Ballistic: Icarus Series, Book Two (24 page)

“I don’t know.” Riley anxiously crossed her arms over her chest. “We’ve been on the road for hours and this place is the only thing we have seen standing since we left Byron. Maybe we should just stay here for a while.”

“In the airplane graveyard?” Christa scrunched her nose. “No, thank you.”

Lightning chose that moment to split through the wall of clouds. It sliced through the sky and struck the tail end of the plane, sending sparks up into the air. Even against the rusty orange of the mid-day sky, the flash was bright enough to leave me squinting in the after-glow. The hair on my arms and at the nape of my neck hackled. Jake cried out as if the bolt had struck him directly.

“Okay, I don’t care where we go,” Jake said, clenching his fists. “But we need to do it now. I refuse to stay here and play Russian roulette with Mother Nature.”

“Fine,” Zander said shouldering his pack, “but we have to steer clear of the camp and surrounding area until dark. It’s too risky.”

“Jake says we can’t stay here, and you say there’s nowhere to go,” Falisha said turning to Zander. “That doesn’t leave us many options, now does it?”

The sound of a shotgun being cocked echoed through the empty station. The swinging door behind the register flew open. A tall woman strode through it, her gun raised at the ready.

Dark hair hung in unruly waves down to her waist, and a thick purple scar ran from the right corner of her mouth to her ear. She had a dragon tattoo that started at her wrist and disappeared beneath the capped sleeve of her khaki-colored button down shirt. Her eyes were hidden behind a pair of large, dark aviators.

“It leaves you with exactly
one
option,” said as she pressed the barrel of her gun against Falisha’s back. “You are all coming with me.”

Chapter 20

Survivors

“Turn right onto Beltline at the four-way, and follow it toward the bridge,” the woman said, nudging Falisha in the back. “Be quick about it. I don’t like the look of these clouds.”

“You and me both, lady,” Jake stepped in front of the buggy that held his sister and my dog.

Falisha, Riley, Ty, and Eli had been ushered ahead of the woman. The nose end of her shotgun rotated in a steady and rhythmic arc between them. The rest of us trailed behind earning little more than the occasional passing glance from the woman with the gun. She had every reason to be confident in her position. Bella was locked inside the buggy with Christa and the rest of us had our hands full. Literally. She had duct taped them to the handlebars of our bicycles.

“Who are you?” I said glaring at the back of her head. I wrenched my hands against the tape. “Where are you taking us?”

Bella growled softly in her chest, but her eyes were not on our captor. She spun restlessly within the confines of the small trailer that Zander dragged behind him. Bella lunged across Christa’s lap and perched on the sidebar of the buggy frame. She mashed her nose into the zipper, sniffing frantically. Her hackles raised, she started scratching at the mesh canopy that held her and Christa inside the buggy, and the growl moved up into her throat.

“Ow! Seriously, dog?” Christa snapped as she tried to push Bella off her. “Is this really necessary, lady? Why do I have to be locked up with the stupid dog? Can’t I just—?”

“
Shut up, Christa
,” Jake hissed under his breath.

“Keep moving,” the woman said in a steady voice. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather not be out here when the next storm hits.”

“Liv,” Zander whispered.

There was a rather large gun aimed at my best friend. I couldn’t risk my attention being drawn away from it for one second. I pressed on, as desperate for answers as I was for her to lower the weapon.

“Where the hell are we going?” I yelled, frustration building in my throat. “What do you want with us?”

“Seems to me you have more questions than answers,” she smirked over her shoulder at me and shook her head. I saw my reflection in her sunglasses. The desperation on my face pissed me off. “Here I had you pegged as the leader of these misfits. I must be losing my touch.”

“
Liv
,” Zander said sharply.

Was he really scolding me right now?

I glared at her, but bit my tongue and focused my hatred on the sound of my broken bike chain dragging across the concrete. As angry as I was with this woman for getting the jump on us— on me, now was probably not the best time to run my mouth. Perhaps if that gun were trained on me, it’d be less dangerous for me to speak my mind. But, then, she seemed to have already figured that out. Clever.

“If you want our stuff, why not just swipe it and let us go?” I asked, my jaw clenched. Bella barked again, a high-pitched anxious sound that set me further on edge. Something had her spooked. Whatever that may be, it was apparently more dangerous than the gun being aimed at my friends. “Where are you taking us?”

“Relax, honey,” she smirked over her shoulder at me. “Keep moving, and put a muzzle on that dog of yours, or I’ll do it myself.”

“Bella, hush,” I said firmly.

She whimpered softly staring out the left side of the buggy, but her barking ceased as our convoy rolled up and over the crest of the overpass.

“Name’s Tessa, by the way,” the woman said as she expertly herded us through the smattering of cars that had stalled out on the bridge.

“Please,” I said forcing my voice calm, “just let us go.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, honey,” Tessa said. “You will be better off at RFD where I can keep an eye on you.”

“The airport?” Eli asked.

“We figured that place would be long gone.” Ty said, once again dragging the doctor behind him.

“You and everyone else,” Tessa huffed. She pointed ahead with her gun. “Watch out for the broken glass up here by that little gray truck.”

“We don’t want any trouble, okay?” I sped up, trying to meet her stride while dragging against the bent rim of my back wheel. “We are just trying to get to the refugee camp to find my…to find a friend.”

Tessa snorted and shook her head. “Honey, if you go anywhere
near
Camp Seco, the only thing you are going to find is trouble. You best just say goodbye to your
friend
, and move on.”

“No!” I lunged at her completely forgetting that I was still attached to my mangled bicycle.

Tessa’s reaction was swift and accurate. The moment my front tire lifted from the ground, her leg was there kicking it out from under me. The entire bike flipped sideways in mid-air from the force of her kick, sending me, and the ten-speed, hurtling to the ground. Being taped to my handlebars meant I was unable to brace myself for impact. My elbow hit the pavement, and I landed hard on top of my bicycle. My vision crackled around the edges for a moment, and a wave of pain rushed through my midsection.

“Well, that was unnecessary,” Tessa stood over me with the gun at her hip, staring down at me through those damn mirrored sunglasses. “Looks like someone’s got a bit of a temper.”

“Go…to hell,” I huffed, the spiked pedal still digging painfully into my side.

Every breath felt like a thousand razor blades ripping through me. Tessa smiled down at me, the skin wrinkling into deep forks around her gray-blue eyes. She slung the gun strap over her shoulder, hooked her elbow through mine, and hauled me up off the ground.

“I like you, kid,” she laughed patting my cheek just a bit too hard. “You remind me of my granddaughter—all piss and pride, just looking for a fight.”

Her smile faded, and her gun was back on us before my next ragged breath. She nudged me in the shoulder, and we all pressed on. The cars on the lower half of the bridge were clustered together, two or three deep in some spots. There was barely enough room to squeeze the buggy through in some places. Tessa had to kick the thing loose a few times, as the wheels would get wedged against a tire or a dislodged fender.

Now that I was as mangled as my bicycle, the last leg of our journey was particularly difficult. In addition to being massively dehydrated, I now had a broken rib (or five) to contend with. Every time I breathed, turned the handlebars, or stomped too heavily, pain would rip through my middle, threatening to tear me in half.

“Liv, are you—,” Jake said from behind me.

“I’m…fine,” I lied. The sky churned above us.

“Liv,” Zander echoed his worry.

“I said,” I hissed at the pain that pressed against my sternum. “I’m…fine.”

“Straight ahead,” Tessa said, pointing down a line of big brown delivery trucks.

The army of useless machinery spanned the width of the building, sitting idle in its own numbered space like plots in a cemetery. Every five spaces or so there was a red X spray-painted onto the concrete walls. The military had already been here.

Tessa reached down the front of her shirt and pulled out a whistle on a long leather cord. She put it to her lips and blew sharply on it three times, the sweet sound of a chirping bird echoed across the stillness. She dropped the whistle, letting it dangle at her chest and waited. A few seconds later, an equally sweet song echoed back in response.

“That’s my guy,” Tessa smiled.

A young man stepped out from behind the truck in spot number four, holding a pistol that looked much too small for his hands. His shirt was the same color and cut as Tessa’s, with a black and red patch on his chest that read G4S- Custom Protection Division. The guy couldn’t have been much older than Zander. He looked more uncomfortable holding a weapon than me. “Ma’am.”

“
Liv,
” Zander hissed at my back.

“I know,” I muttered my eyes firmly focused ahead. I wasn’t letting any of them out of my sight.

“Good looking out, Ballard,” Tessa said nodded at him, then pointed over her shoulder. “Where’s Doyle?”

“Down past fifteen, ma’am,” he replied pointing his gun at each of us as we rolled past.

“Doing what, exactly?” Tessa asked.

“He had to, umm, that is…” Ballard stammered. He brought up the rear as the last of us had proceeded. He cleared his throat and sighed. “He’s taking a piss, ma’am.”

“Of course he is,” Tessa muttered shaking her head. She led us down the row of massive brown trucks. “And how’s Megs?”

“No change, ma’am,” he said, a hint of sadness in his voice. “I’m sorry.”

“Doyle!” Tessa pounded her fist on the hood of the truck in space number nine.

A few seconds later, a dark-haired man stumbled out from behind a truck down the line. His gun was shoved lazily under his arm while both of his hands wrestled with his belt. He was tall with broad shoulders and thick arms, but his gut hung over his uniform pants. The way he carried himself screamed high school hero who’d spent the last ten years drinking beer and reminiscing about his glory days. He shot Tessa a look of pure disdain as he fumbled to get a grip on his gun.

“Jesus Christ, Tessa,” he said. “You scared the—,”

“Scared the piss out of you?” Tessa cut him off, her hand on her hip. “Clearly. I’m pretty sure your orders were to hold down your post until I got back. I don’t recall telling you to wander off to play with yourself.”

“
Liv
,” Zander said, his voice a mere whispered at my back.

“You were supposed to be back like an hour ago,” Doyle said.

“Yeah, well, as you can see, I got held up,” she gestured to the rest of us. “Make yourself useful, Doyle and take point at the rear entrance. We don’t have time to discuss your ineptitude, right now. We’ve got another storm rolling in.”

“
Olivia
!” Zander growled at me, finally pulling my attention away from the idiots with guns.

The darkness of his pupils spread to a full circle, and his face was drained of all color. His chest was heaving, and sweat ran down his jaw in rivulets. The veins in his neck bulged to the point I thought they might burst. He bit down hard on his bottom lip and drew blood.

“Zan?” I stepped toward him, my bike scraping along beside me.

“Don’t!” He shook his head and took a step back, forcing the buggy into a hard turn that nearly tipped it on its side.

“Get me out of this thing,” Christa screamed. “Jake, Ty, somebody help!”

“They’re…coming,” Zander hissed, blood and spittle spraying onto the front of his tee.

“Who’s coming?” Ballard took a step back. “What’s he talking about?”

“Damn it,” I said desperately scanning the area. “Tessa, cut us free.”

“What’s wrong with your boyfriend,” Tessa said roughly grabbing my arm. “Is he having a fit or something?”

“Aww, hell no.” Ty’s eyes went wide. “We gotta go, y’all.”

He shuttered and shook, frantically trying to rip his hands free of the tandem bike. Eli nearly fell over as Ty tossed him and the bicycle about like a cat toying with a dead mouse.

“
Graagh!
” An agonized howl ripped from Zander’s chest.

Tessa had bound his blackened arm up to the elbow. He threw his head back, desperately wrenching against the tape that restrained him. The bike’s tires cleared the ground by at least a foot and slammed back down with enough force that the rear brackets, clipping the cargo to the Mongoose, snapped. The buggy started rolling backward with its passengers still trapped inside.

Bella barked and snapped her teeth together, clawing at the mesh canopy in a desperate attempt to break free. The buggy rocked back and forth with the force of her efforts, nearly upending it onto the hard concrete. Christa let loose a blood-curdling scream. Jake, Riley, and Falisha hurried over as best they could dragging the ten-speeds along like a ball and chain. The guns that were pointed at them were no longer the greater of two evils.

“You have to cut us loose,” I screamed in Tessa’s face, “or we are all going to die.”

She glared at me for a moment, then released my arm and turned away from me. Her hair swung across her back as she lunged toward the massive runway in the field beyond the lot. She cupped her hands around her eyes, narrowing them against the harsh sun as she stared off into the distance.