Page 198 of Glutton for Punishment

Atticus

As much as I want to break down, I maintain a hold on my control. My inner turmoil at the thought of Arwen being tortured like she was at Greed has me spiraling, but this mission needs my complete focus.

A couple of miles into the drive, a slow unease settles in my chest. Nothing about this feels right.

We haven’t encountered anything that could reasonably be called resistance. Just the outskirts of Vex’s criminal ridden territory—people lingering in doorways, obvious drug exchanges happening in plain sight. Men and women carry weapons, but that’s apparently an everyday accessory here. They pay us no mind, but to eye the convoy suspiciously or disappear into the dilapidated buildings.

Beside me, Maddox leans forward in his seat, eyes scanning the road ahead with intense focus. He lifts the comms. “Are you in yet, Cleo?”

Static sounds in response. Then her voice comes through, strained. “Almost. Security is tight. I’m working on it.”

Maddox exhales. “I don’t like this,” he mutters, more to himself than to us. “I was expecting something by now.”

That’s when it happens.

The sound hits first—a flat, skull-splitting crack that arrives a half-second before the shockwave does.

The world tilts as the vehicle flies.

“Shit—!” someone shouts, but the word gets swallowed as the car slams sideways mid-air.

For a split second, I feel weightless, floating against my seatbelt.

Then everything becomes heavy motion and noise.

Metal screams as we hit the ground on our side. My shoulder collides hard with the door frame, and the seatbelt bites into my chest as the vehicle rolls again, dragging us through dirt and shattered brush.

A third impact hits harder than the rest, and my vision flashes white.

Finally, the movement stops and everything goes quiet except for the light hissing of the car’s engine.

I squint my eyes open as dust and shattered glass fill the air. We’re trapped on our side.

I swallow hard, forcing air back into my lungs as pain radiates up my shoulder and down my ribs. A low groan escapes me before I can stop it.

I lift a hand to my head and pull it back, slick with blood.

“Perfect,” I mutter under my breath.

Maddox is already moving next to me.

He forces his shoulder back into place with a sharp, sickening pop that makes Holly curse from the back seat. I look back at her and Brix. Neither of them looks particularly intact, but they’re breathing.

I reach into my pocket with stiff fingers and pull out the vial Tabby gave me before we left. Breaking the seal, I swallow it in one motion. It burns on the way down, but I feel my body knit back together in real time as clarity returns.

Around me, the others do the same. The front window is already fractured. I kick what’s left of it with both of my feet and crawl through the opening, glass crunching under my boots as the others follow me out.

“We have to get out of here,” Maddox says, eyes already scanning the tree line. “They’ll be here soon.”

On cue, gunfire cracks in the distance, echoing from the road.

“Time to move,” Maddox yells.

And we run.

Straight through the brush of the forest and into the chaos waiting for us.

And it is chaos.