Total pages in book: 165
Estimated words: 159487 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 797(@200wpm)___ 638(@250wpm)___ 532(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 159487 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 797(@200wpm)___ 638(@250wpm)___ 532(@300wpm)
Under other circumstances, being pressed between them like that might have triggered one of her humiliating viral responses. But right then all Cassie could think about was the screaming.
The Infected shrieked as the shuttle’s weapons swept the tower, red beams cutting through bodies and metal and mist. The platform shook violently under them as heat washed over her face.
Ravik’s chest pressed hard against her back, Severin’s arm covered her head, and both males held her as though their own bodies could shield her from a world ending around them.
Cassie squeezed her eyes shut and just tried to breathe through it.
For several long seconds, there was nothing but light and noise and the smell of rotting flesh burning.
Then, gradually, the blasts slowed…the shrieking faded…and the platform stopped shaking.
“Survivors, remain down,” the amplified voice ordered. “Extraction beam deploying.”
Cassie opened one eye and dared to look.
The platform around them was a horror show. Blackened bodies lay tangled on the grating and several places in the railing had been blasted clean away. The ladder was gone completely, cut off by the shuttle’s weapons fire, and smoke rose in thin, stinking streams from the metal below.
But the Infected were no longer on the platform.
Below them, the herd had scattered or been reduced to twitching pieces across the ravine floor. Some were still moving, but more red beams swept down and struck them before they could regroup.
Cassie swallowed hard.
“I’m going to have nightmares forever,” she whispered.
“Probably,” Severin said from beside her, still breathing hard.
“Thanks but you’re supposed to say, ‘no you won’t,’ or something comforting like that,” she told him. “Not affirm the fact that I’m going to be seeing freaking lizard-zombies in my dreams for the rest of my natural life.”
“Sorry—it’s hard to be comforting under the circumstances,” he remarked, but one corner of his mouth twitched up.
Ravik shifted off her first, careful despite the urgency.
“Are you hurt?” he asked, his deep voice filled with worry.
Cassie shook her head.
“Not more than I was before,” she said, which seemed to be the most honest answer available.
Severin sat up and looked toward the shuttle. A circular blue-white beam was lowering from its underside, shimmering through the smoke. He rose to his knees and waved one arm, then pointed to Cassie.
“Her first!” he shouted.
“Of course me first,” Cassie muttered. “The short human always gets hauled around like luggage.”
Ravik looked at her sharply.
“You are not luggage,” he rumbled.
“I know, big guy. I’m making a joke because I’m freaking terrified. What even is that?” she asked, nodding at the blue-white beam which was so bright she had to squint when she looked at it.
“A transport beam,” Severin answered. “Don’t worry—it won’t harm you. It’s just going to latch onto you and bring you into the ship.”
As he spoke, the beam settled over her and a tingling sensation rushed over her skin. Cassie yelped as her feet lifted off the platform. Oh God—it was exactly like the old sci-fi trope of the person being drawn up into the alien vessel with a bright beam of light!
“Oh! Okay,” she said and her voice came out all thin and high. This… this feels really weird.”
“Don’t struggle,” Severin ordered. “Let the beam take you.”
“I wasn’t planning to fight the alien sky elevator!” she shouted back, clutching the charge baton against her chest even though she had no idea if she was allowed to bring weapons into the rescue ship.
As she rose, she looked down and saw both males below her.
Ravik stood with his shock blade in one hand, broad shoulders covered in black blood, his face turned up toward her. Severin stood beside him, battered and pale, broken oculars gone, one hand pressed to his side where he must have been hurt during the fighting. They were bruised, bloody, furious with each other, and still standing together.
Cassie’s heart fisted in her chest. They were alive—both of them.
All three of us, she thought and sent another silent prayer of thanks to the Kindred Goddess. If she hadn’t believed before, she certainly did now. The rescue shuttle had come in the literal nick of time.
The beam drew her into the shuttle’s open hatch and deposited her onto a metal floor with surprising gentleness. Two Kindred warriors in protective gear that covered their heads and faces caught her by the arms and pulled her away from the opening.
“Ma’am, are you injured?” one of them asked.
“Yes,” Cassie said breathlessly. “No. Maybe. Honestly, I have no idea anymore.”
The warrior exchanged a glance with his partner.
Before either of them could ask another question, Severin came up through the beam. He landed on his feet like he did this sort of thing all the time, which maybe he did. The moment he saw Cassie, he came toward her.
Then he stopped.
Not because he wanted to, she thought—because a third warrior stepped between them and raised a scanner.