The back seat of the cab was at her back, her escape almost out of reach. She had a brief moment of reprieve, and she heard him come, she sat up just as Nick crashed through the trees.
Blond hair wild, face of stony determination, eyes no longer green, lost to gold resentment and fury. He raised his rifle but couldn’t fire. She was entangled in them too tightly.
The man in the cab didn’t hesitate. He didn’t have the risk of hitting the woman he loved. The click of a primer was the only warning they had.
The gun fired.
The spatter of Nick’s blood was all she saw. Crimson so bright, it looked unreal. The body of the man she loved, the man she adored, the man she worshipped and revered shuddered, jerked and fell backwards. A face contorted in shock and pain was her last consideration before, in Kira’s surprise, she was manhandled into the cab.
And the truck drove off in a cloud of dust and stones.
Chapter 14
Nick
Nick had one chance, one priority. He’d given an oath. He would not let Euan or Kira down.
Wild, angry, afraid, Nick hurtled through the trees. His heart shuddered inside his chest, his hands slipped against the grip of his rifle, and his breath was ragged in his lungs. His throat ached from the chill. The terrible fear propelled him forward.
The trees thinned, and the increase in the light forced him to squint. Instinct drove him faster. It took an extra moment to realise why.
The rumbling sound of an engine was unforgettable, and its proximity heralded horror.
He could see the dark outline of the truck through the spindly branches. An ominous shadow against a brilliant white background. His eyes stung. Only a few more steps and he would be there. He could save her. Just a little closer.
He broke through the tree line.
In that flashing instant, his vision consumed the picture before him, and he saw everything. The decayed tarmac that stretched out before them. The brown oak, the blue mountains. Kira battling with a man in grey-green rags. A reconditioned jeep, its rusted exterior modified and wrangled for the new world. A second man, his body tight with fortitude and his eyes bright with hate, moving from Kira to the wheel of the vehicle.
The barrel of a gun pointed his way, the dark hole of the muzzle a pinpoint of blackness.
He raised his weapon. But she was too close. He couldn’t risk it.
He faulted.
And slipped.
The thundering crack of the gunshot reverberated through the forest and he fell. In an instant, his view went from his worst nightmare to the grey sky, bilious with swollen clouds.
There was the tear of the fabric at his arm, the shred of his skin underneath, the zing of his nerves as they registered the destruction, the attempt of his brain to compute the information through the chaos.
His back hit the earth. His breath shot out of his chest. He grunted through the agony, the shock, the confusion.
Kira was screaming. It pulled him from his second of reprieve. He rolled, desperate. He gagged, he wheezed, he coughed.
The truck’s engine revved. Nick pulled himself up to his knees. His hand, free of weapon and hope reached out to the vehicle, to Kira, as the back door slammed closed and the truck lurched forward.
Nick screamed her name, his voice was not his own. Hoarse, horrified, despairing. Christ, she was being taken from them. Their beautiful little living fairy, the embodiment of bravery and perfection, of courage and love. One of the last women on this earth, maybe the last woman untainted by the horrors of the new world, was about to vanish before his eyes. If they lost her, the odds of holding her again were minuscule. But the probability of her hurt beyond repair was undefinable in its significance. Nick struggled to his feet and screamed for her again.
His gun lost, his body trembled, Nick staggered forward on unresponsive feet …
Just as Euan dashed past him.
He was a blur of black fatigues and muddy boots, a man possessed who sprinted with power unknown towards the retreating vehicle.
The big man was still not fully recovered from surgery. His feet not yet healed from the burns and lacerations made from fire and miles travelled through rugged terrain without shoes. He had one eye missing, often tripped.
Yet, his speed was inhuman.
At the sight of Euan, Nick’s faculties kicked in. He was no longer a man who gasped on the ground, he became a predator, his mate stolen from him. He found inner strength he never knew he possessed and ran with the power of determination in his veins.
He caught up to Euan before he had even fully comprehended that he had begun to run.
They were within reach of the vehicle. The engine whined and clunked. Whatever biofuel the occupants had used as power for the truck was a poor substitute for the fossil fuel that had once been in abundance.
The shadow of Kira’s face could be seen through the back window. Details of her features were almost indistinguishable through the grime, but her white-blonde hair was undeniable. Her pink lips were open in a silent wail of despair, a purple smudge and significant swelling under one of her eyes. Her ghostly fingers gripping the edge of the back seat as they held each other’s gazes for a heartbeat.
Beside him, Euan reached out. His long fingers were impossibly close to the rusted bumper. A few more sure steps and he would grip it, pull his body close, climb the vehicle and take control.
The driver found third gear.
The truck pulled away with a lurch, a roar and a cloud of black smoke.
Kira’s muffled howl from within the cabin eclipsed even the deafening thunder of the engine. Nick’s own shout of anguish reverberated through the trees. Euan’s was quick to follow.
Birds took flight. The yellow
