Sorrow's Gift

Chapter Sixty: Parrish

An earthquake shook the hospital.

Parrish stumbled against a group of rotters, hands tangling in her hair and dragging her to the ground. One zombie leaned over her, its mouth open, ready to bite. She raised her sword straight through its chin, not stopping until it came out through the other side of its skull.

She yanked the sword down and rolled over as the zombie fell to the floor where she had been.

"What was that?" Karmen asked.

"I don't know, but we need to finish these off and go find the guys," she said.

She stood and sliced through the heads of five zombies, knocking the last of them to the ground.

She wiped the blade of her sword against the back of a rotter and stared at the carnage. They had killed hundreds, but there would be more. She was sure of it.

"Let's go," she said.

She ran back toward the doors leading to the hallway, prepared to face Lily and the behemoth on the other side, but something sailed through the doors just before she reached them.

"Noah," she cried. She fell to the floor in front of him, her hands shaking in terror.

In that moment, all her memories of their lives together flashed in front of her eyes. Everything that had come back to her when they'd kissed the night before was there. If he was dead, she would have nothing left to live for.

She pulled his head into her lap and stroked his hair, her tears cascading onto his face.

He was still breathing, but he'd been badly hurt. Her head snapped up, realizing what must have happened. She had run from that beast, leaving him there in the hallway for Noah and Crash to find. This was her fault.

She leaned down and kissed his forehead. If he didn't wake up, she would never be able to forgive herself.

The floor shook and through the half-open doors, she saw the giant beast lumbering toward her.

Parrish shrugged out of her backpack and propped it under Noah's head. She stood, steadied herself against the wall and lifted her sword. Just when she'd been feeling weak and thought she'd reached a point where she couldn't possibly go on, a new light had switched on inside her. Power and strength coursed through her veins.

She would not let this beast hurt anyone else.

The beast stopped just short of the door, his eyes locked on hers. He tightened his fists again, and as his mouth opened, Parrish shouted for Karmen to hold onto something.

The ground lurched beneath her feet, debris falling from the ceiling. She crouched low and waited it out. When the earthquake had passed, Parrish steadied herself and stepped forward.

Rage boiled her blood. She wasn't going to wait for this thing to come after her. She was just going to take it out before he even realized what hit him. He was going to pay for hurting Noah.

Parrish moved her sword to her right hand, switching her grip so that she could pull the sword back behind her head, the blade facing forward. New flames engulfed her sword in a burst of light. Blue and red danced together against the steel as she ran toward the beast.

She had no idea if she could kill this thing, but she was certain this was who she was. This was who she had always been.

And if this was going to be the end of her, she was going to die trying to protect her friends.

The beast lifted his arms to shield his body, but Parrish used that to her advantage. She leapt into the air, grabbed his arm with her free hand, and catapulted herself up and over his head. She somersaulted, tucking her legs close to her body and spinning through the air.