Page 80 of Waves of Fury

Nothing.

My heart does a flip.

It pierced his boot, but not his skin.

“You’re not bitten,” I choke out. “Kell, you’re okay.”

Wayne hoots with happiness and Hope hugs Kellen. Once she stands and Kellen gets his boot back on, I pull him to me for a hug of my own. We cling to each other for a long moment. Then I step back, cupping his face in both of my palms.

“You scared the shit out of me.”

Kellen grunts but offers me a crooked smile. “You and me both.”

“Don’t do it again,” I grumble before crashing my lips to his.

I’m sure my breath smells terrible and I know we have an audience, but I don’t care. The man I’m seriously falling for is safe. For once on this godforsaken journey, we skated death rather than running right smack into it.

I just hope our luck holds out.

Kellen

Vegas is on fire.

The defeat is overshadowed from the adrenaline still coursing through my veins at having dodged what could have been a deadly encounter with a rattlesnake. I was so fucking lucky. So lucky.

Our luck has gone, though.

Vegas, beyond the heavy smoke and still burning infernos, is a complete and total loss. There won’t be FEMA or the American Red Cross. No military or police. No food or supplies or shelter.

We’re fucked.

Smoke, mixed with chilly air, assaults us, battering our already beaten bodies. Silas has a terrible cough, clearly caused by the cold air and now agitated by the smoke. It’s worrying. Even the dog, Pretzel, is miserable and whimpers nonstop.

Since the city is in flames, we’ve been circling it on foot, heading north. I’m in a bit of a daze, dragging my feet along, trying to keep my jacket held up above my nose and mouth to give me breathable air when suddenly Hailey cries out.

I whirl around to find her face down on the dirt, followed by a howling sob. Her parents crowd around her and Jesse rushes over to help too. When they get her up and on her knees, blood smears her teeth and runs down her chin as she wails.

Tyler snaps into action, already pulling his first aid kit from his bag before settling in front of her. She continues to sob and tremble, clearly in pain. I stand behind Tyler, holding the flashlight so he can see the damage.

A big gash stretches along the sharp line of her jaw to the middle of her chin. She took a nasty fall. She spits blood out and something white tumbles out. A tooth. Ah, fuck.

“You broke a tooth?” Dan says, trying to look inside her mouth.

Tyler swats him away. “Let me clean and dress this wound first. Then we can look at the damage inside.”

As Tyler sets to cleaning up the bleeding gash, I take stock of our surroundings. Murky smoke keeps us from truly seeing too far away. The only reason we know where we’re going is we’re keeping the fire to the left of us at all times, betting that eventually we’ll reach the north side of it.

Hope and Aaron are once again looking at a map. We’ve encountered a few roads, a few abandoned cars, and burned-out husks of buildings with the same “Gerty got us” message sprayed on the outer walls. Nothing worth anything thus far and certainly no people. However, based on the sickly scent of burning human flesh, I’d say a lot of people never made it out of Vegas. Just like San Francisco. Everywhere, people are dropping like damn flies.

The sky is beginning to lighten, which will help our traveling not be so treacherous. As much as we’re all in desperate need of rest, we can’t until we get the hell out of this area.

I glance back over at Tyler to find him blowing on Hailey’s chin. He’s used the medical glue to seal up her wound. Once he’s satisfied with how it looks and that it’s set, he shuffles out of the way to let Dan, our resident dentist, take a look.

She starts to cry when he removes another broken tooth from her mouth. He gives her a bottle of water and instructs her to rinse. Another howl escapes her as she does it, clearly still in pain. Her father has her open her mouth again, shining the light inside.

“Most were knocked out clean.” He counts under his breath. “Three. Three teeth are gone.”

“Oh, honey,” Judy says with a sob, stroking her daughter’s hair from behind. “You must be in so much pain.”

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