Read Killshot (Icarus Series Book 1) Online
Authors: Aria Michaels
Even the way he stood demanded respect. Zander carried himself very much like the soldier his dad had wanted him to be, but there was a vulnerable honesty about him that drew me in. I found nearly impossible to look away. His hair hung loosely around his face and I smiled to myself as he absently brushed it back. He must have felt the heat of my stare because he looked up. When our eyes met, he smiled briefly, then refocused his attention on the conversation he was having with Jake and Micah.
The rest of the guys were loitering near the treadmills talking in hushed voices with Tara. Actually, Tara was doing most of the talking. Mike nodded, though he looked a bit confused by whatever she was saying, and his brother seemed even more disconnected than he had the night before. He sat on the edge of a nearby bench, rocking as he muttered to himself. Zack leaned against a nearby wall, staring blankly down at his feet.
When he finally looked up at me, I shot him a questioning look. He lifted one shoulder, in the slightest of shrugs, before once again averting his eyes. The rest of our group had started to congregate near the exit door so I headed their way and shrugged off the awkward exchange. Maybe I was just being paranoid.
Still, it felt like Tara and her crew were glaring at my back. I whistled just loud enough to get everyone’s attention, then turned to address the room.
“I hope everyone got some rest last night, because we have a lot to figure out, today,” I said, putting my hands on my hips. “Let’s all grab a snack and meet by the screen in five, okay?”
One by one, people shuffled over to the bin, grabbing their choice of sugary snacks. We had already run out of bottled water, but we still had the water in the orange jug and Zander had managed to find a stack of Dixie cups in the storage room. Instead of breaking up as we had done the night before, we sat down together to have breakfast. It was kind of nice in a twisted sort of way, though hardly anyone spoke.
Riley sat on one side of me, her legs draped carelessly over Micah’s lap as she nibbled at the last of her Dorito crumbs. Zander sat on my other side, shoveling beef jerky into his mouth with his good hand. He didn’t hold my hand, but his shoulder rested lightly against mine and had my stomach in stupid little knots. I did my best to keep my eyes ahead, hoping he didn’t notice the effect he had on me. She didn’t say anything, but the smirk on Riley’s face let me know she hadn’t missed it. For most of us, the silence in the room was pretty companionable.
“Okay, enough with happy circle time,” Tara blurted, rising to her feet. “Let’s just get on with it, shall we? What is the plan, oh fearless leader?”
“Take it easy, Tara,” Falisha said, her tone was almost threatening. “We are all on the same team, here.”
I quickly stood and the rest of the group followed suit, muttering anxiously and looking back and forth between Tara and I. I shot Falisha a look and shook my head at her. She responded with
a curt nod and a small but noticeable step in my direction.
“No, Tara’s right,” I said, not looking in her direction. “I know you all want to get the hell out of here, and believe me, I am definitely with you, but we have to be smart about it. Make sure it is safe.”
“How exactly do you propose we do that?” Tara snapped, crossing her arms over her chest.
“I’m getting to that,” I bit right back. She had an uncanny talent for draining my patience, so I took a deep breath to calm myself before continuing. “Jake and I have been reviewing the footage from last night and comparing it with what we all learned from the loop.”
“And?” Tara pursed her lips.
“
And,
” I held my hand up, cutting her off before she could interrupt again. “Based on the time stamp in the Icarus video and Taylor’s calculations, we figure we have about five and a half hours before phase two of the solar storm hits us.”
“Translation, please?” Mike looked completely baffled.
“What Liv is trying to say,” Jake said, stepping forward, “is that at around four o’clock this afternoon, most, if not all of the world’s power grid will go down. Electricity, internet, cell signals, GPS…anything digital will be toast.”
“Guys, the sun just launched an EMP at us, and it’s going to hit us in less than six hours,” I said.
“Are you fucking serious?” asked Zack. His eyes shot to Falisha, and then back to Tara.
“Unfortunately, yes,” Jake said.
“Ugh, this sucks,” Mike groaned, wiping his sweaty face on his sleeve and elbowing Andy in the process. “Dude, get out of my bubble. It’s too hot.”
“But that’s only part of the problem,” I said. “Jake and Zander took a look at the link-ups in here and in the storage room, and it turns out they are on a separate circuit than the rest of the building. Believe it or not, the A.C. has been running this entire time.”
“You gotta be shitting me,” Zack said. “There’s no way the air was on. It’s hotter than a hell down here.”
“Afraid so, man,” Zander said.
“So, your saying that it’s going to get even hotter in here when the power goes out,” Falisha said.
“Looks that way,” I nodded. “And when this thing takes out the power, it will still be at least five more hours before we can safely go outside.”
“Well, shit,” Falisha said, then took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “What do we do? I mean, there has to be something we can do, right?”
“What do you
mean
, what can we do?” Tara stepped in front of me, cutting me short before I even opened my mouth. She turned back on me to address the rest of the group. “Don’t you get it? There’s nothing we
can
do.”
“Tara, this is so not helping,” Riley said, tensing at my side.
“Don’t any of you people read the Bible?” Tara threw her hands in the air. “The end is coming whether we are crammed into a sweaty disgusting weight room or at home, awaiting judgment with our families.”
“Tara, you need to calm down,” I said, taking a step toward her with my hands in the air.
“No, I don’t need to calm down. You all heard that guy, he said
killshot
…Kill. Shot. Okay? What part of that implies we should be calm about this,” she said. “And excuse the Hell out of me, Liv, but you are not an Armageddon expert, and you sure as Hell are no freaking messiah.”
“I’m not trying to be,” I said, scowling at her.
“Neither you or your little boyfriend there were able to save Sara or Blake, were you? They died, and you did nothing to stop it,” Tara growled. When I didn’t respond, she stepped toward me with fire in her eyes and jabbed me in the chest. “Exactly, so, what makes you think you can even save yourself, let alone the rest of us, huh? We should get out of here, like
now
.”
“You can’t,” I said. “It’s suicide, Tara!”
She turned and started to walk away, but I grabbed her arm and spun her back around to face me. She jerked her wrist out of my grasp and wiped at it as though my touch had somehow tainted her skin. Glaring at me, she stepped forward until, once again, she was just inches from my face.
“Keep your filthy hands off of me, you godless piece of trash,” she spat.
“I’m sorry, okay?” I held up my hands up. “And you were right about Sara and Blake. I couldn’t save them and I am not saying that I am an expert, or savior, or
whatever
. I am just doing what I can with the little bit of information we have. I don’t know everything, Tara, but I do know you can’t go out there.”
“How do you know
for sure?
” She had tears in her eyes now but swallowed them back. “How could you possibly know that?”
“I just—” I started, but she jabbed me in the chest again.
“You
don’t
know. She doesn’t have all the answers, you guys,” Tara said, gesturing wildly in my direction as she turned to face the group. “And I for one am not going to stay here another minute. I am leaving, and if you are smart, you will come with me.”
Mike and Andy fell in behind Tara, as she turned to face me again. Mike glared at me, nodding his agreements. His brother just stood there staring numbly at his phone.
“Unlike you,” Tara wheeled around on me, “some of us actually have families waiting at home for us.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw something shoot past my face and—
Crack
!
Tara spun in place, her arms flying over her head as she fell back into the twins. They grabbed at her and barely stopped her from hitting the floor. Her hands shot up to her face, as they helped her back to her feet. Riley was shaking her hand furiously next to me, and still lunging in Tara’s direction. Tara’s bloody nose now sat at an odd angle on her face. Her mouth was agape in shock.
“That was too far, you bible-thumping bitch,” Riley screeched, straining against the arms that held her back. “Nobody talks to my sister like that and gets away with it!”
Despite her small stature, Zander and Micah were struggling to hold Riley back as she tried to get back at Tara. She strained against their arms, desperate to get in another shot. I smiled, in spite of myself, oddly proud of her. Who knew my little Riley could throw a punch? Jake tossed a towel in Tara’s direction and disappeared to the back of the group again.
“Riley, please stop,” Micah groaned, narrowly dodging her elbow.
“You are all crazy,” Tara screamed, spitting a mouthful of blood in our direction. She pressed the towel to her face and then looked down at it. When she saw the amount of blood that had already soaked into the fabric, her eyes narrowed and she lunged toward us. Zack caught her around her waist and held her back.
“Get off me, Zack,” she yelled, struggling against his grasp. “That bitch broke my nose!”
Zack held firm, muttering in her ear as he tried to talk Tara down. Falisha stepped forward, staring at Zack with her brow furrowed in confusion. After a few minutes, Tara finally stopped fighting him and when Zack was convinced she was done, he finally released his grip. She stood, smoothed down her blood-soaked shirt, and raked her hair back from her face.
Mike and Andy had gone silent and were shifting nervously behind while she struggled to center herself. Zack looked at Falisha for just a moment, then stepped behind the twins and stared down to his feet. Tara held the towel to her face and tried to sound confident, but it was pretty clear that her pride was as bruised as Riley’s knuckles.
“If this is the end, I am not spending my last few hours on this earth with
you people.
Let’s go, guys,” she barked.
Tara pivoted sharply away and stalked off towards the treadmills. The twins followed in silence. Mike took a moment to shoot me one last dirty look before he fell in line like a good little lackey. Zack took a step forward and grabbed Falisha’s hand. With a half-hearted smile, he tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Falisha leaned her face against his palm.
“Babe, I—” Zack began
“Zack!” Tara stomped her foot.
Zack’s strained smile faded as he pulled her towards him until their foreheads touched. The corners of his mouth tilted into a grimace and he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, they were brimming with unshed tears.
“I love you,” he whispered, then slowly pulled away.
“Babe, what’s wrong?” Falisha’s words hung in the air between them.
“I’m so sorry,” Zack said. Without another word, he turned and walked away.
“Zack?” Falisha choked out, taking a step in his direction. He flinched at the pain in her voice, but he did not turn around. She took another step toward him and crossed her arms protectively over her chest. “Babe?”
Zack shook his head and walked over to Tara and the others, who were already gathering up their things. Falisha’s face fell and her bottom lip quivered as a tear finally broke free and rolled down her cheek. She swiped at it angrily. As quickly as that moment of vulnerability swept across her face, it was gone. In its place, was a look of fierce determination. Without our realizing it, battle lines had been drawn and Falisha and Zack were on opposite sides.
For the fifteen minutes that Tara and the others spent preparing to venture outside, Falisha and Zack did not so much as cross into each other’s orbit. Despite having two very black eyes, Tara still managed to look smug as she stubbornly refused my help in setting her very crooked nose. After several failed attempts to talk them out of going outside, it became clear we were fighting a losing battle.