“Don’t bring Camille into it, either. She’s done nothing wrong.”
“Then why are Onadyn vials sticking out of her dress pockets?” Cara demanded, no longer content to remain in the background.
The agent named Kitten stepped into my line of vision, at the corner of my eye. I could see that she was programming her gun and aiming at Erik.
Act now, Robins. You won’t have another opportunity.
Before I could talk myself out of it, I kicked up one leg and my boot banged into Phoenix’s wrist. The action startled her and knocked the gun out of her hand. With barely a pause, I spun and grabbed hold of Erik.
Everything that followed seemed to happen in slow motion, but I knew—logically, at least—that everything was moving quickly. I jerked Erik past the front door. His reflexes were stellar and he knew exactly what I wanted him to do without being told. He slammed the door closed.
Pop. Whiz.
Pop. Whiz.
Sizzle. Sizzle.
Agents fired, some using pyre-fire, some using bullets. The bullets created gouges and the fire melted bits of the metal.
“Run, Camille,” Erik shouted. I expected him to grab me and leap into a sprint. He didn’t. He walked backward, his gun now trained on the door as he waited for A.I.R. to break through. A knife rested in his other hand, like I’d suspected.
For the first time, I noticed that there weren’t any windows.
I remained in place. Behind me, I could hear footsteps and knew A.I.R. was closing in, blocking every possible avenue of escape. “They’re everywhere! We have to leave.” Panic rolled through me, thick and oppressive. Almost debilitating. Almost. “Now! Come on!”
“Damn it, Camille. Listen to me this time and run. Hide. If they take both of us, we’re lost. The cause is lost; Outers will die.”
“No.”
“Houses like this are made to withstand attack, but it won’t hold out much longer. You have to go. Now.”
“I can’t.” I shook my head. “I can’t leave you. I won’t.”
“Take the Onadyn and run, damn it.” He didn’t face me, but continued to face the door. Waiting…“I’m begging you! I’ve worked too hard for those kids to die now.”
Run.
Stay. Don’t be a coward. Help him!
No, you have to run. You have to save those kids.
Ohmygod, I couldn’t decide. Didn’t know what to do. I moved, stopped, moved, stopped. Unsure. So unsure. What a horrible decision to make—and not a lot of time to make it. Save the Outers or try and save Erik. If it were just me, I’d leave. Right now. No hesitation. But Erik…
“I’ll stay and hold them off and you take the drugs.” He’d do better at evading capture. And I, well, I’d survived A.I.R. once. I could do it again. And if I didn’t, I will have gone down with a fight.
“Camille.” My name was a curse, a prayer, an ache. “You know that won’t work. They’ll have you pinned in minutes and be after me immediately after. I can hold them off longer, giving you the needed time. Just go!”
“Erik. Please. I can’t leave you,” I whispered brokenly.
Growling low in his throat, he spun toward me and fired a shot at my feet. I jumped. Yellow beams sizzled at the ground where I’d stood. “Stop! What are you doing?”
“Go!”
Still I held firm. “You’ll be able to hide better and—”
“They might kill you this time, Camille. Now do you understand? I’d rather the Outers die than you. Understand?” He fired another shot, this one closer. “Go! Help them and stay low.”
“Erik.”
“Go!” Another shot.
I jumped away from it, never taking my gaze from him. An eternity passed while I gazed into his dark eyes. A mere second.
“Go.”
“Okay,” I said. Tears burned my eyes as I inched backward. They were different than any I’d shed before. They weren’t born of fear; they weren’t born of upset. They were born of hope and desperation. “Okay.” You’re leaving him? Coward!
No, not a coward. I was giving up something I loved to save others. Leaving him was the right choice—not the best, not something I wanted. It was tearing me up inside, but it would save those aliens. Still, the tears flowed freely down my cheeks.
Just then, the front door burst open, as did several of the windows in the upstairs rooms. Erik tore his focus from me and fired at the agents who were even now pounding their way inside. No, he wasn’t aiming at them, I realized, plastering myself against the wall, trembling, crying harder, because he didn’t really want to hurt or kill them. He was aiming toward them, trying to keep them back and buy the promised time.
More footsteps echoed behind me.
Using the shadows to my advantage, I scrambled toward the back of the house. Agents seemed to be everywhere, like flies, buzzing in every direction. They were black slashes of lethal power. Menacing death wielders.
How was I going to get out of here undetected?
A few seconds later, several of the agents spotted me and rushed for me. I remained in place, unsure what to do. Weapon…I had a weapon, right? I was just reaching into my boot, fingers curling around the hilt of a blade, when the first agent reached me. He backhanded me across the face and I cried out. I flew to the ground, knife forgotten, blood already trickling from my mouth.
Still in his line of sight, Erik witnessed the entire thing. He roared a loud, high-pitched, piercing animal sound. An amber beam erupted.
The guy who’d hit me fell to the ground beside me, a blackened hole sizzling in his chest. He didn’t move. Dead. He was dead. I glanced up, wide-eyed, to see Erik’s gun smoking. He’d killed him. For me. He hadn’t killed for himself, but he’d killed for me.
He fired at the others as they surged forward, forgetting me in their haste to stop Erik. When they reached him, they jumped on him, knocking him down, hitting and kicking him.
“No,” I screamed, shoving to my feet. No!
Boom!
An explosion rocked the entire house, throwing me onto my butt. Plumes of smoke wafted through the air, thicker than before. Rocks and timber rained. Erik, I suspected, had somehow created this distraction for me. I couldn’t leave, though. Not until I knew he was okay.
I once again pushed to shaky legs and glanced around, my eyes burning and watering. My nostrils stung. People were lying on the ground, moaning. Other were silent, unconscious or dead.
“Erik?” I coughed. “Erik?”