I stopped dead in my tracks as sweat beaded on my forehead. I could only imagine what we looked like, Autumn covered in gore and me covered in blood. And I had nothing on me, not one single weapon. Just my own two hands, and both of them currently in use.
“Stay where you are!” one of the guards called out.
“What’s going on?” another one shouted. “We heard gunfire!”
Glancing down at Autumn, I found her eyes open and staring up at me.
“I want it all to burn,” she whispered, her pupils constricting as she looked up to the sun.
Before I could think of a response, my truck pulled up beside me. The passenger side window rolled down, revealing Mike. He glanced from me to the guards at the gate, and noting the standoff, his eyes went wide.
“They’re good to go!” he shouted as he jumped out of the driver’s seat. “Jeffers’s orders. Open the gates!”
I swallowed hard as my palms went slick, causing my grip on Autumn to slip some. Seconds ticked by while the guards glanced at one another. Cutting my eyes right, I scanned as much of the area behind me as I could. No one was coming. So far, so good.
“You heard ’im! Open the gates!”
I didn’t waste time taking a breath. Wrenching open the passenger side door, I shoved Autumn inside. “Nothing’s burning today,” I muttered, and slammed it shut. Keeping my eyes on the guards, I circled around the back of the truck and by the time I was in the driver’s seat, the gates had already begun to open.
When I glanced out the back window, I saw a group of men burst free from the opposite field, all of them headed in our direction. Friend or foe, I didn’t care; I wasn’t going to waste time waiting to find out. I slammed my foot on the gas and the truck lurched forward in a spray of grass and dirt. Shouting curses, guards went running left and right as the truck sped past, clipping the still-opening gate.
Autumn’s arms shot out, bracing herself on the dash as I made a hard right onto the road. Shifting gears, I reached for her and wrapped my hand around her bicep, then yanked her up against me. Then I punched the gas again and raced down the road as if our lives depended on it.
Which they did.
Chapter Forty
Autumn
We drove for hours in silence. I slept some, and when I wasn’t sleeping I stared out the window, watching the scenery pass by in a blur. Never once did I look back the way we’d come.
After a considerable amount of time had passed, Eagle brought the truck to a stop in the middle of the road and climbed out, leaving the engine running, I turned in my seat, watching as he leaned against the bed and scanned the empty horizon. I kept watching him, following his every movement, wondering if he was going to abandon me here like he’d done before. Leaving me in Liv’s hands, allowing me to be put in that cage and handed to the biters.
The biters ...I shivered, my teeth chattering as I remembered its bony hands on me. Turning back in my seat, I slumped down and wrapped my arms around myself, trying to get warm.
The driver’s side door opened and Eagle stood there, the dying sunlight at his back highlighting the streaks of dried blood covering him. He stared at me a moment, looking as if he wanted to say something. Instead, he climbed back in the truck and gripped the steering wheel.
“Where to?” he asked, staring straight ahead. “The beach? Up north?”
I didn’t answer him; I couldn’t. My voice was gone. I was so cold. There was nothing left. Nothing at all.
“The Grand Canyon?” He glanced over at me.
I blinked sluggishly, feeling like there was lead in my veins.
“How about Disneyworld?” He smirked, but it was more of a snarl. His face was covered in blood, the dark streaks distorting his features.
The blood, the blood, the blood.
My heart pounded in my chest, its beat erratic, almost feverish.
The blood, the blood, the blood.
I stared at the dried blood on him, feeling cold and sick to my stomach. A moan slipped past my lips, the first sound I’d made in hours. I wanted to scream, I wanted to scream and yell, but I couldn’t seem to manage anything but a pitiful moan.
“Talk to me, Squirrel,” he said, and I thought he sounded sad. Or maybe it was guilt.
I didn’t know. I couldn’t think. There was so much blood everywhere.
