Once Bitten, Twice Dead - By Bianca D'Arc Page 0,80

a look filled with concern despite his sarcastic tone. “Just stay close.”

He surprised her by grabbing her hand. Startled, she sought his gaze and found him struggling for words. The emotion on his face floored her. He was genuinely worried for her, and not in a casual way. The man looked like he was in agony. She squeezed his hand.

“It’ll be all right.” She knew darn well she was walking into a potential lion’s den, but she had no other choice. “We’re armed to the teeth and immune. What could go wrong?”

They had restocked their ammo and added extra clips in addition to what they’d already been carrying. It was bulky but worth it, considering how many darts it took to end those infected with this particular strain of the contagion.

“Everything could go wrong, Sarah.” Vulnerability showed on his face for a stark moment. “I don’t want to lose you, mon ange. You’re clear on the use of the headset?”

He tapped the side of her face where a small microphone now rested. Sam had outfitted her with one of the unit’s miniature radios for short-range communication. She and Xavier could talk to each other as long as they stayed within about a half mile.

“Clear, Captain.” She tried to cheer him with a smile, but it wasn’t working. Xavier was as serious as she’d ever seen him. She tried a different tack. “You know there’s no other way. Our first priority has to be protecting the kids on this campus from the contagion. If Sellars or his people make a grab for me, I’ll fight like hell, but for now I have no other choice but to go in there and get the creatures before they have a chance to ravage this campus. You know I’m right.”

“I know, dammit.” He looked pained. “If there were any other way…”

“You know there’s not.” She squeezed his hand once more. “It’ll be okay. No matter what happens.”

“Dieu.” He pulled her in for a quick hug, tight, almost bone crushing, and heartfelt. “Promise me you’ll be careful, Sarah.” He let her go but didn’t go far.

“I promise.”

Xavier seemed to pull it together right in front of her eyes. His spine straightened, though there was still an echo of softness in his gaze as he looked at her. The commander was back, but he was tempered with the lover she’d come to know over the past hours. Nothing would ever make him seem a stranger to her again.

“All right. Let’s do this. Back-to-back, if we get cornered. Otherwise, stay in my line of sight at all times. I’ll do the same. We need to stay together in there, no matter what they throw at us. We can’t help each other if we get separated.”

“Roger that, Captain.” She sent him a soft smile that said she understood his worry and shared it. He nodded and off they went, side by side, into almost certain danger.

“Could this get any creepier? The fog, the trees and brambles, the lonely train tracks off to one side, rising on an embankment as the ground dipped. Damn,” Xavier mused aloud as they made their way into the unknown.

Sarah’s soft chuckle at his side warmed him. Her presence also scared the shit out of him. She was the target, and he was escorting her right into the maw of a ravenous beast intent on capturing her and taking her away. He had to be insane to allow this, but she was right. They had no alternative.

To his knowledge, there were only four people on Earth at the moment who were proven immune to the contagion. Xavier, Sarah and the two operatives working back at Fort Bragg. He knew one of them. A SEAL he’d worked with once before named Simon. He didn’t know who the other was. Whoever he was, he’d been brought in after Xavier and his team had been sent to Long Island.

There just wasn’t anyone else they could safely send against these things. Sellars had devised the perfect setup for a trap, and they all knew it. He’d be a fool to pass up an opportunity like this. Sellars might appear to be apeshit crazy, but he’d already proven he wasn’t a fool.

One good thing in this craptastic situation was that Sellars wanted Sarah alive. Even if he did manage to get past Xavier and take her, he wouldn’t harm her. He needed her alive so he could figure out what had happened in her body when exposed to the