We break through the tree line, back into the clearing. The Glass House stands there, beautiful and serene. The helicopter sits on the pad.
"Get to the chopper!" Alaric shouts, letting go of me to bring his rifle up. "Go! Start the turbine! I'll cover you!"
I run toward the machine. I am halfway across the clearing when I hear it. Not a gunshot. A high-pitched whine. Like a mosquito, but louder.
I look up. Hovering above the house. A drone. Black. Quad-rotor. With a camera lens that swivels toward me like a robotic eye.
"DROP!" Alaric screams.
I dive into the snow.BOOM.
The ground shakes. The drone didn't shoot me. It dropped a payload. On the helicopter.
I look up, spitting snow from my mouth. The helicopter is gone. In its place is a ball of orange fire and black smoke. The explosion rips the rotor blades off, sending them spinning through the air like giant scythes. One of them slices into the roof of the glass house, shattering a massive pane.
"No!" I scream.
Alaric is there, grabbing me by the back of my coat, hauling me up. "Move! Into the trees! Go!"
"The house!"
"Forget the house! It’s over!"
We scramble back into the tree line, away from the burning wreckage. Bullets start to fly.Zip. Zip. Crack.They are coming from the east ridge. Suppressive fire. They aren't trying to hit us yet. They are herding us.
Alaric shoves me behind a thick pine tree. He spins around, bringing his rifle up.Bang. Bang. Bang.He fires three shots toward the ridge. Controlled. Precise. "I count four!" he yells over the roar of the fire. "Maybe five! They’re flanking!"
He looks at me. His face is streaked with soot. His eyes are wild. "The car," he pants. "There's an emergency vehicle in the underground garage. But the entrance is on the other side of the clearing."
"We can't cross the clearing," I say, my voice shaking. "They’ll shoot us."
"We have to," Alaric says. "Or we freeze. Or they flank us and execute us."
He checks his magazine. He looks at me. "Do you still have the SIG?"
I nod, my hand clutching the pistol in my pocket.
"Take it out," he commands. "Take the safety off."
I pull the gun. My hands are shaking violently.This isn't a target. This isn't a stump.
"Elodie, look at me!" Alaric grabs my face. "This is it. This is the duet. I play the distraction. You play the escape."
"What?"
"I’m going to draw their fire," he says fast. "I’m going to move left. They will focus on me. When they do... you run for the garage keypad. You open the door. You get the car started."
"No! They'll kill you!"
"They won't kill me," he says, a dark, terrifying grin spreading on his face. "They need me alive for the codes. But they will kill you without blinking."
He kisses me. Hard. fast. "I am the monster, remember? Monsters don't die easy."
He breaks away. "On my mark! Three... two... ONE!"
He breaks cover. He runs to the left, firing his rifle from the hip.Bang! Bang! Bang!"COME AND GET ME, YOU BASTARDS!" he roars.
The gunfire from the ridge shifts instantly. The bullets chase him, kicking up plumes of snow around his boots.
