Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 75406 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75406 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Hero, Lightning and Badass grab the riot shields and move to where another step will put them in the line of fire. “Wraith!” Hero calls out. “Tank! Fucking say something! We're coming over!”
Please, please, please, say something.
“Go!” commands Badass, and they start moving. Immediately, bullets ricochet off their shields. Oh God, please don't let them get hurt either. This is all my fault, but I don't know what I can do about it.
There’s a boom, much too deep to be normal gunfire that makes my heart skip a beat. Badass's shield is hit so hard he's spun around and knocked to the ground. He rolls right back up, and they retreat into cover. No, no. They can't give up.
In my head, I know perfectly well that if they can't even make it over there, there's no way they can bring anyone back safely, but… Tank, Wraith and Nitro are in there. There's so much I want to tell them, to do with them—I just want them back. No matter how.
My chest is one tight ball of terror. I touch my face, finding it wet and not even being aware that I’m crying. I refuse to give up. I can't give up. I refuse to—
The whole front of the apartment shudders and tries to lift off the ground as a shockwave blows out the door and window frames with a boom that shakes the whole neighborhood. Thick black smoke billows out of the remains of the facade in such thick swells that nothing is visible anymore. For a moment, all the gunfire stops as both sides stop to see what just happened.
I stand there, suddenly numb. Expressionless. I’m trapped again, just like before at the gas station. I can’t go back, and there’s nothing for me to move towards. Not with the men I love most likely dying inside the apartment where we were just… I can still feel the echo of them inside me!
I fall to my knees, staring without really seeing.
The smoke dissipates slowly, but deep inside the building, there's this terrible creak, an awful crunch as something starts to happen. And whatever it is, it's not good.
The whole front of the building slides down like snow off a melting roof, bringing with it tons of dust, stone, glass and metal. The force launches a whole bunch of it into the air like a wave crashing. I hate myself for moving further away from what's probably become the dusty grave of Nitro, Wraith and Tank, but my instincts send me scrambling away from all the bits of house that are falling from the sky.
I get so far back that I end up mixed into the crowd that's watching. Neighbors who are probably freaking out about their own home alongside rubberneckers who just want to watch the destruction. With a shriek that burns my throat and lungs, I scream my grief into the cold and uncaring universe. And then I do it again.
An older man comes up to me. He reminds me a bit of the bikers, with a trimmed gray beard, and soft eyes that are full of concern set in a face that looks like life has left its toll. He puts his arm around me, trying to comfort me from the deepest pain I've felt in my life, and while I know he can never actually succeed, I bury my face into his leather jacket anyway. My body is racked with sobs while he rubs my back.
“It's alright, it's alright,” he says. “Come on. You can’t stay here. If the cops get their hands on you, who knows what they’ll do.”
“Wh… What?” My brain isn’t working at one hundred percent. I don’t recognize this guy, but I don’t know most of the Screaming Eagles. “Who are you?”
“I'm Emily's father. I came to help. You’ve met her, right? You're safe with me.”
“She’s King's old lady, right? And Hero?” There was a third, right? I can’t remember. “What are you doing here?”
“I’ll explain everything once you’re safe. You can’t stay here.”
I nod, too distraught to question anything. “Um, yeah. Okay.”
He leads me away from the fighting that’s starting to kick back up now that the smoke has cleared. We round a corner or two, leaving it all behind. Aside from distant shouting and a few shots, everything fades.
But as we leave the immediate danger, my brain starts working again. “Where are we going? Is Emily here? Is she waiting for her men to come back?” The hole in my chest gapes wide in the shape of Wraith, Nitro and Tank, stealing my breath.
“Oh, no. My daughter isn’t anywhere near here.”
There's something in his tone of voice that makes me look up. “So where—”
“And here you go,” he says to someone else. “You catch more flies with honey than vinegar.”
“Indeed. I'll have to remember that, Mr. Hawthorne.”