Killing Land (Rune Alexander Book 8) (3 page)

There were stories that they killed outsiders.

And she’d landed right in the middle of them.

“Shit,” she said, and put her fist to her heart.
“Roma.”

His stare roamed her abused body. “What happened to you?”

Before she could answer, heavy footsteps sounded overhead,
and then someone gave a quick knock on the outside of the door. “All clear,
doc.”

“That was fast,” she said.

He nodded. “There are people who handle him. It doesn’t take
them long to coax him back into his den.”

“You’re a doctor?”

“Yes.” Then, he shrugged. “At least I was, once upon a time.
You should go now.”

“Tell me,” she said. “Why does that thing out there stay in
Killing Land? What keeps it confined?”

He raised his eyebrows. “This is his home.”

She walked down the steps. “Why do
you
stay? You
and…” She gestured toward the world outside the cellar.
“Those
other humans.
Why do you stay in such a miserable place?” She was
genuinely curious.

He studied her for a long moment. “Because,” he said,
finally, softly, “nowhere else will have us.”

She nodded. “I know what you mean.”

He said nothing.

At last she sighed and turned toward the steps once more.

“I have a car,” he said, but his words were reluctant. “I
can drive you to the edge of town.”

“I have to find a phone and a truck. A car won’t carry my
dog. After I get my friend, I’ll head out of town. If I run into your monster
along the way, I’ll slay it for you. If not, then good luck to you and your
town of misfits.” Again, she grinned, and that time, she meant it.

“Who
are
you?”

She hesitated. “My name is Rune Alexander.”

No reaction.

She frowned. “How long have you been here?”

“Eleven years,” he told her. “Killing Land saved me, but it
won’t be so good to you. Go home, Rune Alexander.”

She pushed open the door. “I’m trying, dude. I’m trying.”

She closed the door after she’d climbed out of the cellar,
shutting the doctor inside.

She hadn’t gotten his name, but it didn’t matter. She wasn’t
planning on hanging around and making friends in Killing Land.

She saw no one as she jogged toward the trucks still parked
and abandoned in the street.

She jumped into the first truck she reached and slammed the
door, and was pretty sure she heard someone yelling as she turned the key and
nearly put the gas pedal through the floor.

Killing Land could tend its business and cower from its
monster. She was going home as soon as she found Roma and Grim.

After she’d been reunited with her people, she could come
back for the monster. There was no hurry. According to the doctor, it wasn’t
going anywhere.

As she drove she leaned over and rummaged through the
glovebox, hoping she’d find a cell. There were usually two or three extra
phones in her car, but there were none in the truck.

It began snowing suddenly, and not lightly. The stuff was
really coming down, and in minutes the roads were covered.

She slapped the steering wheel, lightly. The day was
hurrying toward the early darkness of winter, and the temperature was dropping.

Roma would be fine in the cold, at least for a little while.
Grim could keep her warm.

But the girl had just come off the path and wasn’t as strong
as she usually was. Neither was Rune.

Ten minutes later, she spotted Grim trotting down the road
toward her, Roma at his side. She sighed as something loosened inside her
chest.

They were okay.

Better than okay.

Roma stopped walking, lifted her slingshot, and aimed at the
truck.

“Well, hell, Roma.” Rune let down her window and waved.
“Don’t shoot the fucking truck.”

She stopped the truck in the middle of the street and then
climbed out, frowning at Roma. The girl was sick. Her waxy skin was wet with
sweat, her dull eyes unblinking and dry.

Rune let down the tailgate. “Get in, Grim.”

She didn’t wait for him to jump in but walked to Roma. “You
okay?”

Roma nodded. “No.”

Rune shook her head and took the girl’s arm. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m…” Roma cleared her throat and looked at the ground. A
little color appeared in her cheeks. “I’m so hungry.”

Rune lifted an eyebrow and walked Roma to the passenger side
of the truck. “Okay. That’s nothing to be…you know.
Weird
about.
People get hungry.”

“Not me, Princess. I wasn’t lying. I really don’t get
hungry. Right now, I could eat Grim.” She blushed harder and glanced at Rune,
then away.

Rune frowned.
“Roma?”

“I thought about taking a bite out of the dog. His power
would keep me satisfied for weeks.” Roma’s whisper was fierce and angry. “I
fantasized about eating Sorrow’s son!”

Rune pressed her lips together, hoping Roma wouldn’t see the
smile. “That’s fucked up.”

“Yes. Yes it is. What’s wrong with me?” Roma got into the truck,
her movements slow,
her
arm cradling her belly.

“I don’t know, baby.”

Rune checked to make sure Grim was settled in the back of
the truck,
then
shut the tailgate.

Roma groaned. “Rune,” she called.

“We’ll get you something to eat,” Rune said, climbing into
the truck. She made a U-turn and for the first time since reentering her world,
was able to take a real breath.

She was going home.

Ellie, Jack, Raze, the twins. God, she missed them.

She missed the ones she’d left behind, as well, but she
couldn’t think about them. Not yet. Driving a truck through Killing Land wasn’t
the place to have an emotional break down. She’d save those thoughts for later.
Much later.

“We’re going home,” she said, grimly.

Two minutes later Grim stood up in the truck bed and started
snarling like a mad wolf.

“
Now
what?”
Rune said. “See
anything, Roma?”

Roma slid her window down and stuck her head out. “No.”

Rune sighed. “This town seems determined to keep us here.”

Roma pulled her head back in. “Are you going to stop?”

“No, dammit,” she said, even as she hit the brakes and slid
through the wet snow.

Roma glanced into the back. “Grim is gone.”

“Son of a bitch.
Grim,” Rune
yelled, jumping from the truck.

Roma went to the back of the truck. “There.” She pointed at
the paw prints in the snow.

Rune blew out a breath. “I would really like to get home.”

“Where do you think he was going?”

“No idea.”

“He’s Sorrow’s son. He can find his way to you.” Roma
clutched her stomach. “Can you feel it?”

“The bad vibes?
Yeah. This place
isn’t called Killing Land for nothing.”

Roma caressed her slingshot. “We will go now.”

Rune stared at the tracks, undecided. “We could follow him.”

“As much as I dislike admitting this, I’m not well enough to
track him, Princess.”

Rune wasn’t leaving the girl there while she ran through the
woods of Killing Land chasing the recalcitrant dog.

So she nodded. “I’ll drive slowly.” She didn’t want to leave
Grim, but Roma was right. He’d find them when he needed to.
Much
like the crow.
And the vampire.

They couldn’t sit there waiting for any of them.

She shouted Grim’s name for two minutes before giving up and
driving away.

Finally.

Ten minutes later, they grew a tail.

“You’ll get your truck back,” Rune muttered to those in the
truck behind her.
“Just not right now.”

Roma readied her slingshot. “I can stop them.”

“If they shoot first, take them out.”

But those following them didn’t shoot. They didn’t even try
overly hard to catch Rune. Just to be sure, she slowed to a near crawl, and the
truck following her did the same.

She squinted into her rearview and caught sight of only one
man in the tailing vehicle.

“Huh,” she said. “He’s just making sure we leave town.”

“I wish he’d offer us food,” Roma grouched.

“Search the truck. I think I remember seeing something when
I was looking for phones.”

Roma didn’t hesitate. “Oh, yes,” she cried, when she found
half a stale snack cake and a small, unopened package of chips. “You don’t want
some, do you?”

Rune grinned.
“No, baby.
But if you
manage to find a thermos of coffee and a cheeseburger, those are mine.”

“Deal.”

Rune stopped at stop sign, uncertain.
“Left
or right?
That’s the question.”

The driver behind them beeped his horn, lightly, and when
she glanced back, he stuck his arm out the window and pointed.

“Left, then,” she murmured, and when she pulled out, he
didn’t follow.

Five minutes later she found the highway.

They were out of fucking Killing Land.

Better than that, they were on their way home.

“We’re coming back, aren’t we?” Roma’s voice was quiet, but
sure.

“Oh yes, we’ll be back. There’s a monster to hunt. Killing
Land can’t handle it, so I will.”

“
We
will.”

“Yeah.”

“Why don’t we grab something to eat and
come back to kill it ourselves?”

“Because more than I want to destroy a monster
or save a town, I want my fucking crew.
I want…” She stopped when her
voice held too much emotion and she felt the quick sting of tears. She took a
deep breath. “I want backup.”

“You’re heartbroken.” It wasn’t a question.

When Rune glanced at Roma, the girl was staring out the
window.
Giving Rune a minute to control herself.

Rune didn’t reply.

What she felt was such a personal thing.
An
almost shameful thing.
She was as emotional and needy as a toddler.

Deep, dark sadness embraced her with an unbearable,
unbreakable grip, and for a second, she was unable to breathe past the pain.

“I need coffee,” she said, because she had to say something
and that was the only thing that would come out of her trembling mouth.

Ellie.

She needed her Ellie.

Her touchstone, her haven.

“Do you think,” Roma said, looking at her at last, “that the
path took
your
…” She gestured, unable to find the
word. And then she did.
“Your hardness?”

“No,” Rune whispered. “But Skyll took my heart.”

I will never leave you.

Fuck you
.

She couldn’t bear to stop even for a second—she smelled home
in the distance and she had to get there.
Had to.

She didn’t care about the posted speed limits. She drove
fast, so fast it wasn’t safe—not for Roma—but she sped anyway.

And when she came upon more congested traffic, she swerved
in and out, abusing her horn, grimly silent, full of need.

She was close, and the closer she got, the more impatient
she became.

The harsher her pain, the deeper her need.

She couldn’t bear the thought that it would never go away.

“God,” she cried, once.

Roma reached out a tentative hand to pat her arm.

“Hush,” she murmured. “They will be there when you arrive,
Rune.” She slid her palm over Rune’s skin as though she were placating a wild
animal. “Hush.”

Rune shuddered, her mind torn between those waiting ahead
and those she’d left behind.

Sometimes it was hard to let ghosts be ghosts.

Or maybe they just didn’t want to be forgotten.

As if.

She sighed and became calmer beneath Roma’s soothing touch.
“You’re good at that, slingshot girl.”

Roma inclined her head. “Rune, are you—”

“What the hell is that? Is that Grim?” Her heart eased just
a little when she caught sight of the big dog sitting patiently at the side of
the highway, waiting for her.

“It certainly is,” Roma
said,
a smile
in her voice. “Maybe I’m not the only one who wants to make you feel better.”

“Honey.”
Rune squeezed Roma’s hand.
“It’s no one’s job to make me feel better.”

She left the truck while Roma was still trying to think of
something to say. Grim loped toward her, his tongue lolling.

She leaned over—not far—to plant a kiss on his large, warm
head, and could have sworn he was smiling when she withdrew.

The truck dipped when he jumped into the bed, and she
slammed the tailgate shut, happier than she had reason to be at his return.

“Don’t leave this time,” she told him, then got back under
the wheel. She drove a little more carefully the rest of the way to River
County.

“There,” Roma said.
“The sign.”

Rune grinned.
“River County.
Home.”
She realized at that moment she hadn’t been sure she
was going to see home again.

But she was there.
So fucking close.

“Wormwood,” she told Roma, pointing.

Roma put a hand to her chest.
“Wormwood.”

“Wormwood is everywhere.”

“Yes.”

Neither of them was surprised when the truck sputtered to a
halt—the gas tank hadn’t exactly been full when they’d started from Killing
Land.

“You see that gate, Roma? Go get reacquainted with Wormwood
while I run to the city. I’ll be back with my crew. Sit just inside so I can
find you.”

Anxiety and eagerness clouded her thinking, maybe, but she
knew Roma would be okay. So would Grim. So would they fucking all.

And she needed to get to her crew. She had to reset or she
was going to shatter into a million pieces.

“Go,” Roma said, gently. “
Go,
Princess.”

Rune went.

She ran ever onward toward the building that would hold—she
hoped—her crew.

The Annex.

The city was changed. She could feel it, and she could see
it.

The air smelled of smoke and burning bodies, reminding her
so vividly of Skyll that she stumbled.

She spotted piles of bodies alongside the roads and in
fields, waiting for the humans to light them on fire.

Others.

She passed trucks with more bodies in their beds and flashed
by cleanup crews whizzing cheerfully down the highway.

Sick
Others
would be gathered in
the woods or in their homes with their clans and packs and covens. They
wouldn’t know help had arrived. They wouldn’t know their cure was already in
the air.

But she’d make sure they were told.

She reached the Annex in minutes but when she did, she had
to lean against the building because the knowledge that she’d
made
it,
that she was finally, finally home, back with her crew, was almost too heavy to
hold.

They’d help her. They’d make the horror a little less. They
would
fucking
chase away the darkness.

Her heart was bursting. Fear, love, hope, need…

She was back.

Oh, God, she was
back.

She might have been gone a thousand years.

She expected the berserker to round the corner and yank her
into his arms.

Could he really have left her?

I will never leave you
.

She pressed her face into the rough brick and battled tears.

The tears won.

Finally, she forced herself to walk to the front doors.

Elizabeth.
God.

She walked inside, slowly.

She was almost afraid to look up.

But she did, and she stood quietly for a second, taking it
in.

The big, clean building bustled with activity. She’d
thought, for some reason, that the entire city would be lost in confusion and
mourning.

But the dead and dying…

They were merely
Others
.

Others,
like her.

And they would never be good enough.

Many of the humans were likely celebrating.

She couldn’t hold in her emotions for another second.

She curled her hands into tight fists, threw back her head,
and screamed for the one person who could maybe, just maybe, make everything
okay.

“Ellie!”

He no longer worked for the Annex, but he was there. She
knew he was there. And she couldn’t help but scream for him.

Her best friend.

The one who’d saved her more times than she cared to
remember. The one she trusted completely. He loved her. He would save her from
the dark crazy that lived inside and threatened to consume her.

The despair.

“
Ellie!”

The entire building quieted.

Annex employees stopped what they were doing to gape at her.

Of course they knew her.

She hadn’t been gone that long.

“Ellie!”

And then she felt him, felt her Ellis running to her.

“Ellie,” she whispered, and sank down to the floor, mentally
exhausted, her filthy hair hanging in her face.

I want my berserker. I want my fucking berserker
.

She looked up when she heard heavy, running footsteps, and
forced herself to her feet. The despair was shoved down, beaten down by the
people coming for her.

Ellis, bracketed by the twins, with Jack
and Raze behind them.

Raze, his dark red hair flowing, dodged around the others
and reached her first. He snatched her into his arms. “I’ll be damned.” He
patted her on the back, hard enough to make her lose her breath. “I’ll be
damned.”

Then Jack was there, pulling her from Raze, his face rough
with a two-day growth of whiskers. One of his eyes was hidden behind a black
patch. The other one was bloodshot, a semicircle of darkness underneath it.
“You’re back. Rune, you’re
back.”

As though she didn’t know.

Ellis slammed into them, sobbing,
then
forced his way between her body and Jack’s. “Oh, thank God.
Rune.
Rune.”

She wrapped her arms around him and inhaled deeply,
wallowing in his clean, pure scent.
His goodness.

Ellie.

Ellis would love her, he’d be there for her,
he’d
take care of her when depression threatened to consume
her.

Long before the berserker, long before Owen, there had just
been her and Ellis. There had been Jack and Raze. And she would be fine.
Just fucking fine.

The twins stood unmoving, calm and quiet, but she knew them.
Their bodies were stiff with tension, their eyes bright with fear.

At last, she pulled away from Ellis and met their stares.
“Hi,” she murmured.

They wrapped their arms around her. “Welcome home,” Levi
said.

She closed her eyes for one long moment before she gathered
the courage to break their hearts. She stepped away and her crew closed in
around her, waiting.

“Lex wanted to stay,” she said.

There was a heartbeat of nothingness. No sounds, no
comprehension.

Raze was the first to respond. “She can’t stay there alone.
You didn’t leave her there alone, Rune?”

Ellis put his arms around Levi. “I’m so sorry.”

Denim said nothing. He dropped his head and let his long
hair shield his face and the ropy scar that stood out in angry defiance against
the sudden paleness of his skin.

“Rune,” Raze insisted. “You didn’t leave her there. You
didn’t leave her there alone.” It was not a question. He simply didn’t believe
Lex hadn’t returned. That Rune had left her there to fend for herself.
Alone.

“No,” she said. “She’s not alone. The berserker and Owen are
there with her.” She took a deep breath. “Z is there with her.”

I
should be there with her.

She doubled over as the reality of it hit
her,
hit her like a hammer between her eyes. It wasn’t right. It couldn’t be right.

She’d left them there, and it was too late to do anything
about it. The portal had closed.
Locked.

Vanished.

“Oh sweetheart,” Ellis said.
“Rune.”

“Z?” Jack said. “Z is there?”

“
Owen
is there?” Raze asked. “How the hell is
Owen
there?” Then he hit his chest. “Take us to Skyll, Rune. We need to go.”

“If they found a way in, so can
we
.”
Jack adjusted his perfectly straight eye patch. “You’re going back, aren’t
you?”

“No.”

Ellis squeezed her arm. “You’re not? You’re not leaving?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“Come on,” Raze said, angry. “You wouldn’t leave Strad there
without you.”

“I did. I
did
leave him. I left him so I could bring
back the fucking cure. I left him so I could be with you.” She softened her
voice and looked at Ellis.
“With
you.”

“I’m not leaving you, sweetheart. You’re leaving me.”

Fuck you, Berserker.

“Strad wouldn’t leave you,” Jack said, disbelieving.

She was so tired. “
I
left. He stayed. Matthew…”

They waited.

Fuck. Even she couldn’t believe the shit she was saying.
“Matthew was there.”