Tethered Souls (Tethered Twins Book 2)

Chapter Seven

I ducked out from the safety of the river's edge and out onto the street. I had initially planned a slow crawl between the cars but that was no longer an option if I wanted the vehicles to be there long enough to hide me. My only option now was to follow Chris and hope that I could keep up with his energetic pace.

He moved fluidly between the cars, keeping low and hiding his body between the remaining streams of vehicles but also maintaining a fast pace. Tom ran on ahead of me, chasing after Chris and trying his best to imitate every leap and movement of his mentor. Although I knew she was faster than me Grace ran behind, presumably to protect me.

The clashing of metal on metal continued and the air from the drones blew up dust and debris into the air. This was both a blessing and a curse. The clutter helped hide us from the soldiers on the bridge but made it hard to see what we were running towards. I could barely see more than two cars in front of me.

I lost sight of Chris and Tom when they leapt over a large 4x4 vehicle. By the time I'd reached the same vehicle they were nowhere to be seen. I looked around at the cars, trying to get my bearings. On my right I could make out the large bridge and further around I could see the reassuring structure of the clock tower.

The wind swirled around me clouding my vision, and the drones continued to make my ears useless, yet by pushing forwards I eventually made my way through the maelstrom and reached the security of a large brick wall.

"Portcullis House," mouthed Grace, her voice inaudible in the chaos. She showed me her GPS display, held up a single finger and mouthed, "One more thing."

Grace's GPS display changed to show a white circle with a red line through it. I recognised it from history lessons as the London Underground symbol and Grace confirmed that was where we would be heading.

The wind forced us to press our backs up against the wall of the building. With our movement restricted we used our arms to drag ourselves along and towards the edge of Portcullis House.

I looked around the corner with the force from the drones threatening to tear the head from my body and saw that they had not yet reached the road ahead. We still had several hundred yards to go completely exposed. The only glimmer of hope was the London Underground sign and steps descending down to a momentary safe haven.

Looking back at Grace she gave me a reassuring thumbs up and I moved around the corner. As I escaped from the path of the drones my body was pushed forward into a run by the escape of air. It propelled me forwards and gave me no option but to dash for the stairs. My eyes snaked left and right trying to quickly take in as much of the road as I could. Hoping that we'd found a moment without soldiers on patrol.

The London Underground sign passed over my head as I darted down the steps. As I reached a larger step I placed my hands on my knees and gasped for air. I turned around to see Grace reach the top of the stairwell, just in time to hear the thunder of a gunshot as it pierced through the air. Her body tumbled down the steps towards me.