I rolled onto my back so I could punch whoever had crawled into my bed. I hoped to catch sight of them, so I could figure out where to fight back.
“Remy,” Lazlo whispered, realizing just in time that I was about to hit him. “It’s me.” I finally started making out the contours of his face.
“What are you doing?”
“We gotta go.” Lazlo looked back over his shoulder.
“Now? Right now?” I asked.
“Yeah, Blue is upstairs being a lookout, but we can’t stay. Korech told me. I’m sinful and corrupting the girls, and if I stay, he’s going to have to take action to cleanse me,” Lazlo informed me hurriedly.
“What does that even mean?”
“I didn’t want to know, but Blue asked, and all Korech’d say was that people don’t always survive a cleansing.” He shivered, his body shimmering like a mirage in the darkness.
“He basically threatened to kill you?” I struggled to keep from shouting.
The thought of Korech just talking about hurting him enraged me. I felt surprisingly protective of Lazlo.
“Yeah. Unless I leave. So… we gotta go.” He’d been leaning on the edge of my bed, but he stood up.
“Is that the truth?” Harlow asked quietly, her voice coming from the bed behind me.
“I haven’t lied to you yet, kid, and I’m not gonna start with this,” Lazlo said. “If you wanna come, you gotta do it now.”
“I’ll go with you,” Lia piped in, shocking all of us, I think.
I looked up at Lazlo, but it was too dark to see his expression. If she wanted to come with, I wouldn’t stop her.
I sat up and threw my feet over the edge of the bed, feeling around in the dark. My clothes were folded on the end of the bed, but I didn’t bother changing into them. If we had talked loud enough to wake Lia, I’m sure we had woken other girls. It was only a matter of time before they sounded the alarm.
“Harlow, get your stuff,” I commanded.
She didn’t say anything, and for one unnerving minute, I was afraid I’d have to drag her out of here against her will. Then I saw her silhouette as she sat up, and I let out relived breath as she gathered her own clothes from the end of the bed.
Despite what I’d said earlier about not forcing anyone to leave, I couldn’t leave Harlow here, not with a man who had threatened to kill Lazlo. I didn’t know what I’d do if she tried to fight me on leaving.
I sent Harlow up the stairs ahead of me, and I hurried behind her with Lazlo at my heels. I didn’t check to see who was following us. I didn’t want to know.
Part of me felt guilty for leaving any of the girls here, but I didn’t really have a choice. I didn’t have time to argue and convince them, especially when most of them wouldn’t be convinced. Besides that, I couldn’t ignore the fact that Korech had kept them all alive thus far.
Moonlight shone through the kitchen window. Blue waited by the basement door at the top of the stairs, watching out for Korech or Nevaeh. I looked back to see who had come with us, and Lia had followed, along with Vega, whose dissension made more sense than Lia.
Without saying a word, we rushed through the house. It was dead silent, and if we made a sound, Korech had to hear us. I held the screen door open as everyone else ran outside, and I gently closed it behind them, making sure it didn’t slam shut.
“Get in the car,” I whispered as they darted out into cool night air. “Blue, you drive.” I had my jeans in my hand, and I pulled the car keys from the pocket and then tossed them to him. “But don’t start it yet. I gotta get Ripley.”
“You’re gonna look for Ripley now?” Lazlo asked as Blue unlocked the vehicle.
“I’m not leaving her.”
“Hurry. He’ll notice us missing soon,” Vega warned, but she didn’t look scared. I wasn’t sure if I found that comforting or creepy.
As the girls crawled into the SUV, Blue paused and exchanged a look with me. I had to look for the lion, but I didn’t want to risk the safety of everyone else. At the first sign of trouble, Blue needed to get out of here, protecting the girls, even if I wasn’t ready.
I searched around in the moonlight, lifting up my nightgown so I wouldn’t trip on it. Lazlo went with me, apparently helping in some way. Neither of us yelled for Ripley. We couldn’t, not if we wanted to get away without Korech hearing us.
“Aw, hell,” I sighed. I couldn’t see any sign of Ripley, and we didn’t have much time. “I don’t know what to do.” I turned to Lazlo, hoping he would have an idea, but he just stared at me strangely. “What?”
“Nothing,” Lazlo shrugged. “I’ve just never seen you with your hair down.” My stomach fluttered. “Also, your nightgown is almost completely see-through.”
“Oh my god.” I rolled my eyes and covered my arms over my chest. “I should’ve just let Korech kill you.”
He smirked and might’ve had a witty retort, but the porch light suddenly turned on, bathing us in bright yellow light.
The front door banged open, and we turned around in time to see Korech’s dark silhouette as he came outside. Nevaeh followed right behind him, carrying a shotgun.
Lazlo and I stood a few feet away from the SUV, and I considered diving behind it to hide. But with the porch light shining on us, they had to have seen us. We could only try talking with them, but reasoning with insanity rarely boded well.
“What’s going on?” Korech asked, his voice eerily pleasant. He moved towards us, while Nevaeh fell a few steps back.
“Nothing. We just decided to leave.” I straightened my shoulders and stood tall.
A breeze rustled my hair, and my mind raced trying to think of an escape plan. I was fairly good at fighting zombies, but even with their strength and speed, zombies weren’t the same as fighting a strong, healthy man. They didn’t have any reason or intelligence, and their bodies were much softer and more pliable the longer they’d been infected.
Physically, I was no match for Korech. Lazlo was somewhat muscular, but he was barely taller than me, and I doubt he’d ever fought in his life.
“You shouldn’t be rushing off in the middle of the night. It’s a dangerous place out there for young girls,” Korech said with a smile that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. “Especially going off with him,” he nodded towards Lazlo. “He’s going to corrupt and destroy you.”
“He’s demon possessed!” Nevaeh spouted. She raised her gun a little, but it seemed more of an involuntary reflex out of fear.
“Hey, let’s take it easy.” I stepped forward and held my hands up.
“They need to leave,” Korech nodded at Lazlo. “He is not welcome here anymore.”
“Just let us get out of here!” Lazlo shouted, pleading. “We wanna leave!”
“I can’t have you endangering any of my girls.” Korech reached behind him, taking the gun from Nevaeh.
I could dive at him to try to grab it, but he was too far away from me. He’d have it aimed at me, and if I ran straight for him, I’d be an easy shot.
I glanced over at the SUV and considered sacrificing Lia and Vega to leave. Even if that didn’t make me feel like a monster, I had a feeling that wouldn’t be good enough anymore. He might be willing to let me go, but he already had his claws in Harlow, and he knew it.
“We’re not your girls,” I said. “We don’t want to cause you any trouble. We just want to leave.”
“He has you confused.” Korech held the gun at his side, and the calm assurance he had was unnerving. “Lazlo, I suggest you release my girls back to me, and then you leave, before I make you.” He lifted the gun just slightly, letting us know exactly what he meant by make.