The Girl who Saved the World (Death Fields 6)

The tips of her ears turn red and she glances around. The men are a row over, looking under the hood of a black Camaro. “I haven’t had my monthly.”

I frown. “Your—oh, right. Huh.” I look her over and mentally dig for my biology. I was pre-med after all. “You’re skinny as hell and fat is hard to come by out here.”

“You don’t think it’s the injection?”

“I honestly don’t know, but I doubt it.” I grab her by the upper arm and wrap my whole hand around it. “Seriously. Skinny as hell.”

She laughs and the blush fades. The Eater moves closer and I sigh, prepared to go take care of him, when the rev of a large engine echoes off the parking lot. I turn and Wyatt gives us a thumbs-up.

“Come on. Leave him,” I say, pointing to the Eater. I don’t feel like getting into it today—not yet at least. “Let’s get out of here.”

*

A light, cold rain starts the next day, making me even more grateful for the car. The tank was full when we found it and we stashed a couple extra siphoned cans in the back. We climb higher into the mountains, the roads twisting and sharp. Twice we have to get out of the car to move rock debris from the roads that must have fallen over the last year or so. Mary Ellen’s face turns green and she closes her eyes during the worst of it. When it grows dark I beg Wyatt to stop.

“Just pull over into one of the scenic lookouts. It’s too dangerous to ride at night.”

“We’re only a hundred miles out.” His eyes flash to mine in the rearview mirror.

“I don’t care. It’s too dark. You can’t see.” I don’t add that the rain and slippery roads make it worse. “I’m pretty sure Mary is gonna barf all over the back seat, okay? The twisty roads are worse back here.”

The girl grunts in agreement, pressing her hands over her eyes. Wyatt slows but doesn’t st

op. I know he’s eager to get out to our destination, but killing ourselves in the process isn’t the way to do it.

“What are we going to do in Mount Airy?” Jude asks. “You think it’s the Safe City?”

“Could be,” Wyatt replies. His hands tap on the steering wheel. “It’s the first town we’ll come to after crossing the mountains. From there we have Greensboro and Winston-Salem. Raleigh and Durham further west.”

“Raleigh isn’t a Safe City,” I tell them. “I was there when it all went down. It was falling apart pretty quickly.”

“I feel the same about Asheville,” Wyatt says.

Jude twists to look at me in the back. “What if Hamilton beats us there?”

A flash of white catches my eye by the side of the road. “Wyatt! Look out!” I scream but whatever it is flies across the hood of the car, landing with a thud. Wyatt brings the car to a skidding stop, the wheels sliding across the slick pavement. I lurch forward, arms out to keep from smashing into the seat in front of me. Mary Ellen hits her head against the side window, crying out in pain. Whatever he hit is lying on the ground just out of view in front of the bumper.

“Shit was that a deer?” Jude asks.

“Deer?” I ask, trying to get a better look. The hair on the back of my neck pricks.

“I don’t know,” Wyatt says. He reaches for his gun and checks the chamber. Jude’s already unlocked his door and I grip the back of the seats. Mary Ellen sits up straight, her weapon in her hand.

“Do not get out of this car,” I say. “Just keep driving.”

“Alex, calm down, I’m just going to get out and check. You’re the one that wanted to stop.”

Jude hesitates and scans the road outside his window. Wyatt, stubborn as ever, gets out of the car, slamming the door behind him. He walks in a wide arch around the front, his body lit up from the waist down by the head lights. An awful feeling builds in my stomach and I scramble between the seats, over the gear shift and into the driver’s seat. I have a better view of Wyatt, who walks slowly toward the car, gun raised.

“What is it?” Mary Ellen asks from the back.

“I don’t know but I don’t think it’s a deer.”

I reach for the door handle just as gunfire splits the night. Wyatt gets off two shots, both wide and not directed at the body on the ground. Before I can move the driver’s side door is wrenched off its hinges. A hand reaches in and yanks me out of the seat. Through the misting rain, I sense the danger around us. Multiple heartbeats, dozens of footsteps. We’re surrounded and it only takes a blink to realize it’s a Hybrid ambush.

At least ten pour from the dark with crazy eyes and ragged clothes. With no leader they’ve succumbed to feral instincts—the one holding me growls in my ear. It’s a thin line between Hybrid and Eater. I don’t want to be the one that pushes him over.

Mary Ellen yells as she’s ripped from the back seat. Jude is dragged across the road. I take a deep, fueled breath and smash the back of my head into the Hybrid’s face while stomping on his foot. I spin and fire, bullets puncturing the center mass of his body. He falls and two more take his place.