Chapter 16

“Regret doesn’t raise the dead.”

Dan watched Andrew’s hand shoot toward the Captain. Without a second thought, Hina grabbed the man’s wrist. Wrenching him forward, she slammed his jaw with her palm and shoved him back. Groaning, Andrew stumbled, loose-legged. But he caught himself and stood while a stream of blood seeped from his lips.

Dan’s eyes shot back and forth. Kalei stepped backwards, appalled, while Will leapt between the girl and the men. Springing to his feet, Dan raised his fists to the sides of his head and grimaced at Andrew. He put one leg back and dispersed his weight. The Captain loomed before him, her eyes bloodshot.

The five of them stood for a moment, watching for any jerk in each other’s movements. And just when Dan thought she might calm down and speak again, the Captain charged. Right at Andrew. She lurched on her right leg, winced as she landed. The fall twisted her, but she accepted her new direction seamlessly and swung her knife at Dan.

It almost opened a hole in his throat, but he managed to stumble back. He tried to find his footing, but the Captain dashed toward him like a demon. He scampered to her right, toward her bad leg, but her fist caught his ribs on the way. He reeled backwards—threw a right hook. She dodged and battered his shoulder again.

Dan had fought before. Chavs, junkies off their fix, the occasional mugger. But against her, he couldn’t do anything. When he swung, she moved as little as possible, effortless. He had a strong frame, but she had height, muscle, and dexterity. Without that bad leg, Dan realized, she would have killed Andrew on the first swing.

Hina kicked him in the gut. With blurring eyes, he yelped and twisted around. He got a look at Andrew for a moment—the financier had stumbled up to the two teenagers and gotten himself surrounded. Will swung his bat and cracked him in the ribs. But Andrew just took it. Didn’t even flinch. The girl tried to cross around in front, and Andrew backed up to the middle of the road.

Hina rooted her feet. Dan knew she wouldn’t kick again—she had to fight around that leg. Still, she moved fast. And she hit hard enough—not to mention the knife. Here in the open, she could pivot. But behind them stood a house, tall and half-crumbled, with tight spaces and choke points. And that gave Dan an idea.

Up the road, Andrew bellowed, drawing both Dan and Hina’s eyes. He forced Kalei to the ground and wrapped his hands in a tight grip on her axe. With a sharp tug on the handle, he dragged her into the air like a toddler. When she landed, she stumbled, her face drenched with sweat. But still, she pummeled the man with wild kicks—Will smacked him with the bat, sparking a dull clunk. Without even blinking, Andrew continued swinging the girl around from the axe-handle in a circle. Yet, no matter how hard he swung her around, she didn’t stop her barrage. The two of them were locked together, lumbering toward the guard rail.

Hina hesitated, torn between targets. That was Dan’s in. He dashed to her and skirted around to the other side until his back faced the house. She tightened up. Jabbing at her face, he backed up. She took a step forward. He backed up two steps. She tried to edge closer to the three figures at the left, but Dan kicked at her bad leg when she did.

That must’ve keyed her in. She’d have to beat him quickly. And so, she set to the task.

Not a half-second later, she slashed with the knife. Dan gritted his teeth. The beastly woman swung back and forth, forcing him to flee or die. He couldn’t fight back. Instead, he led her backward to the dark doorway of the crumpled house. Dan touched the frame and scuttled in. She followed close behind.

Curled wallpaper and blackened wood kept the light dim as Dan leapt through a hole in the wall. He ran down a dark hallway until a big room opened up. The back wall had crumbled, revealing the scant trees behind the house. Boards and ash-wood lay all around, sharp and loose. In that instant before the Captain caught up, he grabbed the first board he could and hefted it over his shoulder.

She approached from the hall, knife still in hand. Roaring, Dan rushed her. She ducked, but not fast enough to dodge. A dull thunk sent her flying. Her shoulder slammed the wall and her knife clattered to the floor. Furious, Hina screamed and tackled him. Somehow, he caught one of her arms, but in a flash, she twisted out of his grip and flipped over so he was on top. Fighting against his squirming, she squeezed his belly with her legs and wrapped her arms around his neck.

He couldn’t breathe.

Horrified, he slapped her side. She didn’t budge. Though he struggled, he couldn’t push her off. With frantic, dying strength he jabbed her ribs with his elbow. She winced, but he still couldn’t bring in any air.

You deserved it, Danny, Mother’s voice said. It’s always fair.

As his vision went blurry, Dan struck one last blow against her bad knee. Howling, she loosened enough for him to wriggle out. He crawled toward her knife, half-ready to stand, but she grabbed his leg. The ground slipped from under him, and she whipped him back on top of her. This time, she took his arm and wrapped her legs around it. But before she could pull back and snap the bone, Dan grabbed his wrist and pulled back. She gave a good fight, but he had the better angle—he put all his might into a final tug.

But then, she let go.

He tumbled back onto himself, and before he could stand, the Captain leaned over and pummeled him. Relentless. Even as he bit the inside of his cheek and spat up blood, she refused to stop. She got to her feet, kicking him until he curled up and whimpered.

In one final, desperate maneuver, Dan kicked off the wall and slid across the floor, letting him finally reach the knife in the hall. Prone on the ground, he swiped left and right until she backed up. She backed up too fast. Her leg hit an exposed plank from the wall, and she tripped back, growling in pain.

Then she looked at him with a new face—her eyes softened, but she still bared her teeth. The kind of look you give to a rabid dog up against the needle. She slipped her hand into the back of her pants and pulled out a gleaming brass revolver—he hadn’t even noticed it in all that time.

With that, Dan clambered through the hallway faster than he’d moved in years. Right as he ran out the front door and slammed it—

Crack.

Wood splintered right where he’d stood not a moment before. Weeping and gagging through his raw throat, Dan burst toward the three figures on the other side of the street.

Little thought breached the bubbling froth of his mind as he flew across the blacktop. Nothing but get the packs, get Andrew, run. Wasting no time, he gathered everything, the bottles, the food, the one remaining runestone—anything he could grab—into the packs. Not bothering to tie the jackets, he ran to help Andrew. In and out. He just had to get in and out. He watched the three figures approach diagonally, moving toward both him and the guard rail. Dan caught Will off guard, beating the back of the boy’s neck with his shoulder. Will went limp.

Only ten meters ahead, the girl and Andrew struggled. Kalei couldn’t hurt Andrew. No five-foot-two girl could hold up against the sheer mass of a six-foot-five man—one whose eyes were aflame, whose heartbeat shook the ground below him, whose growling had reduced her to tears. But Andrew’s wild swinging wasn’t hurting her. She should’ve lost long ago. Still, she went on, leaping onto his shoulder and beating on his head. He tripped again, crushing her back against the crumpled guard rail. It forced a strangled sound out of her. But again and again, she struck him, her gas mask long since ripped off.

As Dan approached, Andrew called out to him and tried to stand. In an instant, Kalei wrapped her arms around Andrew’s neck the same way Hina had done to Dan. Instead of tearing her off, Andrew wound up and dashed her against the rusty railing.

Then, the rail cracked open. Scraps of rusted metal flew away behind them. The two toppled off the cliff into empty space.

Dan yelped, dove forward, and tugged on the axe in Andrew’s hands. The financier jerked to a stop, but Kalei plunged right on. In that instant, Dan’s breath went out. The air froze. Kalei’s eyes locked with Dan’s. Her lips parted, as if to ask where the ground was. And then, she fell. Her voice cracked in horror as the ground slipped by and the sharp orange rocks drew close. When she landed, her spine cracked with a dull thump.

And that was that.

Dan could feel the door open behind him, feel Hina standing there, stupefied, her pistol clattering to the ground.

Dan and Andrew clambered to the edge and peered down. Ten meters down. Blood seeped out of Kalei’s back, trickling down between the crevices in the rocks, streaming far away. She managed a faint gasp before her eyes went glassy. Forgetting Hina, forgetting Will, Dan spent the next moment gaping at Andrew’s blank face. The financier’s eyes wouldn’t move. Not even the natural twitch of the iris or the subtle shift from one point to another. They just looked.

Only the Captain had stood a real chance, and Dan had taken her away. They’d fought children with sticks and an injured veteran who couldn’t bring herself to actually use her gun. But her kindness hadn’t killed her sister.

This man—he did that. And Dan had helped him.

Will had long since come to the edge, and Hina had made her own way across the blacktop. Still, silence reigned over the cliff. Even Mother, who had watched the fight alone, half-hidden behind a tree trunk beside the house, refused to cackle. Dan tugged the financier’s arm, pulled him to his feet. Dan caught Hina’s gaze one last time. Her lips moved, but she didn’t speak. But she didn’t have to—her gaze was more than enough; this would be the beginning. And the end would strike them as hard as the bullets in her pistol. Dan backed up. He turned and pulled Andrew along like a ragdoll. The accountant started walking faster. And faster. He forced Andrew to keep pace as he broke into a sprint.

When the men had rounded the corner, Hina’s wail slaughtered the silence.