In My Skin

CH 20 || Halloween Part IV

"Well, by the looks of it, we have to perform another search," Cody said, knitting his brows.

My fingers clutched the edges of my sleeves. "Then we should go right away. What if something happened?"

Pete nodded. "We should split again and check. I'm gonna tell Mark, one second."

At that moment one of the large metal doors opened and Suz and Nick rushed into the room. Suz' eyes searched around, landed on me, and then she barreled into me like a battering ram.

I stumbled back, right into Killian. All the air left me in a whoosh and I would have probably fallen over if he didn't somehow catch us both.

"Tay!" she huffed. "Are you okay? I was so worried!"

"I'm fine," I wrung out between breaths. She was way too strong for someone her size.

Killian pried her off me. "She might actually flop over if you keep squishing her like that. And why didn't you pick up your phone?"

"Oh, there's legit no reception in this place. But you wouldn't believe the shit we found." Suzy's high-pitched voice drew everyone's attention and a crowd quickly formed around us.

"What did you find?" Cody asked.

She pulled out her phone. "We heard someone and went into the northeast wing of the second building. We found a shelter or something. It was super freaky. There was food and clothes, and even some dead animals."

"We also found a few knives and stuff to make a fire," Nick added. "After that, we left right away."

Killian stilled next to me, but I could feel the tension rolling off of him in waves.

"Okay, I've had enough. I'm leaving," Rosalyn said, crossing her arms.

"Wait. This is awesome, we could—" Mark started but Killian silenced him with a look.

"We are leaving," Killian and Cody said at the same time.

And that was that. There was just one problem...

We all gathered in the doorway staring into the veil of rain.

Suzy hovered at my side like an overprotective mother hen. Nick kept shooting glances her way and I pushed her toward him. We had a small staring contest until I whispered into her ear, "I sacrificed myself for your love life. You better grasp this chance or it will be all for nothing."

She pouted. "But—"

"Suz," I interrupted her. "Cody and Killian are here. What exactly do you think could happen now?"

"But you were—"

"I'm perfectly fine. Aside from my poor physical condition... I should really start working out again..."

She screwed up her eyes. "Don't worry I will drag you to the gym starting next week. And I'm going to stay over at your place tonight whether you want me to or not."

Oh, dear.

"Fine. Now can you please make this night worthwhile?"

She huffed out a breath and turned to Killian and Cody who stood right behind us. "You keep your sights on her, right?"

"Definitely," they both said simultaneously.

I rolled my eyes.

She pulled a face at me and finally walked over to Nick.

A burst of lightning lit up the night and for a brief moment, the trees of the forest flashed in front of us. Then everything disappeared back into a dark grayish haze.