Trapped Read Free Page B

question him further.
    Steven headed for the driver’s seat, then started up the vehicle.
    * * *
    Serena had no concept of how much time had gone past, but she soon felt the vehicle slow down, then come to a stop.
    “We’re gonna stop for a bit,” Steven said needlessly.
    Serena immediately got worried although she couldn’t pinpoint why.
    “I have to rest,” he continued. “I have to make sure I don’t kill us by driving recklessly exhausted; I haven’t slept in days.”
    Serena relaxed. Of course.
    She thought about what she’d heard about people driving sleepy being as dangerous as—or even worse—than driving drunk.
    She realized it was an opportunity for her as well.
    “It’ll be so nice to sleep with both eyes closed for once,” she said jokingly, then she examined the interior of the vehicle. “This thing’s pretty solid right?”
    She heard him laugh.
    “Yeah. I’d say it’s pretty damned solid.”
    “Okay, good. Are you going to sleep up there in the driver’s seat?”
    He took a moment before answering. “I probably should.”
    Serena wasn’t sure what to make of his response. “Anyway, there’s still space back here—more space than up there, anyway. You’ll get to stretch out a bit and get a better night—or day’s rest, and we’ve got a long drive ahead. What’s top speed on these things anyway?”
    Again he paused before answering.
    “Forty,” he said, and something nibbled at her gut but she had no clue what it was.
    “Still shouldn’t take us more than a day or so to get there, right? It’s, what, about a seven or eight-hour drive under normal circumstances?”
    She was guessing—she knew it took her about five hours to get to Vegas from San Diego. Where she figured they were headed was north of Vegas, but she wasn’t sure how far.
    “Right,” he said. “We’ll have to make more than one stop though. For various reasons. And it’s more dangerous to stop at night.”
    “Why?”
    It seemed he let out a breath. “They become more and more dangerous if you don’t get them in the first few days of turning—they get smarter as they make it through each night. They’re super-slow in the daytime—sitting ducks, really. Lumbering. Stupid. The sunlight—UV rays in particular—really does them in. If they make it through their first night, they become smart enough to know they should hide during the day, as much as they can—as much as they can stand it. So even if you’re not seeing any, it doesn’t mean they’re not peeking through some crevice, stalking you, watching you. They get reinvigorated as night approaches, then they’re quick as hell throughout it—they pounce like panthers. And every night they live through, they get smarter and smarter, and could theoretically return to their previous intelligence level. So obviously, you can’t go out there at night—or even the daytime unless I’m with you, escorting you. You could probably take one out if you had to in the day, but you can’t even get scratched by one; the virus isn’t like the cold virus—it’s not airborne, thankfully. But once the surface is scratched and it gets under your skin, you’re finished. So I have to have my eyes on you at all times outside of this vehicle, Serena, at all times .”
    Serena shrugged the last part off. How often would she need to leave the APC?
    “Anyway, I’ll take you up on that offer—I’m coming back there to sleep,” he said.
    Suddenly, Serena felt on edge again, and she decided it was time to examine why she was bothered. She realized she needed to acknowledge Steven’s effect on her since they’d be spending some time together alone.
    She hadn’t been blind; she was aware he’d been attracted to her for a while, had caught him looking at her with an expression she recognized immediately when she saw it pop up almost out of nowhere one day while she and her husband were out with him at a dive bar: a look of unmasked desire that woke something in