Euan hauled himself into his seat as Nick did the same at his side. They adjusted the mirrors, strapped into their seatbelts and breathed in. Nick’s hands were wrapped tightly around the steering wheel. Euan’s were clenched in his lap.
Then Nick turned the key and the jeep jerked to life. The vibrations jostled them. Euan’s hand reached out instinctively and gripped Nick’s thigh. The touch seemed to startle him and their gazes snapped together. There he was. Everything Euan needed, wanted. Nick was angry, still so fucking angry, but they were together, complete. He’d prayed for this moment, begged any God who would listen that he could look into those green eyes again. His wish granted, it was now up to Euan to finish building the bridge.
Mickey-O’s truck was in the lead. The man’s tattooed arm was raised high out the open window to wave them forward. Knight and his precious cargo of Lily were next. Two more vehicles rolled forward and then it was their turn.
At his side, Nick pressed the accelerator. The jeep leapt forward and Kira laughed. A nervous giggle that made Euan’s lips quirk. A glance over his shoulder saw an expressionless head swathed in fabric. But her smile had always been physical. He could feel it even through the cloth.
Their convoy was slow. They swayed in their seats as the jeep rolled over the overgrown terrain. Euan’s hand was on the support bar above his window, the other still wrapped around Nick’s thigh. He would not let it go. It was their connection, Nick had not shaken it off. Green eyes often glanced Euan’s way, took in his exposed forearm that gripped the support, the way his fatigues encased his thighs, the pull of his fly over his groin.
‘Eyes on the road, Nicky,’ Euan said with a tiny tilt to his lips.
The embarrassed jerk of Nick’s head made his lips quirk higher. The back of Nick’s neck turned pink. Euan found it endearing, he always had. Maybe there was hope. If they could get to the hotel safely, Euan would make the time to mould trust and support back into their relationship again. Maybe they could lock themselves into a room and thrash out their anger physically to see it dealt with. Maybe, Euan just needed to suck Nick’s cock and all would be well again. Despite the dangers they currently faced, he felt himself begin to swell.
The hand on Nick’s thigh tightened.
A thunderous boom jolted the three of them.
There was a flash, a rumble so violent it shook the jeep. Thunder, lightning. Euan’s eyes were on the sky in an attempt to see which God had finally given up hope on humanity.
But it was not divinity that caused the storm.
It was man.
The enemy had found them.
Euan’s dread gripped him. Adrenaline surged, his focus sharpened. He let go of Nick and pulled his gun into his hand, was comforted by the solid grip. Another flash, another boom. Euan and Nick both swore and Kira cried out as, before them, they witnessed true horror.
Mickey-O’s truck exploded in a ball of fire and smoke.
They’d lost their leader. A man who had promised salvation, security, home and hearth was eviscerated in a great cloud of black fire. Pandemonium followed. Trucks drove in all directions to escape the heat and debris. In the back of one, Euan saw the chicken cage bounce free and hit the ground. Feathers and birds burst in a plume of white and brown.
He had no time to think about the ramifications. They had no time left to them at all.
‘Go!’ Euan roared.
Nick put his boot to the pedal and turned the wheel. Wreckage rained down. Chunks of warped steel and twisted plastic hit the roof of the jeep, bounced off the bonnet. The glass rattled, the steering wheel vibrated. Euan’s heart thundered in time with the booms as other trucks of their convoy met similar fates.
Guns were fired. A glance over his shoulder saw black figures emerging through the trees. Sparks of flame and light flared around them. The smoke hindered his vision.
‘Fuck!’ Nick cursed as he avoided hitting one of the invaders.
‘Just plough through them,’ Euan barked. ‘We’ll work through the remorse later. Get us the fuck outta here!’
And Nick did. He crashed through the overgrown driveway, the grass, weeds and immature saplings. They tramped men, drove through flame and over the wreckage of their comrades. Fire surrounded them. Flame and heat licked the exterior. The metal shell of the car popped and hissed. Kira cried out as one of the men that had avoided the bullbar slammed her window, threatened to break it with the butt of his rifle.
Euan lifted his Glock and fired.
Glass shattered, their ears rang, the scent of smoke, carbon and blood filled the interior of the cab. Kira coughed and wheezed. Nick spoke in a constant stream of profanities.
They hit the road. But it was too late. They had taken too long to assemble their escape. It was an ambush. Men with guns used trucks and trees to hinder their path in both directions. Euan’s head swung left and right. Nick said, ‘Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.’
There were men dressed in layered clothes that were grey, green and black. So many men. They were encircled by hoards of unwashed spiders waiting for their prey to be trapped in a web made of flame, trees and trucks.
They were trapped. Fucked.
Euan jerked the wheel under Nick’s grip. They veered sideways, almost rolled.
Nick cursed and righted their trajectory. ‘What the fuck!’
Euan’s voice boomed. ‘Into the trees!’
As the gunfire rattled around them, Nick did as he was told. Their jeep tumbled over terrain. They bounced and jumped. The saplings parted in their wake, mowed down by a truck with thick tyres, high suspension and a four-wheel drive shaft that kept them upright and propelled forward. The vehicle groaned as it bounded over logs, it creaked as it climbed gullies and depressions, but it held true and fast. They could make it.
Then the trees
