Page 44 (1/2)

The closest one lowered the gun by a fraction of an inch "The highway is severalshot"

I nodded eagerly "I’ns look the sa the du," Smoker spat

Any hope that had sparked in un trained on ainst arettes and disinfectant

"See," the shorter one said, starting to put his gun back into the holster attached to his thigh "She’s just lost You’re getting paranoid Go ahead, honey, get out of here"

S his partner So warm and sharp was in his palm Fear spiked my heart rate Was it a knife?

"I’m lost I swear--"

Red-hot, needle-sharp pain streaked acrossdown my neck and over my shoulder I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came out

The pain rushed at me in waves Blackness inched acrosscontact hatever he held in his hand

"Christ," the shorter one said "You’re right She’s one of the a dull ache throbbing deep in ainstto find my skin split open, but it was only war un pressed between my eyes "What’s in this barrel will do far worse So you better think carefully before you answer the next question Who are you?"

Speechless, fear held oing on out here?" a new voice asked, co up from behind the two men

Shn

"We found her sneaking around back here," Sest catfish to date "She’s one of thehn frowned as heas he breathed heavily "Good job I’ll take this one"

I couldn’t breathe Vaughn had been inside, where Dae to him? If so, it was entirelyhim I’d seen Bethany I may not have controlled where the rock went, but I’d pushed it down the hill

"Are you sure?" asked the shorter officer

Vaughn nodded, reaching down and graspingme to es should be prepped," So of my other arht want to double it up"

Cages? My mouth dried up

The shorter officer looked ht this one, shouldn’t we get a reward?"

"Reward?" asked Vaughn, voice low

Shed "Yeah, like with the other one That was one hell of a reward Husher won’t know any different as long as we don’t mess her up"

Before hn pushed round He threw up his hand Lightning crackled around his ar red-white as it enveloped his body until he was nothing hn was…Daeun "It’s a trick!"

Pulsing with light and power, he released the energy It struck Sht arched, s into the side of the building There was a sickening crunch, and he fell to the ground, skin and clothing s The man shuddered once, and then his face turned to…ash

"Oh ht breezethe fallenaway until nothing remained It was the sa left of theht dimmed, and when I looked at him, he was in his hu in the car, but all he did was reach down and takeme to my feet The baseball cap hid his eyes, but his lips were pressed in that hard, unyielding line

"We need to get out of here," he said

I agreed

Chapter 28

Back at s crossed I held a stea cup of hot cocoa that he’d placed betweendown everything that had happened, ending with theinto ash It re dropped on Hiroshima The blast of heat had been so intense it had turned people to ash and pers

We’d driven their car into the woods, and Dae it until there wasn’tthere had been removed, but eventually people wouldtossed around, especially from their families Because they had families…