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Blood bloomed on the side of the one closest, its mouth opening to emit a scream I heard even through the earplugs. Its stride faltered, those long slender legs no longer eating up the ground with frightening efficiency and instead folding messily underneath as the animal collapsed. I caught the moment its eyes dim
med from wild to dull and empty before we sped past.
Brandon nodded to me as I shrank back against the car seat.
“Fuck!” Slade shouted as the rest of the herd started to make an appearance. Animals streamed through the space between the cars, and the guys started shooting as many as they could, but that caused problems in itself. The beasts grew even more panicked as the screams of their brethren stopped them from just flat out running, causing them to veer wildly and get dragged down by those that were shot. “Get ‘em to stop fucking shooting! It's only making things worse!”
I tugged on Jack’s jeans a few times to get his attention.
“What?” he snapped, but when he ducked down, bracing himself against the back seats, he saw what was going on with a quick glance. He put the safety on the rifle and passed it to Hawk, and then stood up again.
“Aaron!” I couldn’t hear much of the conversation as the words were whipped away by the wind, but I felt something inside me loosen when the sound of gunfire halted. Of course, that wasn’t going to be it.
“Hold on!” Slade shouted as we charged up a rise.
“This Dukes of Hazard shit is not cool!” Jack yelped, hands snapping around the headrests as the car felt like it became airborne for a second—that weird, airy, weightless feeling that just doesn’t feel right when riding in a heavy metal cage on wheels. Then gravity got her due, the ute slamming down hard.
“Well, that’s gonna fuck the suspension,” Slade growled, but pushed onwards.
“Is there more rough terrain?” I asked, craning my neck and looking out the windscreen. “What’s the plan? Do we just keep going until these things stop running? What’s chasing them, anyway?”
“Fuck.”
As if summoned by my words, horse-like beasts emerged from the trees that ran along the river, and on them were what looked like some scary motherfuckers. I saw them for a moment as we zipped past. They wore black leather armour a lot like the Volken, theirs more elaborate from the gleaming silver I caught, but that’s where the resemblance ended. Each was deathly pale, like albinos. They noted our passing and then urged their mounts forward.
“Heads up, we might have hostiles on our tail,” Hawk said.
“Of course, we fucking have,” Slade snarled. “Weapons?”
“No guns, just bows and arrows.”
“Well, we’re gonna have to hope Aaron and the boys can sort them out.”
It appeared they were on to it, if the sounds of the guns were anything to go by. I pressed my nose to the glass, struggling to look behind us. I went to lower the window so I could get a better look, when Jack grabbed me by the scruff and yanked me back. I started to yell, then a barrage of arrows hit the door.
“Don’t make me use the child locks!” Slade shouted.
“Fucking hell, Jules!” Jack said, wrapping an arm around me and tugging me as close as the belt would allow. “They’re fighting out there.”
I knew that, academically. It was why my heart raced while my head felt kinda spacey and my palms were all clammy. But sitting tight in the back seat while people put their lives on the line sat badly with me. I had no abilities, nothing other than the capacity to enter a weird psychic space. Really, I was powerless, required to be a good girl and stay safe, and I didn’t like it.
“There’s something… Looks like ruins off to the left,” Hawk said. “Walls are high, will protect us from the stampede.”
“Maybe. Make a nice little box for these white fuckers to herd us into as well,” Slade said.
“We’re gonna run out of petrol if we just keep running. We’re way off course. The map doesn’t cover this place.”
“Fuck.” Slade nodded and then slammed his fist down on the horn, pointing to the squat brown ruins on the horizon. “Let's hope these fucks are after meat and not us.”
We watched the buildings get closer and closer, and Slade had to swerve madly to avoid chunks of brick in the grass, sometimes slamming into smaller ones that went unnoticed. Jack’s arm hadn’t loosened as he held me like I was some kind of comfort object.
“It’ll be alright, love,” he said when I looked around at him, but I saw the tension in his eyes. They dropped down to my mouth, then he leaned over and kissed me hard.
Maybe he was trying to distract me, maybe he wanted to take that one last opportunity to kiss me before shit went down. It didn’t matter, since it worked. As soon as his lips touched mine, I could feel him seeping into me. It was as if with stress, the psychic space we all seemed to be able to reach for was that much easier to touch. I pulled back, and his brows creased as he stared at me.
“What was that?”
“Alright lovers, petting in the back seat is done. We’re going to pull in hard, hope the momentum of the stampede keeps those white fucks running along,” Slade said. “Jack, let the blokes in the tray know.”
