The Majors, Cold Fury (Book 2)

Chapter 10: Scott POV

"And everything's expired and frozen." I sighed as I went through the cabinets. I grabbed an apple from the fridge and knocked on its frigid skin.

"Well of course, it's been 5 months..." Erin said. "You had like nothing canned..."

"Yeah, well I didn't expect to come back." I snapped back. "And I didn't bring any food from the cave because I didn't expect everything to have gone bad."

Erin bit her thumbnail. "I had a stash of canned food in my old house. In the basement. For emergencies. It is a year old but..."

"What kind of emergencies?" I asked suspiciously.

"I may or may not have committed more than one murder before I left the Grimlands...I didn't know if they'd find out and come for me..." she said with a nervous laugh.

"You really, really scare me sometimes." I said.

"That's the goal." She smirked. "I can go get some stuff from there. You work on making this place, eh... livable again."

And she walked out of the kitchen. I didn't feel like cleaning, so I entered the living room for the first time since September. What startled me was how used it seemed. There was another message attached to the fireplace by a throwing knife, stuck into the bricks' grooves.

And in Fwhip's handwriting it read:

Scott,

If you're reading this, you probably know by now you're an outlaw and I have taken over your precious kingdom. I suggest you turn yourself in. And if you decide to hide out anywhere, I don't suggest Erin's old shack.

-Fwhip

Erin. The shack. That's where she was going. I knew Fwhip hadn't stopped at his embassy. I needed to warn her. I sprinted out the doors, but she was already gone.

So, I started to fly to her old house. She was so much faster than I was, I knew I'd never make it before her...but I had to try.

I saw a black dot in the distance. It might be her. I shouted for her to slow down, I even shouted her real name, Phoenix. No response. I was too far away.

Soon, the house came into sight. The figure in the distance dove for it and landed near the front door. Now I could definitely see it was Erin.

"ERIN STOP!" I shouted but, too late. She had opened the door. A horrible noise shrieked through the air, and I covered my ears as I tumbled toward the ground, trying to block it out. That horrible noise was gas leaking. And it lit. Within a second, the entire building exploded.

I was blasted backwards from the air. And I was still a few hundred feet from the explosion sight. Erin got the full blast of it.

I fell through the branches of a pine tree. My cloak got tangled and by the time I stopped, I was covered in scratches and my clothes were torn.

I ripped my cloak off and fell an extra 10 feet to the ground before I managed to scramble up. Fire. Everything was on fire. A plume of smoke was rising from the explosion sight. Debris was everywhere from the building.

I coughed from the smoke and staggered to my feet. I was already drenched in sweat from my plunge and from the fire. I wiped the blood dripping from my ear as I tried to think in all the heat. Erin. Where was Erin?