Page 46 of Surge of Fire

I duck down an alley, then maneuver down another one, paying attention to exactly where I’m going. Up ahead there’s a group of men with guns marching down the road. I know I should be afraid of them, but somehow I know exactly what to do.

“Help! Help! He’s trying to hurt me!” I scream, pointing behind me as I race past them.

Their attention immediately focuses on whoever is coming behind me, and I glance to see Evander right on my heel. The men immediately surround him, pointing their guns, aggression and anger in the air. Guilt worms its way into my stomach.I hope they don’t hurt him. But I push the thought aside as I circle a different way back to the truck.

He has a gun. He’s in the military. He tried to trick me, and wants to throw me in a prison cell and let scientists poke at my brain. He’ll be fine.

Most of the town is empty. There’s a sense of fear that permeates the air. The dragon is nowhere to be seen, but I knowhe’s just on the other side of the mountain, close enough to be here in minutes should something draw his attention this way.

Reaching the truck once more, I get in and get the hell out of there. I need to get somewhere Evander won’t find me and call my men. I’ll warn them not to go down the road. Then I’ll head out of town and as far from here as I can get.

I just hope my plan works.

SEVENTEEN

Samantha

If I’m goingto make it out of town, I need gas. Luckily, the town isn’t huge, so I know where I’m going. I drive down different roads to get there, just in case, until I make it back to the first and largest gas station that we stopped at when we entered the town on the bus. I pull the truck up to the pumps, use a card I find tossed around with the other bag’s contents in the back, and start to fill her up.

Seconds tick by. In the distance, I hear the revving of an engine in the silent town and my pulse picks up, but there’s not enough gas in the truck to get off the mountain, so I can’t just run for it. I have to be a little more patient.

Besides, there are lots of people in this town. It could be anyone.

I see a car come flying down the road, and my heart leaps into my throat. Knowing I can’t drive away yet or get caught out here, I run into the gas station, phone clenched in hand, praying I’m making the right decision.

Instantly, I know there are people inside, even if I don’t know how. My gaze sweeps over the silent store, then back out, where I see the car pull up next to my truck. Evander leaps out, eyes blazing with rage.

My stomach flips. I hear something fall from a shelf.

“Hello?” I decide to go for frightened female, since it’s not far off from how I feel now. “I’m scared of the dragon, and a strange man is chasing me. He's outside. Please, I need help.” I gesture out the window where Evander is barreling down on us.

Someone stands from behind the counter. An older man with a shotgun. Around the room, standing from behind the shelves, I see two women and three more men. The women are my grandmother’s age. Two of the men are nearly twice my age, and the third is a little older than me. I freeze, not knowing what to do as they stare at me, but knowing I need to do something before Evander reaches me.

The older man behind the counter rubs a hand along his bald head, looking tired. “Go through the back. We’ll try to head him off. You need to stay still and keep quiet. We don’t want anything attracting that dragon.”

“Thank you,” I whisper, but my voice carries as I hurry past them.

As I slip into the back, one of the older women presses a finger to her lips, then closes the door behind me. I'm in a small hall. There are two directions I can go. One is toward security monitors that are currently black and rows of supplies in boxes, and the other way seems to be a metal door leading to a freezer. I go to the freezer section, but not inside, just pressing myself up against the door, waiting.

A second later, I hear the door hit the back of the wall in the store, and I jump.Fuck.My thoughts go back to all the people in that room. Some part of me thinks this Evander guy wouldn’t hurt them, but I have no reason to believe that. All I truly know isthat he’s hell-bent on giving me to his bosses, and that he carries around a gun.

I hear the sounds of men’s voices being raised. I can’t tell whose.

Opening the freezer door, a wall of cold hits me hard. Fighting against my instincts, I slide inside and creep in, trying to better see what’s going on in the store and hoping to make it harder to find me should Evander make it to the back. Luckily, the freezer is set up like most industrial-sized freezers, with extra product stacked in boxes on the floor and a row of glass doors with products on shelves facing the front of the store. Evander could technically open one of the glass doors to get to me, but he’d have to get rid of all the products on the shelves, and the shelves themselves, to do it. And that’sifhe somehow managed to see me behind the rows of items.

The sound of a gun going off shocks me, and I instinctually fall to my knees, hands over my ears briefly. When I realize what I’m doing, I’m back on my feet, heart racing.

Was the sound Evander’s gun? Or the gun of the other man?

There’s more noise. I see a shelf in the store hit the ground, and then there’s the sound of glass breaking. I’m moving around, trying to see what’s happening. I peak between ice cream containers, but I can’t make out any people.

Maybe I should see if there’s a back way out? Or should I stay put?I have no idea, but I feel like I should be doing something.

All I know is that it’s cold, brutally cold. My breath already puffs out in front of my face, and I find myself shaking.

How long can I make it in here?It was definitely the wrong choice. I’m trapped and freezing.Should I try to go the other way?

There’s more noise. There’s the sound of glass breaking. Some shouting.

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