novelraw Chapter 76: Defost The Steak Yourself
Chapter 76: Defost The Steak Yourself
The tires of the Hummer rolled to a stop just past the cabin’s winding dirt path. Sera didn’t even bother to look up before she felt the creature inside of her tearing at her... trying to get out.
She could feel them. Strangers in her territory. Strangers that weren’t hers and thus needed to die.
There were dozens of people. Moving. Breathing. Staring.
The front clearing outside the cabin was crawling with military personnel. Men and women in combat fatigues stood in loose clumps, rifles slung, hands twitching near holsters. There were at least three transport trucks pulled off the road. One had its engine still running, the low purr loud in the otherwise silent air.
One soldier was mid-step toward the porch before he stop abruptly at the sight of the Hummer.
Another pointed. Several more turned.
Lachlan cursed low under his breath while Zubair said nothing.
Sera slowly turned to look between them, Oogie Boogie still balanced on her lap.
"Nope," she said flatly, opening the door. "Not doing this."
"Sera—" Lachlan tried his eyes widening as he looked over his shoulder at the woman in the back seat. "You knew they were coming."
She swung her legs out of the vehicle and stood, face unreadable.
"You wanted them here," she said, looking straight at Zubair. "You deal with them. The resource center is about thirty minutes east, if you take the road and don’t get cute about shortcuts."
From behind her, Alexei leaned out of the truck. "Wait—what about my steak?"
"I’ll leave it defrosting on the counter," she called back, already striding toward the front door. "I’m going to bed. Don’t bother me."
The soldiers stared for a moment before they started to whisper.
A woman with a sergeant’s pin took a half-step forward, hand raised like she was about to say something or stop Sera from going into her own home.
The creature lunged forward, the image of biting the woman’s head off and eating her brain was so visceral that Sera had to come to a stop, worried that she was actually eating her brain. When she realized that it was just the creature showing her what she wanted, Sera continued forward.
She unlocked the front door with a twist, stepped inside, and closed it just as softly behind her.
The noise outside didn’t follow her in.
The silence did.
Lachlan was right behind her, closing the door again and leaning his weight against it with a sigh.
Sera didn’t pause to look at him, only went to the freezer and grabbed the first steak that she could find and tossed it on the counter. "I need a bit of time," she murmured, walking deeper into the warm interior once she had fulfilled her promise with Alexei. "And hopefully a good night’s sleep."
Oogie Boogie was still in her arms, and the weight of it was enough to ground her... even just a little bit.
"I’ll deal with the uniforms," Lachlan said softly, reaching out to touch her.
She nodded, her back to him as he rested his hand on her lower back. "I’ll see you in the morning."
Squeezing Oogie Boogie again, she rested her cheek on his head as she cradled him in her arms as she walked into her room and closed the door.
The windows were dark.
The bed was waiting.
But she didn’t sleep.
Not yet.
She placed Oogie Boogie carefully on the center of her mattress, his weird stitched smile crooked in the dim lamplight. He stared up at her with button eyes and unearned peace.
Sera crossed to her closet and pulled out a black canvas backpack.
No wasted movements. No hesitation.
She added two mini propane torches, three spare canisters, her waterproof lighter, and the metal striker. Then a coil of fireproof gloves, duct tape, a small folding blade, and a bag of dog kibble—not for her, but to keep animals away if she needed to bait them.
She zipped the pack halfway closed.
Then paused.
Her ears tilted—just barely.
Voices still murmured outside, but far enough away now. Lachlan was talking to them, likely charming or intimidating the crowd in equal measure. Zubair would be silent. Elias would observe. Alexei... probably sharpening knives and quoting movies.
She crouched low by the window.
No noise outside of her window and there were no lights nearby.
Still. She didn’t want to take the chance of someone seeing her.
She slid it open with practiced ease and slipped through the gap, landing silently on the mulch outside.
She didn’t run.
Didn’t even breathe hard.
She crouched and crept toward the trees, each footstep placed with care, her weight shifting low and evenly.
The forest was cool but not frozen. The first floor window emptied out onto a shallow slope, giving her direct access to the thicker pines without needing to cross the clearing.
She jumped, caught a low branch, and climbed up and fast.
The trees were familiar. She’d chosen this cabin for that very reason. You could vanish in under thirty seconds if you knew the right path.
From above, she could see the trucks. The soldiers. The flicker of flashlights near the road as the men started to load up the vehicles again.
No one noticed her, and that was just the way that she liked it.
If no one noticed, then no one could follow. And what was to come next was just for her, and her alone.
By the time her boots touched ground again, she was well past the outer ring of sightlines.
And when she stood, her eyes glinted just once, faintly silver in the dark.
The casino tower was almost seven miles away. Back through City H’s outer districts. Back through cracked pavement, crumbling buildings, and the faint copper tang of bodies left too long in the cold.
But Sera wasn’t tired.
Not now.
The creature inside her was already awake. Thrumming. Ready for what would come next.
Heat kills. Fire cleanses. Steel is too soft.
And tonight, she had a purpose.
She adjusted the straps on her backpack and picked up her pace, slipping like a shadow through the trees.
The cold wind cut past her.
But she didn’t slow down until she managed to get to her destination.