Page 85 of The Key to Fear

In the chemiluminescent glow of the back of the truck, time lost all meaning.Had it been minutes or hours since they’d left the warehouse district?Elodie closed her eyes and rested her head against the metal wall.Finally, the truck stopped.Elodie’s breath hitched and her eyelids flew open.The Key Corp soldier pressed a gloved finger against his thin lips.They weren’t in danger of Elodie speaking.She had nothing to say.The muffled voices of the guards outside the truck were nearly indistinguishable from the rumbling of the vehicle’s engine.After a few sharp yeses from the driver, the truck jerked forward.

The soldier dropped his hand and steadied himself against the row of bins as he spoke.“We’re crossing into Zone Seven.Almost at thedrop-offpoint.”

The ground became uneven, the ride bumpy as they bounced along the path into Zone Seven.Elodie gripped the edge of the steel bench.She desperately wanted a window.Even if their surroundings were horrible, it was better than letting her imagination runwild.

The acrid scent of charred earth crept into the truck.Aiden pulled a square of red cloth from his pack and covered his nose and mouth before tying it behind hishead.

“Front pocket,” he said, and pointed to her backpack.

Elodie lifted the bag onto her lap and unzipped the front.She pushed aside a flashlight and a few clear disks before finding her own handkerchief and knotting it behind her head.She rolled up her fatigues, stuffed them inside, clutched her pack against her chest and readied herself for what waited outside.

Aiden slid over, closing the distance between them.“We’ll be okay.You know that, right?”He still smelled like pine, the trees after the rain, skateboarding dates, corn on the cob, kisses at thefair.

The truck stopped and the soldier again clutched his gun against his chest as he maneuvered around the boxes and back to the door.The door clattered as the soldier slid it up its track.He peered out into the dusty gray dawn and waited a moment before pounding his fist on the side of the truck and jumping out into the wilds of Zone Seven.

Ash floated around the guard like snow.His red uniform stood out from the muted grays and whites and blacks of the destroyed landscape like a tear in the skin of reality.

“All clear,” he said, and motioned for them to follow.

Before Aiden had finished sliding the backpack over his shoulders, Elodie was at the edge of the truck.

This was her life and she was going to live it.That’s the mistake she had made before—waiting.Waiting for life to happentoher.Life had happened all right.Too much.Too fast.Never again.She’d be in control from now on.

She hooked her thumbs around her straps and looked over her shoulder at Aiden.“I know we’ll be okay.I’ll make sure of it.”Without another thought, she leapt out of the truck.Ash plumed around her feet when they hit the ground.

Aiden followed, tightening the straps of his pack as he joined her.

The soldier climbed back into the cargo hold.“Good luck,” he called as he cracked another glowstick and threw it into the depths of the truck.The door closed and the truck began its return journey, following thetire-wornpath back to the only city Elodie had everknown.

Aiden shoved his hands into his pockets.“Youokay?”

Elodie turned and faced the path not yet explored.She let out a hot breath against the handkerchief.“No,” she answered honestly.

Aiden’s backpack bobbed with a shrug.“Yeah, me either.”

Elodie tightened the knot behind her head and tilted her chin toward the sky.Dirty white clouds pressed down above her.The same dingy pall as the ashen ground beneath her feet.She was trapped in a layer of the earth unfit forlife.

The sky cracked overhead, and droplets speckled her ash-

covered sleeves.Hope burned hot within Elodie’s chest as the air thickened and the heavens thundered.

After the storm comes thedawn.