Setting Fire to the Stars (a MM Sci-Fi Romance)

Chapter 19: Survivors

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Peter
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The violent explosion rocked the night, a yowling snarl that snapped the air out of my lungs. My feet tore down the fractured concrete road, heat licked against my sweaty back. Debris the size of a small car careened past my head and obliterated itself on the pavement beside me, spraying grit and small pebbles into my eyes.

Whitt lurched, arms pinwheeling, shrapnel hissing over his blond curls like a colony of furious metallic wasps.

"Holy—shit—holyshit—holy—"

"Get up!" Wyatt's voice cracked as he yanked his brother upright, shoving him forward. "Run!"

The twins bolted, shadows stretching and wavering beneath the pulsing firelight, Reva on their heels, her grip locked so tight on her gun that her knuckles looked bloodless. I pushed myself to move, weaving between overturned cars and discarded bodies that turned my stomach each time my foot nearly clipped them. Pure agony laced through my body with every winded breath, my ears ringing like a church bell on Sunday morning. The hunter's knife embedded below my collarbone. My shoulder burned, the area hot and sticky under my hand, but I didn't dare look.

Reese and Josiah staggered on our rear, arms hooked around Flynn's waist, dragging him as fast as his wounded leg would allow. The sound of his pained whimpers chased us down the street.

Shattering of stone crashed behind me, the orchestra of destruction lighting the night with brilliant explosions. Clenching my teeth, I drove the muscles of my legs to move faster. At football practice, I was used to sprinting long distances. Running a play and running for your life were completely different.

' B O O M '

The ear-splitting detonation lit up the dark in hazy orange fireworks. I covered my head to protect myself. The explosion was followed by a crashing of concrete behind me. Casting a glance over my shoulder, I turned just in time to see the roof of the Foundry collapse on itself in a fiery blaze of hellfire. The initial blast had set off a series of chain reactions streaming from the clinic to the whole downtown area, including the brewery, the surrounding buildings reduced to flaming piles of rubble. Billowing tendrils of smoke rose into the night sky. By morning, it would be a beacon visible for miles.

"Move it or lose it, pretty boy!" Reese barked, pulling me back to the present by shoving me forward.

The smell of smoke hung heavy in the air as our feet beat against the pavement. I didn't bother to check to see if anyone was following us. No one could have survived.

"Over there!" Josiah shouted.

Whitt and Wyatt veered down a narrow passageway while Reese and Josiah dragged Flynn, Josiah's shoulder scraping roughly against the wall as they muscled the wounded man through. Running a couple blocks, we finally came to a halt in front of an abandoned corner store. Chipped white paint with an unlit neon 'open' sign, the name above the door read 'Kepler's 24/7 Convenience'.

Whitt slumped against the sidewalk, groaning tiredly. Reese and Josiah carefully lowered a barely conscious Flynn to the ground. Tears dampened Reva's cheeks as she slugged the gun onto her back and threw herself into Flynn, his arms looping around her middle as she cried into his shoulder.