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I don’t even bother telling him that I’m notscrewing that monster. The truth won’t save me.

“What do you possibly hope to accomplish by killing me?” I ask, stepping past the first of the evergreen trees that border the property. I can barely feel my feet at this point.

Need to make a move, and soon.

“Vengeance for my family.”

I raise my eyebrows even though he can’t see the action. I know the horseman likes kissing me, but I doubt my death would shake him all that much.

“Pestilence won’t care,” I say. “You’ll just be killing me to kill me.”

Nick’s boot slams into my back, sending me sprawling into the snow.

Whatever chance I had to escape, it’s gone now. My feet are too cold, my body too prone. I squandered the time I had chatting with this angry man.

“What is one more death?” he asks, staring down at me. “We’re all fucking dying here anyway. I’ll be glad to rid the world of one traitorous whore.”

Up until now, the horsemen, the plague, the dying electronics, none of it had truly felt apocalyptic. Not even seeing those empty cities Pestilence and I passed through, their occupants hidden away.

It’sthismoment, lying in the snow, a gun at my back, where it sinks in. This truly is the End of Days. Because even with all its hardships, in the world I grew up in, we didn’t turn on each other. Not like this.

I flip over and stare at the rifle.

Nick pulls the bolt back, sliding a bullet into place.

Shit, he’s really going to do this.

There are worse deaths than gunshot wounds, I think, staring down the barrel.

“Put the gun down.” The stoic voice comes from the forest behind me.

Both Nick and I glance over my shoulder.

Standing in a patch of moonlight, looking ever so much like a deity, Pestilence holds his bow at the ready, his crown gleaming in the dim light.

Nick readjusts his hold on the weapon. “Save my family, and I’ll let her go.”

“I don’t bargain with mortals.” Pestilence takes a step forward, his aim never wavering.

“Stay back!” Nick calls. “If you want her to live, keep your distance, horseman!”

It’s all playing out wrong, like a loose string unraveling cloth.

“I assure you, I won’t.”

I take a steadying breath. Just staring at the horseman’s cool demeanor calms me.

“I’ll shoot her!” Nick threatens, his anger morphing into panic as his moment of revenge slips further and further from his reach.

“Do so at your own peril.”

My eyes cut to Nick’s, and I see the moment he decides that killing me is still the better option.

I never see his finger pull the trigger.

The air stirs next to my ear, then—

Thwump—BOOM!