novelraw Chapter 344: Let Me Eat
Chapter 344: Let Me Eat
"Flash wall," Alexei answered Lachlan, never taking his eyes from the window beside him. "Blind the driver, force a stop."
"Then we don’t stop," Zubair replied.
The Saint with the detonator lifted it high, shouting something through the heat shimmer. Sera leaned forward, eyes narrowing, reading his mouth. Out. Hands. Truck’s ours.
She rolled the window down, letting the dry air slap through the cabin.
Leaning just far enough for the man to see her face, she tilted her head slightly, like she was curious rather than afraid. The man grinned, pleased to have her attention, and pressed the trigger.
A wall of white heat erupted across the road as the flares ignited.
The two men on the truck bed hauled on their chains, dragging a line of spike mats into place behind the fire. The detonator man stood his ground, grinning wider as if the light belonged to him.
"Lachlan," Zubair said evenly.
Lachlan raised his hand toward the road and snapped his fingers once.
The air cracked, a sharp metallic pulse that lifted the flare heat just enough to tear a seam through it. The wall bent, flames flickering sideways, and the gap cleared long enough for them to push through.
"Go," Lachlan said, his tone flat again.
Zubair hit the accelerator.
The Hummer tore through the flares, kicking metal casings across the road.
Heat blasted through the vents, warping the paint across the hood. The spike mat slid against the front bumper but failed to catch.
On top of the truck, one of the Saints stumbled backward into the gap between the bed and the frame. The other dropped his chain and crawled out of view. The man with the detonator drew his pistol and fired twice, both rounds going high.
Alexei leaned out his window and fired once. The pistol flew from the man’s hand. He went to his knees, clutching his wrist, mouth open but silent in the roar of their engine.
"Keep moving," Zubair ordered.
The village disappeared behind them.
The road stretched ahead in a flat ribbon through dead farmland, irrigation arms scattered across the dust. Heat shimmered off the surface.
The two bikes still following were distant dots now, and the flatbed would never make it through the burn. The Saints’ comms would be chaos.
Sera rolled her window up again, the faint scent of burned powder following her gesture. Her face was flushed but calm, her eyes bright in the half-light.
"Fuel at thirty-six percent," Elias reported, glancing at the dashboard.
"We’ll stop when we are no longer in their territory," Zubair replied.
"They’ll chase harder now," Alexei advised, his voice low.
"Let them."
Lachlan grinned faintly at the windshield. "Next gate in ten, maybe twelve minutes. Bet?"
"No bet."
Luci shifted forward onto the console, his weight balanced and silent, gaze locked ahead.
The road began to climb. At the crest, movement broke the heat shimmer—three dirt bikes cutting in from the east and a black SUV parked crosswise beyond them with its hood open.
A Saint stood beside it, helmet off, hair plastered to his scalp, shotgun in one hand, radio in the other.
Zubair’s grip tightened on the wheel. "Hold on."
The creature beneath his ribs stirred, eager and bright. It liked speed, sound, and ruin, but Zubair refused to let it take control. Control was the only thing that still felt like his.
Sera leaned forward, her eyes narrowing.
The Saint barked into his radio and engines screamed.
Zubair picked his line and went for it.
The Hummer lunged, its tires grinding into hard ruts.
The road narrowed, bordered by broken fencing and the remains of irrigation lines half-buried in dust. A wall of heat rippled between them and the black SUV ahead.
The Saint with the shotgun raised his weapon. His forearm was scarred, the skin pulled tight where burns had healed badly.
His jaw worked as he steadied his aim. He wasn’t posturing. He was measuring distance.
Lachlan flexed his fingers once on his knee, grin forming slow. He looked at Zubair, not for permission—just timing.
"Hold," Zubair told him quietly.
He didn’t mean stop. He meant steady. No panic, no flare of power that might draw eyes before the right second.
The creature stirred beneath his ribs, voice curling up from bone and blood. Let me steer.
No.
You’re wasting time. They’ll close the circle before you break the line.
They won’t.
The sound wasn’t sound at all—just thought given shape, hot and patient. It didn’t argue again, only hummed, waiting for the moment to be proven right.
The three dirt bikes fanned wide across the road, engines screaming in unison as they tightened their half-circle.
The black SUV beyond them idled crooked in the lane, its hood steaming, the man beside it calm, one hand resting on the open door, the other on a radio. He was the kind who liked to watch before deciding who lived.
The shotgun fired first.
The pellets hit low, scouring the grille and punching through the radiator mesh. Steam burst outward in a pale hiss, ghosting across the windshield before the airflow peeled it away.
"Front damage, but she’s breathing," Elias muttered, eyes on the gauge.
"Keep going," Zubair ordered.
Alexei leaned forward, assessing. "Driver’s tire’s missing a piece of tread. Still holds."
"Then it holds," Zubair replied, threading between two ridges of hardened earth. The Hummer jolted once, steadied again.
Another blast came, closer. The right-side mirror exploded, shards of glass flying inward. Heat pressed through the cabin.
Lachlan’s grin widened even as his eyes narrowed. "That’s rude." He lifted his hand and snapped his fingers.
The sound barely carried, but the air rippled—an invisible push that distorted everything within a few feet of the muzzle.
The Saint’s weapon kicked too soon. His body absorbed the recoil wrong, shoulders twisting. The next shot went wild, chewing at the ground.
"Nice," Alexei murmured, adjusting his sightline toward the bikes.
"Little wake-up call," Lachlan replied. "Keeps ’em honest."
Zubair didn’t glance back. His pulse was steady, though the creature whispered against the inside of his skull—
Too careful. Let me run. Let me eat.
We’re not eating today.
Then we starve.