Total pages in book: 209
Estimated words: 196141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 981(@200wpm)___ 785(@250wpm)___ 654(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 196141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 981(@200wpm)___ 785(@250wpm)___ 654(@300wpm)
Kyle has seen it firsthand, though he isn’t as confident that it’s a good sign. “Keep your eyes on the road. Anything can still happen.”
“I’m not letting anything happen,” Elias insists, ecstatic. “No, sir. Layna’s crazy army of birds are here to guide us!”
Then all visibility is stolen away from out of nowhere as a raging whirlwind of sand engulfs the bus from front to back in the space of seconds. The bus rumbles and trembles as Elias plunges onward, assaulted by sand that whips by, scratching the windows, scraping over the roof. The humans shout, clinging to the seats and the walls, cowering while the bus continues to shake all over as it battles its way through the storm.
With the blasting sand, birds slam against the windows, the windshield, the roof. They appear and vanish so fast, there’s no telling if these birds are alive or dead, if the sandstorm is made entirely of carcasses or is heralded by the birds themselves. And with the furious storm comes an unfathomable volume of noise, drowning out everything.
Kyle finds Nico standing over the still-incapacitated Kaleb, covering him. Ahead, Elias blindly steers through the madness with no sight of the road, all his previous happiness traded for terror. His speed has dropped dramatically, the debris and sand pulling heavily on the bus.
The noise is so deafening and the storm so thick, Kyle’s senses are rendered useless. He doubts Raya can hear La-La’s movements any better than he can sense them now.
In a window, a flash of La-La’s grin.
The moment Kyle spots it, it’s gone.
Kyle hurries now from window to window, pushing down the panic and bile rising up from his stomach. La-La appears again, and again is gone the moment Kyle spots his face. Then at another window, La-La cackling hysterically, tongue pressed to the sandy glass, and just as quickly, whipped away by the wind, out of sight. Somehow, the vampire’s beauty makes his twisted expressions and behavior all the more disturbing.
Kyle can’t keep up, finding himself standing in the aisle, surrounded by flashes of La-La’s face at any random window, even the back door and the windshield, everywhere in the blink of an eye. He moves too fast.
Suddenly the vampire’s face is gone from every window. Kyle turns, looking for him again, unsettled. Raya is at the side door staring out, eyes wide and full of tension as the sandstorm screams past the glass.
Boom—another crash on top of the bus.
Everyone looks up.
“Down!” hollers out 4’s boyfriend as he covers her with his arms, shaking, his fear-ridden eyes twisted up to the ceiling.
The blade of a long sword pierces the roof.
And the boyfriend’s head.
4’s screams are lost to the raging storm as she collapses to the floor of the bus, cowering.
When the sword is pulled out of the roof, up the boyfriend goes with it, his head attached for half a second, until the sword is freed and his limp body drops down.
His head, split open by the blade.
Blood pouring over the seat.
Kyle slaps a hand to his mouth, paralyzed, stopping himself from retching at the sight.
Mayhem breaks out as the humans, now screaming and in a full panic, flatten to the ground or scramble to get away, a woman wailing hysterically, the elderly man shouting his prayers. Raya is backing away in horror, her poise gone, choking on her breaths.
4’s screams persist as the sword strikes down elsewhere, now covered in her boyfriend’s blood and brain matter, closer to the back of the bus, then gone again. Strikes again, too close to Raya’s head, causing her to quickly duck and take position on the floor. The sword pulls out again and strikes in a new place, over and over it goes. Wind squeals wildly through the holes left by the blade. Each time, La-La’s hysterical peals of laughter puncture before the sword does.
Panic and dread consume Kyle’s system, compounded by the flood of terror radiating out of every human in the bus that his Reach unhelpfully absorbs. It takes an insurmountable deal of willpower to fight through it and make his limbs move, as he pushes himself down the aisle, following La-La’s movements, desperate to think of some way to thwart the vampire.
Kyle turns to the front of the bus. Nico remains crouched over Kaleb protectively, staring back, teeth bared. It is amazing to Kyle, how Nico’s fragile, human eyes are so full of courage in this moment, ready to fight La-La head-on if he has to, not a bone in his body quivering.
It’s more than just a show.
The young man is fearless.
Before another thought enters Kyle’s mind, the back half of the roof rips open like the lid of a can.
The only screams that are heard now are those of the storm itself, sand slicing into the bus, cutting and biting and stinging with its furious power.