Sure enough,the figures chasing them slowed, their faces masks of fury. “Cyril!” one of the men out front roared. “God damn it, would you drop the barrier already?”
“I’m working on it.” Daniel heard the man’s reply despite the distance.
They were trapped, he realized. Whoever this Cyril was, he’d almost certainly wanted to drop that wall in front of them. And if they let him have a second attempt-
“Hurry,” Daniel said, Olivia’s urgency flooding through his veins. “It’s- It’s not far. Pick James up and-”
“I’m trying,” Leon mumbled. They lurched back into motion.
Just a little farther, Daniel told himself. Just a bit more, and he could rest his arms.
The men behind him were still screaming. Threats against this Cyril, mostly. Now and again, Daniel heard a click of something that sounded very much like metal on metal, and the image of their guns flashed through his mind again.
But it was okay. Their car waited ahead, right where they’d left it on the curb. Cyril there seemed like he couldn’t drop the barrier as fast as his friends wanted. They’d get in and they’d drive. No one would be able to stop them once they were in-
Once they were in the car.
The car that now seemed to be...shimmering.
Daniel slowed, staring at the vehicle in utter confusion. “What...What is it-”
“Damn it,” Olivia said. This time, her voice was filled with defeat. “God damn it. Owl. We have to go. Now.”
The car wasn’t shimmering, Daniel realized in horror. But the air around it was—like a mirage. Like heat waves. A trickle of smoke curled from the tailpipe. From the tires.
That….didn’t seem good. At all. “Hey,” he said. “Hey, what are they-”
Lights flickered inside the car. The seats. Flames danced up them, spreading from metal that suddenly seemed to be glowing red-hot.
He had long enough to ponder exactly how not-good fire was inside a car that ran on gasoline before a wall of light and heat erupted, racing toward them.
Well, his thoughts echoed, as the heat of the explosion washed over his face.
I guess we won’t be taking the car.
- Chapter Fourteen -
Gusts of hot air billowed off the smouldering wreckage.
Daniel stared. That...That had been his car. His thoughts slowed to a crawl. He loss of the car didn’t bother him—he could afford to buy another—but he had to survive long enough to do that.
And without the car, his odds were suddenly looking a lot worse.
A shape darted out before him. “Come on,” Olivia gasped, grabbing for his shoulder. “No time. Run. Please.”
Daniel blinked, taking a ragged breath. Leon was frozen, he realized. Caught perfectly in place, with James still hanging between them. They stared at the fiery wreck, glassy-eyed.
“Hey,” Daniel said, shouldering James for long enough to elbow his friend. “Leon. Snap out of it. We have to-”
On the third good whap, Leon’s eyes cleared. His chin snapped up—and he glanced over. Terror shone in his eyes more clearly than Daniel had ever seen. The sight was like a punch to his gut.
“We’ll be okay,” Daniel said. He started to walk, dragging both James and Leon along with him. “We’ll make it.”
Behind him, he could still hear the roar of voices. That barrier had popped up between them and their pursuers, but there was no way it’d last forever. They needed to be gone before it vanished.
His legs ached with every movement, but he forced them into motion. Leon was slower to react, but when Daniel pulled, he moved.
“Y-You could help,” Leon muttered, shooting a look at James.
James shook his head, blinking. Out in the early morning light, the bruises coating his skin were more visible than ever. Somehow, though, he managed to lift himself, drawing upright.
“I’m...I’m good,” he mumbled, the words slurred together. “Le’go.”
Was he, though? Daniel cast a worried look his way, but the man’s stubbornness seemed to be rising. He shrugged away from Daniel and Leon, staggering once, but didn’t fall.
“Would you hurry up?” Olivia hissed from ahead. “Do what you like, just come on.”
Daniel hesitated a moment longer, watching James until with one final, shuddering step, James broke into an unsteady jog.
That would have to do. Daniel hung back all the same, putting himself at the rear of their group as they started to pick up speed. There was no consultation of where they were going. It wouldn’t have helped. The people attacking them were behind, and the neighborhood pressing in around them wouldn’t be any help. Forward was all that was left.
They ran. The smoke from the still-burning car faded out, leaving crisp air to burn at Daniel’s lungs. Ahead, the street ended, the houses melding out into a mishmash of businesses and the forlorn minigolf park.
To his exhausted eyes, it looked like heaven. They could vanish into the maze of rocky displays and chintzy windmills, out of sight and out of-
The crack of a gunshot from behind him was enough to send ice through his veins. Daniel lurched to the side, flinching away from the noise. Something clattered across the asphalt behind him.
Suddenly, James seemed to be running a lot more smoothly—and a lot faster.
As they sprinted, Daniel risked a glance back. The golden barrier was gone, finally, and he could see a man bent over between them and James’ house. Panting for breath, it looked like.
His eyes snapped to a cluster of figures farther ahead, though—and the man at its center. The gunman from the house. That rifle was off his shoulder now, pointing in their direction. He’d shot at them. Daniel’s hands started to quiver.
A pair of men clung to the rifleman’s shoulders, though, bellowing something incoherent. They hadn’t liked the man shooting at him, then. That was something.
If this goes on long enough, the others will arrive, his thoughts whispered. The people from Leon’s house. More people with guns, and the mage who made the ground quake, and-
“Run!” Daniel cried, bolting onward behind the others. “Keep going!” Not that they needed the encouragement, but he had to
