Last Light (Until Dawn, Book 1)

by J. N. Baker

  “Zoe,” she whimpered.

  She collapsed into my arms and wept. I patted her on the back, mumbling some there-theres. What could I do? Eventually, she would find a way to recover from the traumatic events she’d witnessed and the pain would pass. But, for now, all I could do was let her cry until there were no more tears left.

  Against my chest, I felt the corners of her lips rise. I pulled away from her slightly, following her wandering eyes to where they landed on Trent and I was suddenly very glad we’d found him a pair of shorts to wear. “Is that for me?” she whispered.

  I rolled my eyes and released her. She had recovered faster than I thought.

  “Well, hello there, little goddess,” Trent purred, taking Cindy’s hand in his and kissing it.

  “Oh my,” she giggled and then her eyes shifted to Josh and Tiffany, who were once again holding hands. She wrinkled her nose with disgust. I knew the feeling well.

  After a few minutes of awkward introductions, Cindy found herself glued to Cody’s hip, much to Trent’s dismay. Cody patted her head unenthusiastically, looking at me with pleading eyes, as if expecting me to save him. Yeah, right. She was his problem now. I had enough to handle with the broken Barbie being my responsibility and all. He could take one for the team. Besides, as much as we bitched about her antics, we all loved Cindy.

  While the group chatted amongst themselves about what to do next, I headed toward the water. I stepped into the frothy liquid, keeping a safe distance from the violent waves. The salty bubbles tingled as they washed over my toes. It was almost relaxing. Almost.

  “Do you honestly expect us to just go along with that?” Tiffany roared. “To just do everything you say?”

  “Yes,” Alec retorted, “I do. You don’t really have much of a choice in the matter, now do you, sweetheart?”

  “Josh, what are we even doing here?”

  I sighed. It looked like there was trouble in paradise—again. Well, that hadn’t taken very long. I shot a look over my shoulder. An argument had erupted between Alec and Tiffany. She was lucky that Jade wasn’t around. Alec was much more patient. Though, based on the strained look on his face, that patience was wearing thin.

  “You people are crazy!” she raged on. She jabbed a finger in Cody’s direction and his eyes grew three sizes bigger. “I saw that one turn into a damn monkey!”

  “It was a gorilla,” Cody grumbled and Cindy’s face paled.

  Tiffany grabbed Josh with her one good arm and tugged him to her side with surprising force. “We need to go, Josh. We need to get away from them, get somewhere safe. Cindy can come with us if she wants. She’d be safer with us. Any place would be safer than with this freak show.”

  “This freak show is the only reason you are still alive,” Alec said through clenched teeth.

  “Are you kidding me?” she screeched. “My arm is broken and we all almost died because of you!”

  As amusing as it would have been to watch Alec crush her skull, something bigger caught my attention. I snapped my head back to the ocean, taking a few steps into the dark abyss as the water rushed out to sea, retreating from the shoreline at an accelerated speed.

  “No…”

  I stood between Alec and Tiffany in less than a second. “We need to get out of here! We need to go, now!”

  Josh and Cindy seemed to be the only ones to notice me as the others continued to growl and snarl at one another like rabid animals. We didn’t have time for this shit. I cupped a hand over Tiffany’s mouth, somewhat careful not to break her perfect teeth. She squirmed under my grip as I pointed toward the ocean.

  A hush fell over the group as seven pairs of eyes peered into the darkness. A bolt of lightning lit the black sky and Cindy screamed.

  The water surged out, lifting and forming an enormous tidal wave. It hissed and groaned as it lunged toward the earth.

  Within seconds, we were sprinting across the beach, Alec and I trying to slow our pace so the others could keep up with their much slower legs.

  “There,” Cody shouted, pointing toward one of the only buildings that was holding strong after both earthquakes.

  “It isn’t tall enough!” I yelled back at him.

  “It’s going to have to be,” Trent growled. He was right. There wasn’t anything taller in sight. Shit.

  We sprinted up the stairs to the boardwalk and made a beeline for the opening of the arcade. The metal roll-up security door was pulled down, locked firmly in place. Alec coiled his fingers through the metal and yanked up, snapping the lock and sending the door sailing through the air.

  As the last of our group dove into the arcade, tripping over fallen games and cheaply made stuffed animals, I made the mistake of looking back over my shoulder. The wave wasn’t coming. It was here.

  “Run!”

  The force of the water slamming into the building nearly knocked me off my feet as I sprinted to catch up to the others. And then there was the sound. The ocean roared and hissed as if it were a living thing, chasing after us like a rabid animal out for blood. I heard the water surging behind me. We weren’t going to make it.

  “Get upstairs,” Alec shouted. His voice came from above, as if he were already on the second floor.

  I shoved the others along in front of me, trying to be their eyes as we navigated the pitch-black building. As we entered the giant dome, the water finally caught up with us, crashing into us with terrifying force.

  One of my hands snapped out and grabbed the railing of the first set of stairs while the other hand reached out to grab hold of Josh’s forearm. The water tugged and yanked at him, trying to tear him away from me. Josh grunted under the pressure. I roared, pulling against the current and towing us onto the stairs just as Alec came rushing to help us.

  Cody, Trent, Cindy, and Tiffany were swept toward the front doors of the arcade.

  “Alec!” I screamed, dragging Josh farther up the stairs. “Get them!”

  Alec disappeared and reappeared on the other set of stairs by the main entrance. If he didn’t get them, they’d be swept through the glass and into the raging waters beyond. Alec hooked his leg through the white banister and reached out for the four of them as they barreled toward him. They crashed into him and Alec’s face twisted. Shit, he wasn’t going to be able to hold all of them. The force was going to tear the banister in half…or him.

  I threw Josh to the top of the stairs and sprinted across the second floor toward Alec and the others. “I’ve got you!” I shouted, diving beside Alec and grabbing both Cindy and Tiffany by the arms just as Alec’s grip began to slip. Together, we yanked the four of them from the water’s clutches, dragging them to safety.

  “Thanks, dude,” Cody breathed, coughing up saltwater onto the wood floors. “That was a wild ride.”

  I stumbled to the second-floor railing and stared in horror as the dome began to fill with water at an alarming rate, looking rather reminiscent of its past days as a popular swimming center rather than the mini-golf arcade that it was supposed to be.

  The water outside crashed around the old building, sounding more like a freight train than water. The walls of the arcade shook and bowed. I wasn’t sure they were going to hold. Somewhere above us, an explosion rang out as the wall of windows on the side of the dome shattered, sending glass sailing into the darkness. In a matter of seconds, water poured down from the faux floor above us like a waterfall, cascading into the growing pool below us. We scrambled back, huddling together in the corner of the second floor, hiding behind pool tables as if they would somehow protect us.

  Gallons upon gallons of water surged up the stairs, gurgling and seething as it crept higher. Tiles from the walls snapped loose and arcade games tumbled over. Someone cried out in the darkness as the water rushed onto the second floor. Icy liquid ran over my feet and I bit my lip.

  “Alec,” I started. “You need to go. You need to teleport to William and get help.”

  “No,” he growled. “I’m not leaving you.”

 
; “Dammit, Alec! Go!” I demanded. “I’ll be fine. You know I’ll be fine.”

  His hands found my face and he pressed his forehead to mine. I placed my hands on top of his, giving them a gentle squeeze. I could see the worry in his golden eyes, the hard line on his face.

  “I’ll be fine,” I whispered.

  Alec bent down, brushing his lips against mine and, just like that, he was gone.

  Another tile broke loose, flying through the darkness, and plowed into my leg. I cried out as it cut clean to the bone. Saltwater rose higher, burning the gaping wound and I slammed my fist into the wall, willing myself to heal faster.

  A sound echoed through the dome, like the cracking of a whip, followed by the haunting sound of steel bending. I stepped closer to the railing, squinting out into the dome. Another whip cracked through the air as one of the steel arches on the ceiling broke loose.

  “Get down!”

  The arch came crashing into the opening of the second floor, wiping out the white banister and sending a wall of water over us. Something bit into my already wounded leg and I gasped.

  “Zoe,” Josh called out, “are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” I said, climbing to my feet. I tried to take a step back toward the group, but my wounded leg wouldn’t budge. I sank my hands into the water, feeling around for whatever had a hold of me. My fingers slipped over what felt like a steel cable coiled around my ankle. The water rushed up to my waist and I cursed under my breath.

  “Cody,” I hollered over the roar of rushing water. From where I stood, I could just barely see the others in the far corner of the room. “The building is falling apart. You need to get them out of here before it completely comes down.”

  “Me?” Cody choked. “Zo, I can’t—”

  “Yes, you can. And you will. You’re the best damn swimmer I know and you know the ocean like the back of your hand. Now, get them out of here!”

  “Shit,” Cody grumbled after a minute. “All right, listen up, guys. Zoe’s right, we’re gonna have to swim out of here, but not like you might be thinking.”

  “We won’t make it,” Cindy shrieked. I pictured her in my head, clinging to one of the guys. That woman would never die alone.

  “We’re gonna make it,” Cody assured her. Even I almost believed him. “What you got, Trent?”

  “Great white.”

  “Seriously, dude? Couldn’t pet a dolphin like the rest of us?”

  “What? I like to live on the edge.”

  “All right,” Cody started. “Here’s what we’re gonna do. As the water hits the top of the second floor, get a full breath. Cindy, you’re going to hold onto my dorsal fin and Tiffany and Josh, you’ll grab onto Trent’s.”

  “Dorsal fin?” the girls squeaked.

  “Yeah,” Trent answered for him. “We’ll swim you three down to the main doors and up to the surface as quickly as we can. You just need to hold your breath and hold on and we will take care of the rest.”

  “Seriously,” Cody added. “Don’t let go. The current outside the building ain’t gonna be pretty.”

  “Are y-you insane?” Tiffany’s teeth chattered.

  “It’s that or die,” I snapped. “Your choice.”

  The water rose to my neck and I felt panic start to gnaw at the base of my skull. I tugged harder on my leg. Ducking under the water, I tried to untangle my ankle from the steel cable with no success. I came up for another breath, struggling as the water rose.

  “Zo?” Cody was at my side.

  “My foot’s stuck,” I said, spitting out salty water.

  “We aren’t leaving you,” Josh said, coming up on my other side. He wrapped his arm around my waist, trying to keep my head above water. In the distance, I heard bones starting to snap and pop.

  “Don’t be a fool, those girls need you—both of you. If you don’t go now, they’ll die.” I pushed them both away.

  “But—”

  “No buts. You know I’m right. I can’t die, remember? But you guys can. Now, go.”

  And with that, my head went under.

  I stopped struggling, letting my body sink to the floor. I felt vibrations in the water as the others began treading water around me. A dark figure dove down beside me and began tugging at the metal tangled around my foot. My fingers bled as I tried to help pull it from my flesh. It only got tighter. Blood clouded the water around us. The body beside me pushed off the floor and kicked to the surface. Loneliness consumed me.

  My chest ached, my lungs burned. My whole body convulsed, demanding air. I tried to remind myself that I couldn’t drown, but my body wasn’t listening. I released the steel cable and thrashed in the water, trying desperately to reach the surface. My muscles slowed and my movements became lethargic. As a black fog crept along the outer edge of my vision, I wondered what would happen when I ran out of air. Would I black out until my body floated to the surface—if it ever floated to the surface?

  Large hands found my face, tilting it up. Lips connected with mine, filling my lungs with air and my body with fire. And with that, they were gone again and everything around me went still.

  Unsheathing my sword, I pressed my body into the floor and tried to hold the wire taut. There was no other choice. I began slicing the blade through the water, hoping I didn’t cut off my own damn foot.

  With every kick, saltwater stung at the open wound on my ankle. It burned as the skin fought to seal back together. I kept one hand on the sloped ceiling of the dome, searching for a break in the water. Just as my lungs started to scream from within my chest, a burst of cold air fluttered over my fingertips. A few more kicks and my head broke through the surface.

  I flung an arm over the steel beam above my head and sucked in as much of the stale air as I could, filling my lungs to capacity until it felt like they would burst. The sharp edge of the steel sliced through my waterlogged skin, but I didn’t care. In that moment, all I cared about was the ability to breathe.

  In the distance, I could hear the rushing of water as it continued pouring in from the shattered windows of the building. It made me uneasy knowing the building was still flooding—and I was still inside it.

  Something brushed against my leg and a head popped out of the water beside me. I thrashed and kicked to push it away. It was a dead body. It had to be. I turned, trying to avoid its face as the pirate manikin bobbed past me.

  “Shit.” I let out a breath and laughed. I was losing it.

  “Zoe? Is that you?”

  “Josh?” I spun around in the water, letting out a sigh of relief as he manifested from the dark. As much as I hated that he hadn’t made it out with the others, his face was a sight for sore eyes. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” he said, struggling to stay afloat. I reached out for him, grabbing hold of his shirt and towing him toward the beam. He slung his arm over it with a heavy grunt before his muscles went slack. He looked as if he might pass out.

  “The others?” I asked.

  “I don’t know,” he breathed. “I think they got out.”

  “What happened? Why didn’t you stay with them?”

  Josh’s eyes found mine. “I told you, Zoe. I wasn’t going to leave you.”

  “I wish you would have,” I muttered. “You should have saved yourself while you had the chance.”

  “And who was going to save you?”

  “I didn’t need saving,” I snapped and instantly felt like a bitch. The man had stayed behind and risked his life trying to protect me and I was biting his head off for it. I reached my free hand out and cupped his cheek, watching the tension drain from his face. “I’m sorry. I’m glad you’re here with me, Josh. I’m glad I’m not alone. I just want to know you’re safe.”

  “We’re both safe,” he said, pushing the hair back from my face. “We’re going to be okay.”

  I sighed. “We won’t be if we can’t get out of here.”

  Josh shifted on the beam, swapping arms. “We’ll find a way out. Unless the water reac
hes the top of the ceiling and we drown.” He added the second part under his breath, not intending for me to hear. I did, of course. Every word.

  We hung on the beam together in silence, our legs bumping against one another as we floated in close proximity. As the water slowly rose, we shifted farther up the beam on the steel arch, keeping our heads above it. The wheels in my head turned, going over every possible exit.

  We could try to escape through the wall of windows, but water still surged through them with a force I wasn’t prepared to tackle. We could try the route Cody, Trent, and the girls took—trying to make the long swim out. But the water level had gone up exponentially since then and I wasn’t entirely sure either of us could handle that either. Escaping was starting to seem impossible.

  “Reaches the top of the ceiling,” I repeated Josh’s words out loud, eyes darting up.

  “Zoe, I didn’t mean for you—”

  “The skylights!” I shouted. “The dome has a raised section that’s lined with skylights. If we can climb up and get to them, we can break out!”

  Josh’s eyes followed mine, squinting into the darkness. While I was sure his eyes were starting to adjust, I doubted he could see much more than a few feet in front of his face. “Why don’t we just wait until the water rises high enough to get us to the top?”

  “Do you really want to wait to see how long the building will hold?” I asked. “Or how long it will take for the water to get that high—if it ever gets that high?” The truth was I didn’t want to be stuck inside that damned dome a moment longer than I had to. I had an unsettling feeling that we were being watched by someone…or something.

  “So, let me get this straight,” he said, turning back to face me. “You want to scale one of these metal rainbows and climb out a tiny window?”

  “Exactly.”

  “Doesn’t that only work in the movies?” He sounded more skeptical than I cared for.

  “You got a better idea?” I snapped. “Because I’m open to suggestions.”

  Josh rolled his eyes. “Tell me what to do.”