Black Holes - The Mors Mortis Trilogy Book 3

Chapter Thirty Four

A scream of pain cut Riley's sentence in half, and she and Leah spun. Cassandra was on top of a large creature, one almost twice her size. She'd got it on the ground, but as she'd delivered the killing blow, it's claws had embedded in her forearm and torn their way back out. A ragged mess of muscle and blood was left in their wake, and Cassandra jerked off the creature's body, losing her footing.

Riley grabbed Cassandra beneath the armpits before she could fall and Leah shifted in front of them, intercepting the next blow. She worked in a flurry to fight the creatures off, jumping over and around Cassandra and Riley to reach them all. Riley was blocking any she missed with inefficient swipes, holding them off until Leah could return, and tying Cassandra's upper arm into a makeshift tourniquet at the same time. But Cassandra was already nearly unresponsive, her eyelids fluttering, her skin paling.

"Cassandra," Riley snapped, the word a command as she shook Cassandra's shoulders, trying to keep her awake. "Can you stand?"

Cassandra let out a low, pained noise, and from the corner of her eye, Leah saw Riley sling Cassandra's good arm over her shoulder and haul her up.

"Go," Riley commanded Leah. "Get us out of here."

They started inching towards the portal once more, but their progress was slow. Cassandra was doing what she could, but her head lolled, her steps unsteady and swaying with each movement.

More and more creatures were entering the world of the dead ahead of them and for the first time, Leah realised they might not make it out of this. And maybe the world of the dead wouldn't either.

Because why hadn't Zarah closed the portal yet? Had some of those creatures got to her?

Leah counted another five creatures that got through ahead of them. More were pressing against the portal's boundaries, ripping it further open, and she was just beginning to despair when there was a scream of gunfire.

One of the creatures that'd just snuck out of the portal was blasted back in, it's chest blown open. And then Jared was barrelling through, lighting up the world around them in flashes of bullets and shrapnel.

His eyes found Leah's and then his feet following, making it to her side in seconds and leaving a path of writhing, dying creatures in his wake. He took in the state of them all quickly, calculatingly, and then he grabbed Cassandra from Riley and slung her over his shoulder.

"Come on," he said, his voice hard. "We need to get out."

"Is Zarah—" Leah began.

"She's fine," Jared said. "I've been killing the creatures as they've come through. She's about to close the portal now. We need to go."

Leah didn't need to be told twice.

She ran the last few steps to the portal, covered by the blaze of Jared's gun and the swipe of her own knife. She lunged towards it, felt the strange electricity of the portal pass over her, and then she was back in the world of the dead, gulping and gasping on the bush path that led down to the beach.

Zarah was in beside her, hands embedded in the portal's edge, her eyes closed and a crease forming deep between her brows. And Leah could see the edges of the portal shimmering, shrinking.

Jared barrelled through a second later, placing Cassandra at the base of the nearby tree, and Riley followed, swearing colourfully.

The portal that'd already shrunk to above knee height, but the three of them turned and guarded it's entrance, batting back the creatures that tried to follow them through. The smaller the portal got, the more desperate the creatures became though, and Leah felt a claw curl around her wrist. She was jerked forward, her torso passing through to the in between again, but then a knife flashed in front of her and something jerked her back.

Riley's hand was clasped into the back of her shirt, a wicked grin on her friends face.

"That was close," Riley said, and Leah felt a wave of gratitude.

The portal was nearly closed now, only the torsos of the creatures beyond visible.

"Thank you," Leah said, or started to say.

Because quicker than she could respond, one of those creatures reached back through.

A hand closed around Riley's neck. Another embedded deep into her chest.

Riley's eyes bulged, her mouth opening on a gasp. And then she was ripped to the side, pulled back through the portal and into that darkness.

"No!" Leah screamed, lunging after her, but the portal slammed shut, and all that stood in front of her was the trees.

...

Don't hate me 😬😬

Next chapter out in two weeks.

- Skylar xx