It was Atlas’s parents who swooped in and gave me the love and care that I lost when my mother died. Hannah Bolton, with her sharp eye, assessed the situation quickly and then started dropping by with various made-up reasons to ensure there were always groceries in the fridge, clean floors, and a couple of twenty-dollar bills randomly placed around the house with take-out menus. It was her that made a throwaway comment in an airy tone that it was such a shame that both Mars and I were basically on our own at such a young age and how nice it would be if the two of us combined our living spaces. A week later, Mars was moved in. A month after that, most of our bruises had faded and Mars’s cheeks had started to fill in from all the “Oh, I made too much so I’ll just leave it here so it doesn’t go to waste,” meals that Mrs. Bolton dropped off every few days. The woman was a master manipulator and I loved her from the bottom of my heart. I miss her and Luna's dad as much as I miss my own mother.
Lanny, some other teammates, and I get sent to the west entrance to try and help barricade those glass doors but my mind isn’t on the task. It’s stuck firmly a thousand kilometers from here with a green-eyed girl that lives in my head rent free. I don’t know if I’ll be able to wait even two days before I try to get to her.
Chapter 40 - Reid
My teeth are actually clacking together in an irregular rhythm from the cold water sucking away any warmth the bright sun might give me. I stay as close to Julian as I can manage, but it’s a struggle with the messed up currents that are flowing between these buildings. We’ve managed to go what I think is five blocks and I’m flagging badly from the cold. Julian is constantly looking back over his shoulder to make sure I’m with him and calling out encouragement for me to stay close. I keep scanning the water, looking for anything we might be able to use as a float, but all I’ve seen is trash and a few bodies floating face down that we try to steer around.
My mind drifts to Luna as I swim. I think about her more than what’s probably healthy, but I can’t help it. If soulmates were a real thing, I would have two, Jules and Luna.
Most people see only what Julian wants them to. An arrogant, cynical, wealthy playboy with a hardened shell. They don’t see how he cares for me, how he always has since we were boys. His infinite patience with my anxiety and self-esteemissues. How he’s always checking in with me, boosting me up, shielding me from the casual cruelness my parents raised me with. I’m not strong like my sister, Kara. She built an icy wall around herself from a young age to stand between her and them, only opening it for a select few who have earned their place in her trust. If it wasn’t for her and Jules, I probably wouldn’t have recovered when I tried to take my own life in my early teens just to escape from the people who brought me into this world.
Luna… Luna is love. Her heart is so big and open. Even at sixteen, when we first met, Atlas’s little sister pulled me straight into it. It was like she could see the broken boy I was and made sure every interaction with me was filled with soft kindness and care. I was in awe of her before, had the biggest crush on her, but in the last two years, that crush has turned into something so much deeper and stronger. Luna makes me want to fight, to live. She has no idea how I…we feel about her. The thought of her being all alone during this gives me the strength to keep swimming, keep fighting to get back to her. I won’t stop until I know she’s safe.
Something brushes against my leg, breaking me from my thoughts, and I jerk to the side in the water. That move has me crashing against something hard under the surface of the water and a sharp pain slashes through my thigh. I cry out and reach down my leg. Julian spins around in the water and lunges back toward me. I open my mouth to call out that I’m alright but before I can say anything, his eyes widen and he’s yanked underwater.
The pain in my leg forgotten, I dig hard into the water with sure strokes to reach where he went under, take a deep breath, and dive. My eyes sting from the saltwater as I spin in all directions under the water looking for him, but he’s gone. My heart is racing when I push back to the surface, take anothergasp of air, and dive again. I’ll find him even if it takes my last breath.
Chapter 41 - Julian
A hard pull on my ankle yanks me under the water without warning or a chance to take a breath. I thrash and kick, trying to get free, but whatever has me in its grip just tightens and pulls me deeper. I make myself slow down, think, and then bend at the waist to try and see what has a hold of me, forcing my eyes to stay open in the saltwater.
The sun is bright enough through the water to show me that there’s a loop of cable or wire around my lower leg. My eyes follow it away from my body until I see it is attached to some kind of pole that’s being dragged by the current. I jackknife at the waist and dig at the cable, trying to slide it off, but there’s too much tension in the line. I swim down, trying to get ahead of the line to ease the tension, but don’t make it very far.
Black spots start to dot my vision and my chest is so fucking tight with the need to breathe. Panicked rage takes over and screams in my head that this can’t be the way I die. I’m Julian fucking Stillwell the Third and I DO NOT ACCEPT THIS! A buzz runs down my body over my skin and for a beat, I think I’mbeing electrocuted by the wire but then the water starts circling around me in a funnel. It moves faster and faster and then starts to widen - pulling that water away from me. I sink down to the wet pavement of the street as the water spins even faster and pulls away wider and wider until I’m standing in a tunnel of air. I look up in disbelief as I drag in heaving gasps of air. I have no idea what the fuck is happening but I’m not going to let whatever this is go to waste. I drop down onto my ass and start yanking on the wire. It’s pulled so fucking tight I can’t feel my foot anymore.
“Jules! Julian!”
I look up to the sky and see Reid circling the hole I’m in, caught in whatever this is. A water tornado? Fuck! I throw up a hand like I can grab him and pull him to safety. My eyes flare wide as he pops out of the rotation and slides down the funnel straight to me. He hits the pavement beside me with a grunt of pain but quickly scrambles up and looks me over from head to toe, looking for damage.
“What the fuck! What the fuck? Jules?” He pants in a panicked voice as he spots the wire around my leg and drops to his knees again. All four of our hands are now trying to pull the wire to get some slack, but it’s too tight. Reid gives out a scream of frustration, grabs the wire a few feet away from where it’s connected to my leg, and roars as he pulls with all he’s worth. We both have to duck down as the pole the wire is connected to cuts through the water, the open air, and comes flying past us and sails over our heads.
His hands are on my leg again in moments, loosening the wire and stripping it away, all while chanting, “What’s happening, what’s happening?” Over and over again. He drags my jeans high enough to see an angry red circle around where the wire was wrapped but I’m distracted when I see bright red blood soaking into his jean leg.
“What happened to your leg, Reid? How bad is it?”
He shakes his head distractedly. “I don’t know, it’s nothing. How are we going to get out of here? What the hell is this thing? It looks like a tornado that we’re inside of!”
I look up to the circle of sky above us and study the sides of the funnel, the current of water that is still spinning around us. I don’t fucking know. Maybe if we jumped into it, it would pull us back up to the top? I shake my head. The water is moving too fast. It needs to slow down and… as soon as I think it, it happens. Water from the top of the funnel on the surface starts to spill down. It’s going to collapse!
I reach for Reid’s arm and yell, “Take a deep breath and hold on!”
He turns and throws his arms around me just as water crashes over our heads.
Chapter 42 - Gage
I place the last stone over the shallow grave I’ve dug for my fellow passenger, hoping it will be enough to keep the animals away until the rescue team comes. After ten minutes of CPR I had to give up and let him go. Without major medical help, the poor man wasn’t going to make it, no matter how many times I pumped at his chest. I turn away from the grave and move back to the emergency blanket and sink down on it. I need to make a decision. Do I stay here and wait to be found, taking a chance that anyone is even looking? Or do I try and find my own way back to civilization?
It doesn’t take me long to decide. With all the other guys away and Luna alone at home, I’m not going to wait around and waste time. I need to get back to her, the sooner the better. I fish my cell phone out of my pocket and am not surprised to see no service. I open the maps app anyway and then put it back into my pocket. Hopefully it will pick up a signal at some point and update my location to give me some idea of where I am and how far I have to go to find help.
I start going through all the bags that I pulled from the plane and sort out what to take and what to leave. The little bit of snack food I found, water bottles, a first aid kit, a couple flares, a lighter, and the big prize - a scoped rifle, all make the cut. My guess is one of the suits brought the rifle to go hunting while he was based at camp. Something a few of the corporate guys have done in the past. It works in my favor to have a weapon if I’m going to be hiking out through the bush. I’ve done plenty of hunting with my grandfather, so I’m confident in using it. There are a lot of animals out here in the bush that can be dangerous and they might be pretty agitated with everything that is going on. I mean, a permanent full moon?
I get everything packed in a backpack and sling it onto my back, taking care with my sore ribs. I take a last look around the crash site and mutter a short prayer for Chuck before starting down a game trail leading out of this small clearing that looks to be going south.
I’ve only been walking for twenty minutes when something whistles sharply as it flies overhead, causing me to flinch and duck. Whatever it is, it’s moving too fast to track but seconds later, I hear the crash of trees back the way I came. I have no idea what it was but I'm pretty sure it wasn't a good thing. Time to pick up the pace, Gage. I have one goal, to get back to Luna, and nothing will stop me.
I come to a rise in the forest and use branches and bushes to pull myself up until I can scramble to the top, panting and sweating, heaving in deep breaths of air and realize that I can smell smoke. From my new vantage point, I spin around, and my eyes widen when I see what’s behind me in the distance. A blanket of smoke lines the horizon. Well, fuck. That's not good. I lift my face to the light wind that’s blowing and curse again when it flows straight into my face. Even that light wind will push the fire this way. I have no way of judging exactly how far away it isfrom here but I do know it will catch up to me eventually so I do the only thing I can. I turn away and start running.
Chapter 43 - Luna
