Page 62

John

T he Post was chaos.

They’d set one of the market stalls on fire—the source of the smoke I’d seen.

Firefights were happening between residents and Order members.

The residents were putting up a good fight, but they were outnumbered.

At the same time, people—mostly kids—were being abducted right from their homes, dragged out screaming and loaded into the huge convoy truck that was parked at the end of the main strip.

I had to find Claire and Kimmy, but with people running in random directions, it was impossible to know where they were. I needed to thin out the crowd.

I ducked behind a house on the corner and fired off a few rounds, taking out the cultists closest to me.

The Order returned fire, and I got pinned down behind that house for way longer than I planned, playing a deadly game of cat and mouse.

Someone was up on the roof, and whoever it was, they were a damn good shot.

With their help, I managed to take down the three guys who were gunning for me .

My back against the wall, I waited for the right moment to run back out into the chaos. Then the person on the roof dropped down, right next to me, and I damn near jumped out of my skin.

“Should’ve known it was you,” I said to Kimmy. “Where’s Claire?”

She grabbed my shoulder, her expression frantic. “I don’t know. I sent her away to hide. I didn’t know what else to do.”

Fresh adrenaline flooded my system. “Which way did she go?”

Kimmy pointed towards the Red Zone. “Go. I’ll stay and help. I don’t know how long she has before they find her, or someone gives her up. They offered a reward for her.”

“Fuck,” I muttered, looking around the corner for an opening.

“Where’s Asha?” Kimmy asked, as if afraid of the answer.

This wasn’t the time for the truth. “I didn’t find her.”

Kimmy nodded, obviously worried, and my stomach twisted.

One problem at a time.