Oh, this was so not good.
“How will they know we’re friends?” Deacon asked, thinking along the same lines as me. He leaned between the seats, face pale. “Aiden, we should stop—”
Aiden suddenly did stop, but not because of what Deacon was saying. Debris was strewed across the access road, choking the lane. As far as I could see were scattered skeletons of cars. Many of them still smoldered, glowing hellish red in the pre-dawn dark. The apocalyptical landscape was something straight out of nightmares.
“Gods,” Aiden muttered darkly.
My stomach twisted into knots as I undid my seatbelt. “This isn’t good.”
No one said anything for several moments, and then Marcus spoke, “We’re going to have to walk it from here.”
“How many miles?” I asked.
“We’re about three miles out.” Aiden killed the engine, leaving the headlights on.
All of us climbed out of the Hummer, casting anxious looks at all the burnt-out cars surrounding us, feeling like we’d been driving around with a giant bull’s-eye on us.
Quickly, we weaponed-up with daggers, sickle blades, and Glocks. As I strapped a gun on, I looked over my shoulder and saw that the crew with Solos was doing the same thing.
We looked like we were preparing for war as we came together between the two Hummers. In a way, we were—we had been this whole time. We were at war.
A chill suddenly snaked its way under my skin. We stood in a circle, the nine of us, silent with the exception of titanium clips clicking into place, daggers snapping onto our sides. We were nine. But somehow—in a way I couldn’t explain but knew to be the truth—I knew we weren’t going to return as nine. At that cold realization, I looked at the faces of those around me. Some had been virtual strangers, others enemies until recently, and a few I’d considered friends from day one.
And then there was Aiden.
I took a breath, wishing I could forget the fatalistic feeling taking up residence around my heart. But the somber faces of those around me pretty much told me that I wasn’t the only one who was thinking the same thing at that moment.
As a unit, the nine of us turned. Ghastly, flickering flames lit the road ahead The weight of the daggers and guns was sobering and grounding. We had no idea what waited ahead of us, other than the big, fat unknown, and most likely a big, fat kick in the face. The gravity of that was killing me—killing us.
I squared my shoulders. “Release the Kraken!”
Several sets of eyes settled on me.
“What?” I gave a lopsided shrug. “I’ve always wanted to yell that since I saw that movie. Seemed like the perfect moment.”
Aiden laughed.
“See! That’s why I love him,” I told the group. “He laughs at the stupid crap that comes out of my mouth.”
In response, Aiden leaned over and pressed his lips against my temple. “Keep talking about loving me,” he murmured, “and we’re going to scar some of these guys for life.”
I flushed beet red.
Someone cleared their throat. Another groaned, but I was grinning as I lifted my gaze back to the road. Jokes aside, everyone was waiting for one person to take the first step, so I did. And then we all did.
Our eyes adapted to the darkness, but I stayed beside Aiden, who stuck close to Deacon and Luke, as we carefully made our way around the shells of vehicles. I didn’t look inside them, absolutely refused to, because there was a certain stench in the air…
The night was eerily silent with exception of our footsteps. In South Dakota, I expected to hear the chilling call of the mountain lion, the scurry of tiny creatures, and the squawking of birds that could probably snatch up a baby, but there was nothing.
Dead silence.
The creeped-out vibe didn’t go away after we started making quick progress, covering well over two miles. The destroyed cars littering the roadway didn’t help. There were so many of them.
“Gods,” Lea whispered, stopping beside one of the charbroiled piles. “Oh, my gods…”
I told myself not to look at what so obviously horrified her, but I rarely listened to that little voice of common sense. I turned and almost lost the Skittles.
Behind the charred wheel of a Hummer was a body… or what was left of one. Burnt, blackened fingers still clutched the steering wheel. Nothing else about the body was distinguishable. It could’ve been a male, female, or a hydra. And it wasn’t alone. Charred remains were in the passenger seat…and in the rear seats.
Someone sucked in a sharp breath. “The plates are crispy, but these are New York tags.”
“Gods,” someone else said.
People were moving backward, checking the plates on cars that’d received less damage, but I already knew in my heart. These weren’t Lucian’s Sentinels coming to fight. These were people—innocent pures and halfs—seeking sanctuary.
In the furthest seat of the Hummer, some of the clothing remained, just bits and pieces of singed material, but the color was a deep forest-green. Council robes, I realized slowly.
Mother-freaking Council robes.
It dawned on me suddenly that it was a really good thing that we’d gotten out of those damn Hummers, because these people—they’d been trapped. And this whole road was nothing but a graveyard.
“We need to get out of here,” Aiden ordered, and my heart dropped. “We need to go now.”
Lea whirled around. “But where are we going to go? This has—”
A ball of fiery light split the darkness ahead, casting an eerie glow over the debris and the burnt, twisted ground. It flew past the car I stood by, smacking into a small juniper tree, enveloping it in flames and thick, bitter smoke.
I jumped. “Holy…”
Everything happened so fast. Balls of fire seemed to come from the heavens, raining down on us. Everyone scattered, splitting into smaller groups as we moved off the road and into the uneven terrain. A hand found mine—Aiden—and I was running with him and his brother. Luke was behind us. In seconds, I lost sight of everyone else.
CHAPTER 32
We were running, running away.
Fire still fell, splattering off the earth, shaking the ground. It was chaos as we scrambled over the small hills, hitting the ground each time the sky lit up and another volley of fire filled the air.
And where in the hell was popping-in-when-you-least-expect-it-Apollo when we needed him? Sure, he could poof in when I was about to get some kissy-face time with Aiden, but oh no, when we actually needed him, he was nowhere to be found.
I started to push up, but Aiden held on. “I have to find Marcus! And Olivia! Laadan—”
“No.” His grip tightened. “You’re not running out in the middle of this!”
On the ground beside me, Luke moaned. “I think… my arm is on fire.”
“What?” I rolled toward him, grabbing at the back of his shirt, aware of Deacon trying to scramble past his brother. Flipping him onto his back, I winced as another blast hit far too close. “Gods…”
His right arm was an unnatural, bright shade of red from the elbow to the wrist. Patches had already begun to bubble. He offered a wobbly smile. “Well, I’ve been wanting a tan.”
I stared at him, and then Deacon shot around us, grasping the front of Luke’s shirt. Before the bronze-haired half could utter a word, Deacon planted one on him. I fell back on my side, breathing heavily.
Then Deacon lifted his head, eyes wide. “Don’t ever scare me like that again. Okay?”
Luke nodded slowly.
“What is it with the St. Delphi brothers and their attraction to halfs?” Solos grunted, hitting the hill near us. Laadan was with him, her hair falling loose from her neat chignon, pants dirtied and singed. “Don’t get me wrong,” he went on. “Being a half and all, I totally support equal love, equal rights, down with the Breed Order and blah, blah, blah.”
“We just have good taste,” Aiden replied, as he glanced over his shoulder at the half-blood Sentinel. “Unlike some…”
Solos snorted.
“Do you know where Marcus and the girls are?” I asked, eyeing the calm-for-now sky. “Did you see them?”
He nodded. “They’re on the other side of the road, down in a ditch. They’re okay.” Solos glanced over at Laadan. “She saved my rosy red butt, you know? A ball of fire was heading straight for my head, and she just lobbed it away with air.”
Laadan shook her head. “It was nothing.”
“It was something—”
A deep shout shattered the air, like a chorus of battle cries. A sound I’d never heard before. It wasn’t human; it wasn’t animal, but a twisted and revolting mixture of both. Suddenly it became all too obvious what was coming.
Hephaestus’ automatons.
It didn’t make sense. They were supposed to be protecting the Covenants. Had they deemed us a threat? Well, obviously, since they were trying to turn us into crispy critters. But those people in the cars… No way would they attack first and ask questions later. It defeated the whole purpose of having them here and moving Council members to the University unless…
I looked at Aiden. “The god… is it Hephaestus?”
Aiden opened his mouth, but the ground trembled under the weight of the approaching storm. Over the rise of the hill, no more than a few yards away, tall and imposing shadows marched out from behind the stand of trees. When they stepped under the slice of moonlight, I sucked in a shrill breath.
Holy daimon butt…
Their thick-as-tree-trunk thighs and large hoofs were made of titanium. Dark, matted hair covered their broad chests and muscular arms. Each head was that of a bull—two horns and a long flat snout that sloped into a mouth full of strong teeth and jaws.
“Dear gods,” I heard Laadan whisper.
There were over a dozen of them forming an unbreakable line between us and the University, and I doubted they were acting as sentries like they were supposed to be.
One of the larger automatons opened its mouth and snorted loudly.
“I bet his breath stinks,” I muttered.
Deacon nodded. “No doubt.”
Then it opened its mouth once more and a stream of fire shot forth. A ball formed, heading straight for the ditch on the other side of the road. The girls scattered over the hill.
The first gunshot came from Solos, directed at the monstrosities. Then Marcus was on his feet and so was Aiden, their guns blazing. Titanium bullets ripped through the air, smacking into the automatons but doing little to stop them.
Fire streamed toward our group and we broke apart. My hand was on the trigger, systemically squeezing at anything that looked like a whacked-out version of a minotaur. And they returned fire with… uh, fire.
Flames spread across the ground and I darted around the blaze. The automatons raced toward us, spitting fire, then fighting.
The first one reached Marcus, hitting him with the broadside of its beefy arm. Marcus flew back several feet, landing in a groaning heap. Another was before me and I dipped under its flying arm. Springing up, I leveled the gun at the back of the automaton’s head and let loose. Silvery-colored blood and gore splattered the low bushes as the automaton dropped and then turned to dust.