Chapter 12Dante

Chapter 12

Dante

The world spun into chaos the moment Hell's scream sliced through the air. I watched, heart detonating in my chest, as she fell from the bridge, her body becoming one with the void below. Time fractured, seconds stretching into an eternity of horror.

"Helana!" My throat tore on her name, but it was just one cry amongst a cacophony of shock and terror that erupted from our group.

"Fuck!" Wyatt's voice ripped through the air, raw and bleeding disbelief. "No, no, no!"

Ret's words were a bullet, fast and lethal. "Jessa pushed her!"

"God damn it!" Alex's roar was a storm unleashed, his face contorted in a mask of fury and agony.

The bridge was a maelstrom of panic. The sky seemed to press down on us. Jessa stood there, blinking at us, her body shaking at the collective rage directed at her. She stumbled back, eyes wide, realizing the gravity of what she'd just done. But it was too late.

"You bitch!" Nina's voice cracked like a whip. "You killed her!"

"Shut the fuck up!" I snapped, my brain scrambling for logic amidst the madness. We needed focus, not this—this frenzy. But even as I tried to clamp down on the chaos, every cell in my body screamed in denial. Helana couldn't be gone. Not like this. It was fucking impossible.

"Get her!" someone else howled, the sound primal, as all eyes locked onto the woman who'd sent Hell plummeting into the abyss.

Before the echoes of Helana's scream had died away, Missy was on Jessa like a storm. She lunged forward with the ferocity of a wildcat, her body a blur of red curls and retribution. Their figures crashed to the ground, dust and debris mushrooming around them.

"Fucking cunt!" Missy roared, each word punctuated by a punishing blow to the side of Jessa's head. The sickening thud of flesh against flesh melded with Jessa's screams.

Jessa writhed underneath Missy, her tear-filled eyes wide with fear and shock, hands flailing in a futile attempt to shield herself from the onslaught. Blood was pooling under her head from every one of Missy's punches.

"Missy, wait—" I started, but Nina was already there, her tall frame casting a shadow over the struggle. With precision honed by years as a marine, she delivered a brutal kick to Jessa's ribs that resounded above the clamor. Jessa's breath left her in a whoosh, her body curling protectively.

"Enough!" I barked, my voice lost in the surge of adrenaline and vengeance. My heart thundered, a drumbeat that made me want to vomit everywhere.

But my orders went unheard, or ignored—probably both—as Hell's brothers, Niko and Scottie, sprinted past me to the bridge's jagged edge. "Hell!" Niko's voice cracked, strained with the weight of desperation. "Helana!"

Scottie was beside him, peering into the murky waters below. "Hell, answer us! Please!" His words were a prayer flung into the void, the hopelessness in his tone clawing at my chest.

"See anything?" I choked out and I joined them at the railing, my gaze scouring the churning waves for any sign of life—a hand, a splash, something, anything. all I could make out was the dark waters teeming with writhing zombies.

They would have torn her to shreds in seconds. There'd be nothing left of her to find.

"Nothing," Scottie gasped, the word slicing through the heavy air. His green eyes, brimmed with tears that began to spill over. It was a sight that cut deeper than any blade—seeing a man who could find laughter in hell, now staring into its depths. His sister. His precious sister. Gone. In a fucking instant.

"She can't be gone," I said, the fire of my own denial burning away. They couldn't see it, but I felt it—she wasn't gone. Not yet. I'd know, right? I'd feel her absence in my fucking soul.

"Fuck this." Niko's hands formed fists at his sides, his entire body trembling with rage and grief, ready to tear the world apart if it would bring his sister back.

"Damn you, Jessa!" Scottie's growl was a dark promise. Behind us, Jessa lay gasping. "You're fucking done, bitch! You're done!"

A sharp smell of smoke pierced my nose as I spun around, catching a glimpse of Alex's swift movement on the edge of my vision. His features were contorted into a mix of agony and rage beneath his mask, but all I could focus on were his piercing blue eyes burning with fury. The crack of the gunshot hit me a split second later.

Jessa cried out, her body jerking from the impact as the bullet tore into her leg. The sound ripped through the air. She collapsed, clutching the wound. Alex's hands worked the gun, his trigger finger doing a happy dance, but fate intervened—his second attempt met only with a metallic click. The gun jammed.

"Shit!" He cursed, slamming the firearm with the heel of his hand, eyes still locked onto Jessa with a lethal glare that could have finished the job on its own.

"Maybe she…" My words caught in my throat. I felt like I was going to throw up. "Maybe she made it…"

Next came Wyatt's scream, more akin to the roar of an enraged lion. A guttural cry erupted from him as he pivoted towards a decaying car nearby, slamming his fist into the rusted door with a deafening thud that reverberated through my body. He continued to pummel the vehicle relentlessly until his knuckles were stained with blood.

"Dammit!" His voice broke, straining against the sob that forced its way up his throat. "She's gone, Dante! No one survives that!"

His words were punctuated by another punch, the metal denting further under the assault of his pain. I knew it was true—yet, I couldn't accept it, not while every fiber in me screamed that this wasn't the end. Not of Helana. Not of us. Not when I just fucking found her.

"No. No, no, no, no!" The words ripped from my throat, raw and persistent as I stepped forward, the bridge's edge looming. Hell couldn't be gone. I refused to let it be true.

"Man, she... Hell's..." Niko's voice trailed off, choked by the same disbelief that clawed at my insides. But I wouldn't have it.

"She's alive," I barked, louder than the howling wind that swept across the bay. My gaze scoured the treacherous waters below. They had to see it too—the possibility that Hell was down there, fighting for her life.

"Dante, bro, the fall—" Scottie tried to reason, pain echoing in his sobs, but I cut him off with a glare that could sear flesh.

"I'd know if she was fucking gone. She's not gone! She's not fucking gone!"

The group's collective grief was palpable, a thick haze we were all choking on. Ret's screams sliced through the dull roar of pandemonium as she leaned dangerously over the railing, eyes wild and desperate.

"Helana!" Her calls broke my fucking heart. "Helana!" She screamed again.

"We need to kill the fucking bitch," Nina spat, her fists clenched so tight her knuckles blanched white. Missy stood beside her, face smeared with Jessa's blood, her cheery demeanor shattered and stoic.

"Search the waters! Every shadow, every ripple, could be her!" I commanded, though my heart hammered against my ribcage like it wanted to break free.

Wyatt grabbed my shoulders. "Who could have survived that fall, Dante? From this height it would be like slamming into concrete!"

"Helana!" Ret's voice broke, a harrowing sound that mingled with the cries of the gulls overhead. "Please!"

Alex was raking his hands through his hair, shouting expletives everywhere. He'd long given up on his weapon and chucked it at the car window where Jessa lay inside unconscious. It shattered the window, but the girl didn't stir.

Anubis was howling at the edge of the bridge. I'd never heard a more haunting sound. It was almost human. A part of me was surprised that he hadn't taken a running leap after her. But on the other hand, he was way too smart for that.

The rage in Alex's eyes was a living thing, wild and hungry as he snarled, "Let me do it. Let me fucking end her."

I grabbed his arm, feeling the tremors of fury coursing through him. "Alex, no. You don't need that fucking with your head. We leave her for the dead. They'll take their time with her."

"She needs to suffer," Nina added, her voice a venomous whisper.

Jessa would be alone in the car, vulnerable and defenseless. If a zombie were to find her, she wouldn't stand a chance. And by the time she woke up, we'd already be far away.

"Leave her to rot," Missy spat, wiping Jessa's blood from her knuckles onto her jeans.

Scottie stepped forward, his presence grounding us despite the storm of chaos swirling within each of us. "The kids," he said, voice breaking through the haze of our shock. "Hell would never forgive us if we left those survivors. Not now, not ever."

"Fuck that! We need to find Hell!" Alex roared, desperation clawing at his words.

"Alex, she's fucking gone!" Scottie's voice was a whip-crack, snapping us all to attention.

A collective sob rose from the group as we slumped onto the carcasses of cars and the remnants of a world gone to utter shit. A world I no longer wanted to live in if Helana wasn't in it with me.

Wyatt wrapped his arms around Alex, holding him back as he lunged toward the car where Jessa lay unconscious. "I'll tear her apart!"

But even Wyatt's strong arms couldn't fully contain the tempest within Alex, his body shaking with sobs and sporadic attempts to break free. But eventually, he slumped against the big man, his whole body shaking.

We must have sat there on the bridge for close to an hour, just getting our bearings, when it became clear that we were running out of time. The sun was high in the sky, and if we had any hope of making it to the submarine, we needed to leave now.

But how could we do that? How could we just continue like Hell didn't just…

No. I couldn't even say it in my own fucking head.

"Get up," Scottie commanded after what felt like an eternity. "We move out. For them, for Hell—because it's what we do. My sister would murder all of us if we let a baby die."

"What about Jessa?" Nina asked. "The only reason we even brought her was because she could feed the baby. We can't show up empty-handed."

"We have some formula," Missy said, patting her pack. "It's not much, but maybe we can stretch it just until we make it back. We'll have to go on a run to find more, but only once we get the baby to the ranch. Jessa was just a backup in case we ended up getting stuck out here longer than we were supposed to."

"How many bottles worth?" I asked, the medic in me coming out despite the fact that all I wanted to do was scream.

Missy's eyes met mine. "Four, maybe five. Meaning we'll have maybe a day to get her back and that's stretching it."

Grit and ash clung to us like a second skin as we circled up. Two hours had crawled by, heavy with Hell's absence and Jessa's betrayal. Anguish had set in our bones, but so had resolve. We couldn't sit here drowning in what ifs and revenge. There were others out there, hanging by a thread, waiting for us.

We moved out, our boots pounding the cracked ground in unison. Up ahead were several staggering zoms, but Missy and Nina were on them. I tried not to look at the railing of the bridge. I tried tuning out the moans that called out like a siren song from below.

As we approached the danger zone of the center of the bridge, the stench of decay on the wind became more pungent. This was the most compact city I'd been to since this all began. Frisco would be a literal hell on earth.

"Keep tight," I whispered, my voice barely carrying over the sound of our collective breaths. They were ragged, but strong. Hearing them, feeling the presence of my friends, it anchored me to the now.

A flicker of doubt teased the edges of my mind. What if Hell was gone?

No. I shoved the thought away. If Helana Gray had actually breathed her last, the world would feel emptier, colder. And it didn't. Not yet. She was a fighter—a damn hurricane of a woman—and somewhere inside, I knew that hurricane still raged.