Page 150 of Afflicted

“No, you didn’t, angel. I love you.” I kiss her neck. “I love you more than life.”

“I love you too.” She murmurs sleepily, and within a few minutes, she’s breathing deeply.

I hold her as dawn begins to color the sky. I don’t know what this day will bring, or where we’ll end up. But I know that I’ll keep her safe.

No matter what happens, I’ll keep her safe.

CHAPTER39

JULIET

I eatthe last of the food Sutton had packed for me as Silas disconnects the generator from the truck.

“I wonder if there’s anything in New York,” he muses out loud. “Some of the covens that were unhappy in Boston moved there.”

“I went to New York once, when I was 13.”

He smiles over his shoulder at me. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, my mom took me to MOMA.”

“Oh, that place was amazing.”

“You’ve been?”

“It was the first place I wanted to go when we landed in the states,” he says with a laugh. “Sorry angel, I hate to tell you that you’re married to a horrendous art nerd.”

Our eyes meet as he seems to realize what he just said, and we both smile widely.Married. I don’t care that it wasn’t a proper ceremony. It doesn’t matter.

“I think I can handle that.” I get to my feet, and he leans back against the truck as I approach him. I drape my arms around his neck. “We can be horrendous art nerds together.”

He strokes his fingers through my hair. “We can indeed.” He plants a kiss on the tip of my nose. “Now, let’s get going. I want to make good ground before nightfall.”

We climb into the truck, leaving the unconventional location of our wedding behind us, and my hand finds Silas’s on the shift as we drive. The sun is beating down, and the sky is as blue as a robin’s egg. It’s a perfect day, and I keep gazing across at Silas - at my husband. God, the word makes me so giddy. He keeps his eyes on the road as he lifts my hand to his lips.

“Alright, angel?”

“More than alright.” I move across the seat and snuggle under his arm. “I guess this is our honeymoon, huh?”

He laughs out loud. “You want to pull over and make it official?”

My gaze wanders out the windshield as I laugh, but it’s cut off quickly. I choke on thin air as I lean forward.

“What the fuck is that?”

Silas slams on the brakes. “Holy fuck.”

“Silas, what the fuck?” My head whips around to look at him. “What is that? Are those-”

“Tanks. They’ve got fucking tanks.”

We sit on the ridge, overlooking the sprawling valley below us, and watch as the caravan of tanks rolling along behind an immense herd of Afflicted throws up dust from the broken highway. The large red and blue letters - NG - are visible even from here.

“It’s the National Guard.” I run a hand over my mouth, feeling sweat break out over my upper lip at the sight of all those Afflicted. “They’re still using the Afflicted. What the hell is wrong with them?”

“They’re headed south.” Silas turns to me, his face dark.

“Where do you think they’re going?”

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