying to break through the door behind us?”

“Unless you have a better idea.”

“I have several ideas, and most of them involve not getting eaten.”

“Then you should choose one quickly.”

He gave her a look of disbelief before helping her drag the boxes aside. The opening widened enough for the workers to squeeze through, and one by one, they escaped into the service lane.

Rue helped the older man through last, then followed him outside just as the storage room door crashed open behind them. The Hollow poured into the loading bay, its claws scraping against the concrete as it searched for the fleeing humans.

“Keep moving!” Kael urged.

They raced toward the far end of the lane, where a delivery van had been abandoned with its driver's door open. Rue was halfway toward it when she heard a sharp metallic clink behind her.

She stopped so abruptly that Kael nearly collided with her.

“What are you doing?” he demanded in a whisper.

Rue pointed toward the pavement. A small metal tool had fallen from the older man's pocket and landed beside the curb.

The Hollow stopped moving.

Its head turned toward the sound.

“Oh, no,” Rue breathed.

The creature lowered itself, its limbs spreading against the ground as it listened. Somewhere beyond the buildings, another shriek answered it. Then another followed, and another, until the street seemed to vibrate with the approaching creatures.

Kael's expression changed. “How many?”

Rue stared toward the distant intersections, where dark shapes were beginning to emerge between the abandoned vehicles.

“Too many.”

“Then we leave. Now.”

They hurried toward the van, but the older man stumbled, crying out as his injured leg gave way. The young woman stopped to help him, and the others hesitated, torn between their fear and their desire not to abandon him.

“Get him inside!” Rue ordered. “I'll help you lift him.”

Kael moved to the van and pulled the rear doors open. Together, he and Rue hauled the injured man into the back while the young woman climbed in beside him.

The remaining workers scrambled after them, and Kael slammed the doors shut just as the first Hollow rounded the corner.

“Drive!” Rue shouted.

Kael slid behind the wheel and turned the key. The engine sputtered once, then started with a rough growl.

The nearest Hollow lunged toward the van.

“Hold on!” Kael shouted.

He slammed the vehicle into reverse, sending it backward into the narrow lane. The creature struck the side panel with a shriek, and the van swerved violently before Kael regained control.

Rue grabbed the dashboard. “Watch the left side! There's a concrete barrier behind that truck!”

“I can see it!”

“Then stop driving as though you're trying to destroy the vehicle!”

“I'm trying to keep us alive, Rue. If you have a better driving technique, I'm happy to hear it.”

She pointed toward a narrow opening between two abandoned cars. “Turn there. The road leads toward the industrial district, and there are fewer buildings for them to hide beneath.”

Kael followed her directions, weaving through the abandoned vehicles as the Hollow pursued them. One creature struck the rear of the van, its claws tearing through the metal before it lost its grip. Another leaped from a low wall, landing on the road in front of them.

Kael swerved, narrowly avoiding it, and the vehicle struck a pile of debris that sent tools rattling across the floor.

“Keep those things quiet!” Rue shouted toward the back.

The young woman scrambled to secure the loose equipment while the older man held on to the seat. Kael accelerated through the opening, and the van burst onto a wider road.

For several minutes, nobody spoke. The sounds of the pursuing creatures gradually faded, leaving only the engine and the strained breathing of the survivors.

Finally, Kael glanced at Rue. “You knew that object would attract them.”

“Yes.”

“You knew they would respond to the vibration, and you knew the underground parking entrance was dangerous. You knew where to go when we left the storage room. How?”

Rue looked through the windshield. She could tell him the truth, but she had no way of knowing whether he would believe her.

“I've spent a lot of time studying them.”

“Since when? They appeared less than an hour ago.”

She turned toward him. “Would you rather I had no idea what was happening?”

“No. I'd rather understand why you seem to know more about these creatures than the people who have spent their entire careers studying emergencies.”

“Then perhaps you should focus on keeping us alive long enough for me to explain.”

Kael held her gaze for a moment before returning his attention to the road.

“Fine. But we're going to have that conversation, Rue. I don't intend to spend the next few weeks following someone who knows everything and tells me nothing.”

She looked at him sharply. “The next few weeks?”

“Unless you have a better plan, I suggest we find somewhere secure before nightfall. Those things are spreading faster than anyone can respond, and this van won't protect us forever.”

Rue hesitated before giving him the directions to the bunker she had prepared. “There's a reinforced shelter outside the city. It has independent ventilation, water storage, and backup power. I intended to go there before the invasion began.”

“And you didn't think to mention it earlier?”

“I didn't know you well enough to tell you where I was going.”

Kael gave a short, incredulous laugh. “You trusted me enough to fight beside you, but not enough to tell me where you were headed?”

“Trust isn't something I hand out to strangers.”

“Neither is my life, but you seem to have acquired it anyway.”

Despite everything, Rue almost smiled. “You can still change your mind.”

“Not a chance. I've already given up half my battery shipment to you, and now I've helped you fight a monster in a storage room. I would like to see whether all this preparation leads somewhere useful.”

The van slowed as Kael approached a damaged intersection. Beyond it, the road toward Rue's shelter disappeared into the darkening outskirts, where abandoned vehicles lay scattered beneath the broken streetlights.

Then he pressed the brakes.

Rue leaned forward. “What is it?”

“Listen.”

She fell silent.

At first, she heard only the engine ticking beneath the hood and the faint movement of the injured man behind them. Then a deep, irregular vibration travelled through the floor beneath her feet.

Kael's face tightened as he placed one hand against the steering wheel.

“Something is moving underneath us.”

Rue stared at the road ahead. In her first life, she had never encountered a Hollow that could track a vehicle from beneath the ground.

The asphalt cracked.

“Kael,” she whispered, “don't move.”

A massive shape surged beneath the road, lifting the van's front wheels off the ground.

And then the entire street began to split open.