Page 117 of Marks of Rebellion

He wipes them away. "Don't cry, Flower."

"I don't want to be with him and without you."

"Shh. You aren't going to be. I'm yours, remember? You can't get rid of me, even if you wanted to."

"Promise?"

"Yes." He merges his lips to mine and guides me down on the mattress. "Want to know why I call you Flower?"

I nod and kiss him some more.

"You add beauty to the earth. No matter where you are, you brighten everything up." He moves his lips to my ear. "But you're rare. Stunning." He puts his lips next to mine and strokes my hair. "There's no one—"

The room shakes so hard, pictures fall off the walls and a vase crashes, shattering into hundreds of pieces.

"Stay down." Hunter moves his body over mine and covers my head with his chest.

The earth continues to rumble, and the doorway to the outside of the hotel crumbles. The light fixture comes unbolted from the ceiling and smashes to the ground.

I scream, and Hunter holds me tighter to him.

Another wall splits before the tremors stop.

My heart pounds fast, and I can feel Hunter's as well.

"Flower, you okay?"

"Yes. You?"

He nods. "We need to get clothes on." He locates our clothes and his backpack. We dress quickly.

Rubble is everywhere and dust fills the air. Loud noises from people come from all sides of us. Babies wail. Kids scream. Adults try to calm their children.

Hunter assesses the chaos and opens the door. "We need to get out of here before the ceiling collapses."

"Okay."

He tugs me to him and leads us down the hall and through the lobby. The hallway is clear, but the reception area is a mess. A deep crack in the floor separates it in two.

There's a side door away from the main doors, and we're able to get safely outside. The crack on the hotel floor shoots out past the entranceway and into the ground. It stretches as far as I can see and widens. Buildings are crumpled and sunk into the ground. Pavement sticks up in the air in several spots.

"Holy," I murmur.

Hunter and I stare at it in awe for several minutes. "Come on, Flower. There could be aftershocks."

"Where can we go?"

He scans the area. "Time to get creative."

"What do you mean?"

"You'll see."

He leads me through debris and away from the loud screams and cries from the hotel guests and staff who have made their way out. We go toward the back of the parking lot. Car alarms are blaring everywhere.

Hunter tries several door handles and finally finds a truck that is unlocked. He gets in and releases the passenger side. "Hop in."

Within a few minutes, he hotwires the car.