Astrid came out, followed by Edilio. It was obvious that neither was having a good night. Astrid had a red welt on the side of her face next to her eye. Edilio was rubbing his head gingerly and holding a massive shotgun.
“Where is Sam?” Brianna demanded. “What happened to you guys?”
“You missed the fun,” Edilio said sourly.
“No. No, I didn’t. You did!” Brianna yelled. “Caine is attacking the power plant.”
“What?”
“He’s there. He and Drake and some other guys.”
“What about our kids up there?” Edilio demanded.
“I didn’t see any of them. Look, Caine threw a car through the front gate. He’s real serious about this.”
“You know where Hunter lives?” Edilio asked.
Brianna nodded. But too fast to be seen. So she said, “Yeah.”
“Go there. Sam was there last I saw him. Tell him I’m getting my guys. It’ll take me half an hour to get everyone assembled again. Tell Sam I’ll meet him at the highway.”
“Your shoes,” Astrid said, pointing down at Brianna’s feet. “What size do you wear?”
“Six.”
“I’ll get you a pair from my closet.” But before Astrid could move, Brianna was up the stairs and back, sitting on the porch and tying on a pair of New Balance.
“Thanks,” she said to s startled Astrid.
“Don’t forget to—,” Astrid said, but between “don’t” and “forget” Brianna had arrived at Hunter’s house.
Dekka was just coming down the steps looking like a thundercloud. The girl barely flinched when Brianna appeared suddenly before her.
“Hi, Breeze,” Dekka said. She almost smiled.
“Sam in there?”
“Yep.”
Brianna appeared suddenly before Sam, who took it less calmly than Dekka had.
“Sam. Caine. He’s at the plant. I already found Edilio, he’s getting his guys together. Give me a gun, I’ll go keep Caine busy.”
Sam cursed loudly. It took a while before he was ready to stop. Then, “I knew it! I knew it, and I let myself get distracted.”
“Sam. Give me a gun.”
“What? No, Breeze, I need you. And not dead.”
“I can get back there in, like, two minutes,” Brianna pleaded.
Sam put a hand on her shoulder. “Breeze? You have a job. You’re the messenger. Right? We have other people for fighting. Go help Edilio get the troops together. Then go see if you can find Lana. I don’t know where she is and we’re going to need her.”
“She’s driving around in a truck with Quinn and Albert,” Brianna reported.
“What?”
“They’re in a truck, heading out on the highway.”