Page 31 of The Hollowed
There would be no more late night arguments over video games. No more shared meals or exasperated looks as Alex ranted endlessly about everything and nothing. The silence Grayson left behind felt like its own kind of punishing death.
The loss of Sable, Paxton, and Myra cut deep as well. Each of them had meant something to Alex. But Grayson…Grayson was the wound that would never heal. Alex couldn’t imagine surviving without him, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to.
Yet as he sat in that suffocating darkness with Luci pressed close against him, her presence was the only thing that kept him grounded. Alex swore himself to a single truth. The world could tear itself apart, and he could endure the grief and the fury, but he would never, under any circumstance, allow Luci to become another name on his list of losses.
By the time the sun began creeping through the thin crack in the moving truck’s door, Luci began to stir. Her hand raised to brush at her swollen, puffy eyes. “Where do we go now?” she asked, her voice groggy.
Alex sat rigid against the cold metal wall with Luna still curled at his feet. He didn’t look at Luci right away but rather kept his eyes fixed on the faint strip of daylight. “We go back,” he said, his tone full of conviction. “We go back to the hospital, and we negotiate a different deal. It’s the only way to keep you safe.”
Luci shook her head. Exhaustion still weighed heavily in her expression but something stronger burned beneath it. “We can’tgo back. If we don’t make it to Arizona, I’ll never see Noah again. We can’t go back — not when I have this.” She gestured to her backpack where the vials rested. “I have a chance to actually save lives. If we stay hidden behind walls, all of this…everything we’ve lost. It means nothing.”
Alex’s jaw tightened. “Luci, you don’t get it. Out here, it’s worse than you think. Last night proved that. They’re changing, they’re stronger and smarter than I thought. If we push forward without backup, we’re walking straight into a death sentence.”
Her eyes met his, unyielding despite her fatigue. “If Grayson had gotten the vaccine before, he’d still be here. I know it.” Her voice trembled, but she pressed on. “I’m not going to let that happen again. I can’t. Not when we have a chance.”
The silence that followed pressed into the wound in Alex’s heart. He dragged a hand through his hair and stared at her as though he was torn in two. “Damn it, Luci,” he cursed under his breath.
“Then we do this my way. We’ll find a way to make this work.” He leaned in closer, his voice soft but firm. “But understand that if it comes down to it, if this world tries to take you from me, I’ll burn everything — I’ll killeveryonebefore I let that happen.”
Luci swallowed the lump in her throat and managed a shaky nod. But Alex couldn’t shake the feeling that she had no idea just how far he was willing to go.
Chapter 13
Lucilla
The gun in Luci’s hands felt strange but she’d agreed to do this Alex’s way. With only the two of them and Luna left, she had no choice but to learn how to use it. Beyond the walls of the hospital, being able to protect herself meant surviving, and Luci refused to be a burden any more.
Besides, Alex couldn’t shield her from everything, not always.
Luci just had to remind herself that she was capable. She had finished three degrees before most of her peers and discovered a viable vaccine when no one else had managed to do so. She had done the impossible once so surely she could learn how to survive now. Alex might still see her as someone in need of constant guarding, but Luci silently vowed to herself that she would prove otherwise.
Together, they carefully slipped through the empty streets until the parking garage came into view. By some small miracle, it was just as deserted as it had been the day before. Luna padded ahead, ears twitching at every sound while Alex and Luci moved side by side, their shadows stretching long against the cracked concrete behind them.
“We need a hose to pour the gas in,” Luci whispered, sliding her gun back into its holster.
“What kind?” Alex responded as he scanned the dim rows ofabandoned cars.
“A radiator hose should work,” she answered after a second. “We can pop it out of one of these cars, funnel the gas into the tank, and hope it’s enough to get the engine running.”
Alex gave her a brief nod.
Luci wasted no time. She popped the hood of a nearby sedan and crouched down so her fingers could work quickly through the grime caked onto the metal. With a grunt, she pulled the radiator hose free and fashioned it into a makeshift funnel. The gasoline sloshed into the tank in uneven gulps. The smell made her nose sting until her eyes watered.
“That should be enough,” she said, capping the tank and tossing the empty jug aside.
Sliding into the driver’s seat, Luci moved the shift into neutral before she bent under the dash, pulling wires free and hoping her memory was still accurate. Alex hovered near the door, eyes darting to every shadow as though expecting the infected to come pouring out of the dark. A spark flew as Luci stripped the ignition wires. She twisted them together, and the engine coughed before roaring to life.
Luci let out a shaky laugh, her hands trembling on the steering wheel. “Told you I could do it.”
Alex’s lips tugged into the faintest smile, equal parts pride and relief. “I never doubted that you could.”
“Do you want to drive?” she asked. She was halfway out of the seat when she caught the simmer of unease in Alex’s eyes. She paused as her brow furrowed. “Wait — you don’t know how, do you?”
Alex’s silence spoke first, followed by a quiet shake of his head. “I never really had the chance to learn.”
What had started as playful curiosity twisted into something heavier in Luci’s chest. For a second she imagined Alex behindthe wheel of a car completely carefree — a different life, one where he wasn’t a soldier forged by Prometheus. But that had never been his life. They had stolen away even the smallest rites of growing up, molding him into a weapon instead of letting him stumble through the normal mess of adolescence. The realization stung. He had been denied the mundane things most took for granted, all so he could learn to kill.
“That’s okay,” Luci said with a gentle smile. “I haven’t driven in forever, but I think I can manage.” She reached over to give his arm a reassuring squeeze. “We’ll get Luna settled, gather our things, and then we’ll be on our way.”