Free Safe In Your Arms by Kelliea Ashley Page A

quickly, she took the butcher knife in the shower with her. If he was going to attack her in the shower, he wouldn’t find an unarmed woman. She made the shower a quick affair, though she would have loved to stay beneath the heavenly spray. Drying her face on a fluffy white towel, after wrapping herself in another one, Mina sighed in pleasure as she pulled her knives out of the bag, kissed each one, and set them down on the counter. Next she pulled out her bra and panties.
    Embarrassment that he’d not only seen her underwear, but handled them, turned into thankfulness as she quickly dropped his shirt and boxers to the floor and tugged them both on. Her shirt was next and she took a second to breathe in the clean scent of laundry soap. She could almost forgive the man anything for this simple gift of clean clothes. A look in the mirror startled her when she realized she was smiling. She still looked like hell with her hair hanging in snarling curls and the cut on her cheek. Yanking on her jeans, she hastily did a quick search, coming up with a brush and a couple rubber bands to tie her hair after she braided it back from her face.
    She was bent over, strapping her knife to her thigh, when he banged on the door. “Don’t you know women like to take their time in the bathroom, Sergeant Landing?” The door smashed in and she bit back a scream as wood shattered around her. Her hand closed over the knife as she stared up at Gabe’s sister.
    The girl raised her head, black drool oozing from between the hideous gap in her teeth. A growl emitted from her throat as one hand rose. Mina bit her tongue to keep from screaming as she saw the hand was rubbed raw. Black goo covered the bones from wrist to knuckles. She knew if she looked down, the girl’s—no, zombie’s—feet would be the same. Shackles and chains didn’t hold long when the prisoner didn’t feel pain.
    Mina waited, not daring to move a muscle, as she watched for any signal that her enemy was going to attack. She didn’t have long to wait as the zombie’s nostrils flared and a blood-curdling cry echoed around the bathroom. Mina pulled her knives just in time, hacking at the outstretched hands, their fleshless wrists cracking as her blades sliced them.
    She kicked the creature right in the gut, sending it back only a few paces, but enough to give her room to work with. Daren drilled it into her skull to aim for the head, but take the arms and hands if they were available. The zombie came back at her, swinging its arms right to left. She caught one with her knife, but the other knocked her backwards. She couldn’t catch herself as she fell right over the toilet. The zombie didn’t give her time to get her bearings before it fell upon her. Reeking breath gagged her as she barely stopped the remaining teeth from sinking into her neck. One knife was still clutched in her hand and had pierced the zombie’s shoulder, but the other was somewhere on the floor beside her. Fear, unlike any she’d ever felt before, made her blood run ice cold in her veins as her hold on the zombie started to give out. Her arms were weakening, the muscles spent. This was the end for her. Oddly, it was a kind of relief from fighting to stay alive. One bite wouldn’t hurt that much, but did her life really have to end in the bathroom of all places?
    The zombie growled. Thin, chapped lips pulled up in a grotesque mimic of a smile. Mina hated that look with a passion. It was one being recognizing it had power over another. The stronger surviving as was predetermined. Her anger filled her at the unfairness of it all.
    “To hell with Darwin!” she screamed, let go of the blade, and threw a punch with all the power she had left. The zombie’s head snapped to the side, teeth went flying, making little pinging noises as they bounced off the porcelain of the toilet. A low growl shot terror down her spine. “Oh, shit!” Mina instinctively covered her face with an arm as the head snapped back