Anywhere But Here (The Starborn Ascension) Read Free Page A

dumpster and take aim as Scarecrow and his men find cover behind the doors of their vehicles.  
    The bullets slam into the sides of the dumpster and car louder than if they were sledgehammers. I drop the hatchet and cover my ears. My eyes are magnetized to Lucas’ body on the ground and I can’t look away. The bullet hole in his forehead drools blood and I know it is my fault. I could have done something. I saw that this was going to happen.
    For a moment, the firing ceases. We can hear the hurried voices of the raiders, but can’t understand a word they are saying. All of them start to scamper back into their vehicles. Each of us stands and looks over our cover to see them all in a rush. I hear one of them yell out something about greyskins.  
    Gilbert must have heard it too because he slams his fist against the car and swears loudly. “First the raiders, and now greyskins.”
    “They must have been drawn in by the gunshots,” Ethan answers.
    “Well, we’re not going to be running away on foot,” Gilbert says. He leans onto the trunk of the car and takes aim at one of the SUVs riding away. The first shot takes out the back window. I duck for cover as one of the raiders turns around and fires at us through the shards of broken glass. I know Gilbert’s next shot is true when I see the driver’s head split open. Blood covers the windshield and the SUV comes to a slow stop as the remaining raider tries to shove the dead driver out the door to take his spot. “Ethan,” Gilbert yells. “Follow me.”
    Ethan doesn’t argue as he carries the rifle and follows closely behind Gilbert. The raider is struggling to get the driver out of the seat and take off. He fires a few random rounds at the two guys, but they don’t even come close to the mark. Gilbert and Ethan raise their guns and fire almost everything they have into the front cab until the man is lifeless.  
    Gilbert yells for me to follow them and get into the SUV. I can hear the grunts of the greyskins getting louder. Soon they will be filling the streets, eating whatever fresh blood they can get to. My knees are planted firmly on the ground as I kneel in front of Lucas’ body. Tears mixed with blood stream down my face and I’m not certain I have the strength to follow the others.  
    I hear them call out my name. I can hear the greyskins closing in around us. The hissing, the lust for flesh, the smell of death. Lucas had promised me that we would survive this catastrophe together. He told me that we would be a couple of the few that made it to their old age, and that someone would someday make a cure for this disease that plagued mankind. He promised that I would survive and that he would be by my side the entire way.  
    Lucas has broken his promises.  
    As the others call out my name, I can’t help but wonder if I should go along with Lucas. What would be the point in living without him? He was all that I had left. My family and all my friends from before the time of the greyskins are gone. What’s the point of living? Is there any purpose in merely existing in this rotten world?  
    I feel like the infected, once-human greyskins are on top of me. When a pair of hands grab my shoulders, I expect a set of teeth to sink into my neck and end my life where I sit.  
    But when I turn my head, it’s Ethan.  
    “Waverly!” he says. “I know what he meant to you, but we’ve got to go now!”
    “I can’t leave him,” I say. “I could have saved him. I knew this was going to happen!”
    “Waverly! Come on!”
    Despite my resistance, Ethan reaches down and pulls my legs off the dirt, and carries me toward the SUV. Gilbert revs the engine, warning us to get in the vehicle or get eaten. The greyskins are closing in.
    I should have saved Lucas. The warning was there. I saw his future.
    Ethan shoves me into the back seat and yells for Gilbert to drive. If we had been seconds later, the greyskins would have torn us apart. I look out the back of the