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The houses in these parts were nice—likely protected by strong spells on a normal day. But this was no normal day, and those expensive, intricate spell systems that would’ve deemed this neighborhood one of the safest in Yveswich had been stripped off. There was nothing protecting these homes anymore, apart from simple locks and latches.

Which made it incredibly easy to kick open the front door on the house of their choosing and stroll inside. Pieces of metal flung and tinkled across the floor as the locks were snapped apart.

Despite the copious windows, the interior was even darker than the yard—hard to see, even for a hellseher. It wasn’t any warmer in here either, the city so damn cold, their wet hair had frozen into stiff, sparkling strands.

Roman flipped a switch by habit, but no light came on.

Darien’s boots pounded on the hardwood floor as he made his way to the fridge and swung the door open. The appliance rattled from the force behind the action, a magnet falling off and rolling toward the living room.

Roman joined Darien in the kitchen and leaned against the island as his cousin rummaged through the contents of the unlit fridge.

“Would be nice if we found some leftover steak in there, hey?” Roman said, his mouth salivating at the thought. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d eaten. Yesterday, probably.

“Half the shit in here’s frozen,” Darien noted as he dug something out from the back of the fridge. “Catch.” He tossed Roman a plastic bottle of spring water—partially frozen, a chunk of ice bobbing inside.

They twisted the caps off and drank, Darien finishing his faster than Roman. The water made hollow gurgling sounds as it hit their empty stomachs.

Panting, Darien leaned back against the counter and slid to the floor, cradling his bad hand in his lap. He seemed constantly conflicted as to which to give more attention to—his hand or his still-bleeding arm.

Roman wiped the water off his mouth with the back of his wrist and sat down across from Darien. “Good call?”

“I’ll never take water for granted again,” Darien said, indicating to the empty bottle in his hand. More—he clearly needed more.

Roman said, “Are there any more?”

“Yeah, they’ve got a whole flat.”

Roman pushed to his feet before Darien had a chance to do it first and grabbed four more waters, passing two to Darien, along with a granola bar he found in the pantry. Roman grabbed one for himself and sat back down. They ate the bars in one bite, hardly chewing.

“How much further do you figure?” Darien asked, crumpling the granola bar wrapper in his fist.

Roman thought about it. “An hour, maybe.” They were shooting for the hospital. If the explosion had missed the building, and there were survivors inside, there may be a chance they could get some help. Maybe someone who’d be willing to give them a lift farther north. It was asking for a lot, considering they still hadn’t run into any people…but they had to pass the hospital anyway, so it was worth a try.

“If no one’s at the hospital,” Darien began, pushing his frozen hair out of his face, “we’ll try hot-wiring a car. See how far we can make it.”

Roman nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

How far they made it would depend on how quickly they ran into that wall of darkness, or a road too wrecked to drive on. By the looks of things, nearly the whole middle part of Yveswich was smothered by the Void, which would be impossible to drive in without crashing.

They sat for a few minutes in the quiet. Yveswich was too still. Too…empty. The only activity they had encountered during their walk here was a randomboom—like thunder—followed by a rapid shaking that felt like an earthquake. The Void was spreading, the rip in dimensions peeling open wider, more shadows—and monsters—trickling out.

Roman shut his eyes, wishing he could sleep, even for a minute. But he had to keep going. For Pax—wherever he was. Hehadto keep going.

Boots scuffed as Darien got to his feet.

Roman forced his eyes open.

“You good?” Darien asked, chucking his garbage into the bin.

“Are you?” Roman countered.

“I’ll live.” He offered him a hand up, but Roman ignored it and got to his feet on his own. “You suck at lying, by the way,”Darien added. When Roman’s brow furrowed, he explained, “You didn’t need to stop for a rest.”

“No,” Roman confirmed. “But you did.”

Darien made for the front door. “Let’s get moving.”

They left the house and continued walking. The city shook periodically, though the tremors were on a smaller scale. Nothing that could knock you on your ass like the first one. Roman spotted a fair number of monsters during their route, but most kept their distance, sticking to the walls of dense shadow in other neighborhoods and districts.