"Stop talking." I slide my free hand onto her arse and shove my fingers between her legs. When she gasps, a bolt of white-hot need shoots through me. My voice grows even rougher, even deeper. "Here's the new arrangement. I will protect you from whatever beasts hunt you and ensure you have enough food and water, as well as safe shelter. In return, you will give me your body to do with as I please, whenever I please, as often as I please."
"No way."
"Accept my terms, or I'll toss you back into the water and let the next creature rip you apart."
I can't believe I'm suggesting such an arrangement. What would my mother think of me now? I glance at the heavens and pray Mum can't see or hear me. I have never been so desperate to get a leg over that I'll do anything to make that happen. But I am now. Perhaps it has been far too long since I had sex, but I don't want just any woman. I want Allison—only Allison. I need to have her.
No excuse, you sodding arsehole.
Allison glowers at me. But her pupils have dilated, and her breasts heave against my chest. "I hate you."
"I don't care." While she wriggles, with little conviction, I slip my hand inside the waist of her jeans and thrust it down until my fingers push between her arse cheeks. Her wetness teases the tips of my fingers. "Don't deny you want me. I can feel how much you do. Agree to my terms, and I will do more than protect you. I will give you pleasure that will make your eyes roll back in your head."
She's breathing so hard now that she's almost gasping. "I can't—This is wrong."
Whether she means her lust for me or my demand that she give me her body, I don't care which it is. I need to be inside her soon or I will go mad. So I push my hand further between her arse cheeks until my fingertips slide between the soft, slick flesh of her folds. "Yes or no. Tell me your answer in the next five seconds. Four, three, two—"
"Yes. I'll do it."
I flip her legs out from under her and lay her down on the grass, kneeling over her. "Remember, you wanted this as much as I do."
She unzips her jeans.
An explosion detonates in the sky, the shock wave spiraling outward and ricocheting off the buildings as the force of the concussion generates a violent wind that rushes toward us. The tempest generates an animalistic roar. Some structures that had been almost destroyed in the first wave now crumble. Iridescent green ripples of energy pulsate within the gateway to the Echo.
And winged beasts flood out.
"Back to the car," I shout.
Allison doesn't hesitate this time. We both bolt for the car and get inside, slamming the doors shut just as the hellish invasion hits. Winged beasts overrun the city, spewing fire from their mouths. As they draw closer, I can see the humanoid bodies attached to those gigantic wings.
Allison cranes her neck to peer up at the sky through the windscreen. "What are those? Dragons?"
I start the engine and floor the accelerator. The car rockets away, throwing dirt and grass up around us. "Those aren't dragons, not in the traditional sense. They are creatures from the Echo."
Perhaps I've left out significant information, but I won't tell her more until she gives me Sefton. Do I still believe she knows how to find him? The angry part of me, which dominates my behavior, says yes she knows—and I need to force her to confess. But the part of me that I've sublimated, for good reason, has begun to wonder about Allison. She might be telling the truth.
I can't worry about her intentions right now.
"We need to hide somewhere," I say as the car jounces onto the road. "The second wave has begun, and the last place anyone should be is out in the open. We should go back to the tunnel."
"That's too far away. I know of another tunnel, but to get there we'd have to double back to get across the river."
"Why?" I slam on the brakes. "We can reach the other side from the place where we swam in the river."
"That's a railroad bridge. And besides, it's elevated above the road. You can't drive onto it."
"I'm not talking about the bridge." No more explaining. It's time to take action, whether she likes it or not. "Buckle up your seatbelt and hold on."
Yanking the wheel, I jam the accelerator down to the floor and swerve the car back around to go the other direction. Allison yelps, but I don't give a stuff about that. Flames erupt in the sky as more dragon-like creatures emerge from the Echo, heading in this direction. We have minutes at most to get to a relatively safe place. I grip the steering wheel tighter as the car rockets off the road and across the grass, barreling toward my destination.
The rock outcropping beside the railroad bridge.
We swam near that manmade pile of rocks, which has an opening at its center. That's where the water becomes turbulent. I'd seen it when I was washing off in the river. Now, we're racing across the landscape alongside the railroad bridge.
"Stop!" Allison screams. "You'll crash in the river."
Instead of slowing down, I aim straight for the rocks.