Darkness Fades (Darkness Falls Series, Book 3) by Jessica Sorensen

plunge into the
monster. Another one appears just behind Aiden, snarling as it
creeps towards us on all fours.
    I set the papers down, moving slowly, eyes
fixed on the monster to my side. I take a deep breath and then
without warning, I dash over to it. It nips at me as I reach its
front and I skitter to the side, going around. Blood drips out of
its mouth as it turns with me, following my movements as I shuffle
towards the wall.
    Its crooked legs bring it closer to me as I
back towards the wall, searching for a way out. When it’s within
reach, I bring my foot up and slam the tip of my toe into its
mouth. Blood splatters on the ground as it lets out a shrill howl
then barrels at me. I swing my knife down right as it’s about to
take a bite of my leg. The blade enters its spongy body and it
cries out as I plunge the knife deeper. Blood gushes out as I
wrench the knife out and flip back as the monster lurches towards
me. I spin and sink the knife inside of its chest, slashing open
the skin. It howls again, so loudly I want to cover my ears, then
it flops down on its side, blood pooling around it.
    It continues to snap its teeth at me for a
moment until its head falls to its side as its body goes limp. For
a second I just stare at it, wondering if it could have been Sylas,
which only hurts to think about.
    Panting, I spin around just in time to see
Aiden finish off the other beast, slamming his knife deep into the
monster’s chest. Blood spurts out of the wound as he removes the
knife and backs up. The monster lets out a furious cry and then
drops to the floor like a bag of bricks. I wipe the blade of my
knife over my jeans, pick the papers up, then without saying
anything to Aiden, I hurry to the plastic and duck outside.
    I can hear Aiden’s footsteps as he rapidly
catches up with me and grabs my arm. I shrug him off and continue
walking.
    “Kayla, we need to talk,” he demands,
striding alongside of me.
    I turn the corner and stride towards the
park, hugging the papers tightly to my chest. When he grabs my
shoulder again, I whirl around and push him back, ready to get out
of here, save the world and forget. Forget about everything. The
choices I’ve made, the things…
    I stop walking as I reach the spot where the
land opens up. There are dozens of abominations standing in front
of us, down on all fours, drooling on the ground as they look at us
with hunger in their eyes.
    “Let’s take them,” Aiden says, stepping
forward with a pleased look on his face.
    I grab his arm and pull him back. “No way.
There’s too many of them.”
    He looks torn, glancing back and forth
between them and me. He surprises me, though, when he nods and we
spin around together to start running back in the direction we came
from.
    I think that Aiden is following me until I
throw a glance over my shoulder and realize he’s run in a different
direction towards a few dead trees. As he yells at the beasts and
makes a lot of noise, I wonder what he’s doing, but then I realize
he’s trying to get them away from me. I’m not sure how I feel about
this since I’ve pretty much made up my mind that Aiden was no good
anymore.
    His plan almost works and most of the
monsters chase after him, tearing up the ground with their claws,
but a few of them look at me with their hungry eyes and run after
me. I pump my legs faster, barreling back towards the building,
knowing I’ve outrun them before and I can do it again.
    All but one of them starts to fall behind
and I begin to relax until one seems to be gaining on me. It’s
nipping at my heels, making loud growls, ripping up pieces of the
ground with his force. I feel myself reaching maximum speed and I
don’t know what to do because it seems to be getting closer. There
is a pile of rusty cars just in front of me. Not knowing what else
to do, I quickly dive to the side of them and squeeze in between a
metal gap. I barely get my legs in as it tries to take a bite,
barely missing my skin. As I shimmy