Brielle fully intended to stand up, ready to run out of there as fast as she could, but Caleb didn’t give her the chance. Instead, he scooped her into his arms, cradled her against his chest, and took off running. This time she could feel the rush of the wind at the speed of their movement, along with the flex and twist of his arm and chest muscles as she cuddled against him. He was so damn warm underneath his winter jacket that she couldn’t resist the urge to press her face against him and revel in the sensation.
Beside them, Forrest was carrying a barely conscious Misty. By the time they reached the elevator, Forrest, Jes, Genevieve, and Hudson were gasping for air while Caleb and the other werewolves might have been out for a stroll down the street.
The tension in the air was palpable as they waited for the elevator to arrive. Brielle almost had a panic attack right there in Caleb’s arms as she had a terrifying thought: What if the elevator wasn’t working now? What if the bad guys had disabled it?
But then the door slid silently open, and she sagged with relief. As soon as everyone was inside, Harley pushed the button multiple times, as if that would help make the thing go faster. Caleb could have put her down at any point, but he didn’t, and Brielle didn’t complain. She felt safer this way.
“How much time do we have?” she asked, wincing a little as her voice broke the silence that filled the elevator.
“Less than five minutes,” Sawyer said, not even bothering to look her way. Instead, he stood there staring straight ahead like everyone else, waiting for the damn elevator to get to ground level and the door to open.
Crap.
“Is that enough time for us to get to safety?” she asked.
Even if Caleb and the other werewolves could somehow carry all of them at once—which they couldn’t—Brielle couldn’t see how they’d make it to the vehicles they’d left just outside the edge of the village.
“We have to hope the warhead is far enough underground that the blast wave and fireball don’t wipe us out once we’re on the surface,” Genevieve said.
Double crap.
When the elevator doors finally opened, they all took off running, moving as fast as they could.
“Four minutes!” Sawyer called out as they burst outside.
Fresh snow was coming down, and more than one member of the STAT team slipped a little as they raced across the fenced-in area.
“Everyone in the back of the big truck!” Caleb shouted, pointing toward the dark-green military-looking vehicle with the uncovered cargo section.
While the ride in the back would be freezing, Brielle realized it was the only vehicle large enough to hold the whole team.
Everyone piled in the back as fast as they could while Caleb carried her around to the driver’s side door. Opening it with one hand, he pretty much tossed her inside. She bounced on the canvas-covered bench seat and slid all the way over to the far door.
Brielle barely had a chance to right herself before Caleb was ripping wires out from under the truck’s dashboard. He snapped some in half, stripping the ends bare with his teeth. She was about to ask if he knew what he was doing, but then the truck’s big engine rumbled to life. And he shouted out the window for everyone to hold on tight.
The partially open gate went down under the truck’s heavy front bumper and then the engine was roaring as Caleb pushed the vehicle to insane speeds on the snow-covered road.
“You might want to slow down before you kill us,” Brielle said, grabbing hold of the side of the bench seat and desperately searching for a seat belt that didn’t exist.
Caleb pushed the gas pedal down to the floor, the rear of the vehicle swerving violently to the right before straightening out and zooming down the rut-filled road through the center of the village. “Okay, I’ll slow down”—he glanced at her—“when you tell me you’re fine being toasted by a nuclear blast.”
Brielle didn’t have a comeback for that one, so she stared out the windshield—which she could barely see through, even with the wipers going, because the snow was coming down so heavily—and held on for dear life.
“Two minutes!” Sawyer called from the back of the truck.
They made it through the village, past the last farmhouse where they’d left their own vehicles, and started up the winding road leading out of the valley. Although road may have been something of an exaggeration. Trail was probably more accurate. Regardless, Caleb drove as fast as he could, the back wheels of the big truck spinning like crazy and kicking up long plumes of snow and ice. Every few seconds, they’d lose traction completely, the vehicle sliding toward the deep ditch along the side of the path. Brielle held her breath every time it happened. If they got stuck, it was over.
“Less than a minute!” Sawyer shouted. “You’re going to need to drive faster! We have to get out of the valley and over the top of the ridgeline or we won’t stand a chance!”
Caleb cursed but didn’t respond, too focused on keeping the truck centered on the slippery road. Brielle could tell from how hard he was gripping the wheel that he was as worried as everyone else.
“You’re going to get us out of here. I know it,” she told him, putting every ounce of faith and trust into those simple words.
They must have worked because Caleb took a deep breath of the freezing cold air, dropped the truck down to a lower gear, and forced it up the mountain even faster than before.
They were a hundred meters shy of the ridgeline crest when the ground rumbled under them. Eyes wide, Brielle chanced a quick look in the side mirror. Her heart froze when she saw a ten-foot-high wave of earth and snow chasing them up the valley slope.
“Faster, Caleb!” she said.
But it was too late. A second later, the back end of the big truck lifted up, and they were shoved forward like a ball batted by a child. Inertia slammed her back in the seat, and then Caleb was wrapping a big, strong arm around her, dragging her close to him and holding her tight.
The rear of the truck continued to rise, and they began to tip. Brielle feared for everyone in the back, praying they wouldn’t all end up crushed and broken. But Caleb fought the steering wheel, somehow maintaining control and keeping the front of the vehicle on the road.
The impact as the truck slammed back down shook every bone in her body, and Brielle felt her teeth clack together. They bounced several times as the vehicle slid in a slow sideways drift before finally slamming into a snowbank with a thud.
As they came to a full stop, the truck facing down the hill into what was left of the village, a blaze of white light filled the night sky, dazzling her sight. For one terrified moment, Brielle thought it was the nuclear fireball forming and that they were all seconds from death. But then the blaze of light coalesced into a beam of pure energy shooting straight toward the heavens, so intense it was hard to look at, its origin at the remains of the little building and the tower that still stood there.