Artan, Olga, and Gracie raised their spears. William gripped Jezebel tighter.
Hawk took off, charging away from the group.
Gracie launched her spear. It shot past the attacking hunter and stuck into the diseased. It remained horizontal for a second before the creature fell onto its back, the spear now pointing straight up at the sky.
“What the hell was that?” Olga said.
“I hit it, didn’t I?”
“And you nearly hit Max.”
“Careful, love,” Gracie said, her eyebrows raised. “Call him that in front of Max and there will be trouble.”
“Obviously I meant Hawk.” Olga tutted. Her face turned red as she spat her retort. “Hawk!”
And maybe the argument would have continued like many had over the past few weeks, but Hawk’s yell pulled them away from one another.
“Hawk?” Olga said. “What the hell are you playing at?”
Feet from the cluster of trees, Hawk pulled his knife from his belt, dropped his spear, and tackled another diseased to the ground. The shadows had hidden it from William’s sight. Hawk repeatedly stabbed the creature in the head, each attack sinking into it with a deep squelch.
Thwip! Artan loosed his spear. It flew true, again showing William the location of yet another diseased. Like the one Gracie had nailed, Artan’s diseased fell backwards, the spear pointing straight up.
Hawk painted a stocky silhouette. His broad shoulders rose and fell with his ragged breaths. He held his thick fists at his sides as he strolled back to the others. His lust for violence remained balled in his tight frame.
“What the fuck was that all about?” Olga said. “Again!”
“I wanted—” Hawk caught his breath “—to make sure the diseased didn’t reach us.”
“That’s what your spear’s for. You know that better than most. Who are you trying to impress by wrestling it to the ground? You make it much harder for any of us to fight it. Gracie nearly killed you.”
Gracie shook her head. “No I didn’t.”
Since they’d left the asylum, Hawk had developed a blind determination to help his friends. He’d thrown himself into danger at even the slightest hint of trouble. He could protect them, so he would. He’d screwed up in Umbriel when he’d turned on them, yet they still helped him free Dianna. He owed them all. At least, that was how he saw it. He shrugged. “I’m okay.”
Her face red, her eyes wide, and even in the poor light William traced the spittle spraying from Olga’s mouth when she pointed back the way Hawk had come from. “Did you even see that one Artan took down?”
“Yeah.” The light might have saved his lie had Hawk not spun around to watch Artan retrieve his spear.
Artan returned with his and Gracie’s weapons. The pair of them wiped the tips clean in the long grass while Hawk and Olga glared at one another.
“Come on,” Gracie said, “let’s go.”
Their pause for Hawk to demonstrate his fighting skills had given William a much-needed rest. But now they’d set off again, he sweated as much as before. The darkness closed in, turning their city into a silhouette. The three most prominent buildings were a line of tall towers, the landmark William had used to orientate himself these past few weeks. He looked at them today from a new angle. It took several deep breaths to find his words. “Where are we going?”
Gracie had begun an ascent up a short hill. “I’ll show you in a minute.”
“You hadn’t planned on telling us you were taking a different route?” Olga said. “I thought you said we were heading back to the city?”
Dew coated the long grass, turning William’s trousers damp. The weight of the deer on his back pushed every step into the soft ground.
“Will you just shut up for a minute?” Gracie said.
“What did you say?” Olga halted her climb directly in front of William. He stumbled to the side and went around her. Break his momentum now and he wouldn’t start again.
Gracie reached the crest, Artan and Hawk stopping on either side of her.
His lungs already tight, William lost more air at what he saw.
As Olga joined them, Gracie said, “I wanted to bring you here in poor light so you can see what we’re dealing with.”
A large city sat in the distance, on the edge of the ruins they’d been staying in. A tall wall surrounded it. Dark grey, thick, and impenetrable, it had been made from the same steel as the funnel. Light burst from within its walls, shining up into the sky like the head of a giant torch. This city stretched wider than the ruins it bordered.
The wind was stronger for them being at the top of the small hill. It turned William’s sweat cold against his skin, his eyelids tacky with each blink. “How the hell are we supposed to get around that?”
“And what the hell is it?” Olga said.
A check from one side to the other, Gracie threw one more glance at the vast city in the distance and said, “We shouldn’t be talking about this here. They might see us.”
“From all the way over there?” Olga said.
“There are many things you don’t know about what lies ahead.”
“Well, instead of holding onto all the secrets like the smug bitch you are, how about you share some of those things?”
“First, I want to only say it once, so let me say it to everyone at the same time. Second, there are a lot of things for you to adjust to ahead. If I went into detail explaining all of those, we’d be here for another three months. If you come with me, you can see it for yourself when we travel farther south. Le—”
Gracie got cut off by a loud boom! An orange glow from an explosion near the three towers in the city. Grey smoke lifted into the sky.
“What the hell was that?” Hawk said.
“Let’s
