I snorted in protest. “I am not delicate!”
He chuckled. “You are. In the way you look, talk, and move. I like it.”
Mollified, I nuzzled against his shoulder, and we sat in silence like that for a few moments, gazing across the sparkling water and enjoying the sunshine.
I was about to ask John if he’d swim with me again when I felt him tense next to me, suddenly on alert. When I raised my head to look at him, he was frowning, clearly listening carefully.
“What—” I began, but he put a finger to his lips, and I fell silent.
It had gotten oddly quiet. No bird calls, no rustling leaves. There was only the soft whistle of a light breeze that somehow felt ominous. John looked over his shoulder towards the dirt road that led out to the old highway. A faint mechanical whine hummed in the distance. Though I couldn’t precisely identify it, I knew I’d heard it before. My heart started pounding.
“We’re not alone,” John said. “Stay quiet and follow me.”
He spoke rapidly in that low, authoritative tone that told me he’d switched into survival mode. Something was deeply wrong.
We grabbed our bags and weapons. I followed John to the rocky wall of boulders he’d gestured to. Beyond them, the terrain dipped into a shallow, mostly concealed gulley. He led me into the ditch, and we crouched behind the boulders.
“Take out the rabbit gun,” John instructed as he laid his rifle across his lap. “Be ready.”
The whine grew louder, and I suddenly understood that it was a combustion engine. The kind that only military vehicles at the Cave had used. My heart thumped clumsily against my ribs. My only thought was that it had to be the cult. No one else would’ve had access. And they were here for me.
John’s expression was grim and focused as multiple vehicles approached. The engine sounds died some distance away, and vehicle doors opened and banged shut. My hands were clammy around the rabbit gun.
“You’re sure the signal came from here?” a man’s voice said skeptically. “We’re in the middle of buttfuck nowhere, Sergeant.”
“Yes,” another man insisted. “The tracker says Ainley’s within 500 metres of here. She only just popped up again a couple days ago. We verified with IT that it’s working properly. So, either she ripped it out—unlikely—or she’s here somewhere.”
Panic flooded my senses. Somehow, they’d tracked me again. We were hidden, but not for long.
“They have rifles, and some are armoured,” John muttered. “Shit.”
“They’re going to find me,” I whispered.
Already, more voices joined the previous two. By my count, there were at least five of them out there, searching for me. One look at John told me that he knew it too: we were vastly outnumbered and outgunned. His jaw tightened, and I could almost see the wheels spinning in his head.
“Run,” John said in a low voice.
“What?” I shot back. “No!”
“Yes,” he replied, his expression hardened. “Crawl along the gulley until you reach the edge of the woods. I’ll buy you time to get there. The forest will give you cover. Then you run like hell, you understand?”
He fished in the pocket of his pants, produced his compass, and pressed it into my hand.
“Follow it northwest back home.”
“I can’t leave you,” I whispered, my throat constricting.
“I’ll be fine. Send outriders back.”
To clean up what’s left of you?Tears welled in my eyes as John pulled me close and kissed my lips, equal parts tender and desperate. The truth it contained tore me open: it was a goodbye kiss.
“I love you,” he murmured. He wrapped a hand around the back of my head and brought my forehead to his lips, pressing a quick, hard kiss there. “Go.”
For a half-second, I was frozen, my pulse pounding in my ears.
A million images of John came into my mind all at once. The first time I saw him, up on that rooftop at the abandoned factory. My first fishing lesson and his pride when I caught one. His stunned expression the first time I kissed him. His sweet, uninhibited laughter when he was messing around with Kimmy or Danny. His sleepy, satisfied smile as he held me after we made love. The tears he shed at his grandparents’ grave. The way he looked at me at our wedding, just days ago, as if I was the most precious thing in his entire world.
As I watched him shift into a more comfortable shooting position, my stomach flipped. They didn’t want him—only me.
