Chapter One
I'd suggested we tie Christian to a pole and leave him behind. Quick, painless, efficient. Of course Lissa had made me swear to bring him alone—an arrangement neither of us were particularly happy about, but when you had nine days to live you made the most of what you had. Of course, there wasn't much to make of Christian Ozera. He was creepy and broody in a totally-not-hot way.
Lissa had some sort of immunity. She was a distant relative of the President's and her family was a sort of royalty in America, powerful and rich. They'd flown in a helicopter and dragged her away from the academy, kicking and screaming for Christian and I. But the pilot had been under specific orders: to retrieve Lissa to her family for the last days on Earth. Tag-alongs were strictly prohibited. Since then Christian had been especially broody, more than usual. It was becoming unbearable.
"Oh, lighten up for a while, would you?" I snapped.
"I'm sorry if I don't find this whole 'Armageddon' situation as amusing as you seem too." He frowned.
"Give it a rest. We're not going to die." I lied lightly to cover the fact that, well, we would indeed die. And soon. And it hurt.
"Oh, suddenly you're a survivalist?" he asked sourly.
"Nah, I'm just an optimist, now do you have the keys or not?" I said.
He fished them out of his pocket. We'd spent the last hour surveying the Academy looking for them, the keys to the only car left. We were running a little late. The rest of the students and faculty had left almost as soon as the news of the government's last-ditch attempts to stop Meteor Matilda had failed, spread. We'd waited around with Lissa, thinking they'd give us a ride to her house as well. Turns out, you had to be rich or a Dragomir to enjoy her family's last supper together. They'd left Christian and I to die alone. I scowled, thinking of the brutality of it as anger uncoiled in my stomach.
Lissa, of course, had called my cell half a dozen times since then. She'd begged for forgiveness over her father's brutality even after I'd assured her it wasn't her fault. She given me directions to her house, all the way across the country, and begged me to come, and to bring Christian. And of course I would, because I had nowhere else to go, and nine days to live.
"I'm driving," I finally said, snapping myself out of my brood. I snatched the keys out of his hand and started the engine, revving it and driving away, top speed.
"Hey!" Christian yelled, running after me. He was slowly and satisfyingly disappearing further in my rear-view mirror with every second. "Lissa wants me alive! You swore!" He screeched, waving his arms like the madman I was sure he was.
I considered for a moment and then slowed the car to running pace. I'd always been wary of Christian, and Lissa's unfailing attraction to him never ceased to baffle me. But he was good for Lissa, even I had to admit that. And it would ruin her if he wasn't returned to her alive, to see one last time before Matilda killed us all. It was obvious he wouldn't make it alone. Although I hadn't seen it yet, the world was supposedly turning into chaos out there, and Christian was the sort of broody rich-kid that would definitely be trampled. I sighed. Of course I'd been charged with protecting the shrimp.
In the end the decision was made for me. Christian had caught up and launched himself in the passenger side. I was slightly impressed with his stamina, not that I would ever let him know that. I levelled a scowl on him and continued driving the beat-up old truck.
"Thanks," he breathed.
"For Lissa," I countered tersely. Though, in truth, I didn't mind Christian all that much. His parents had both killed themselves when he was young, and that sort of explained the creepy vibes I got around him. I supposed I could tolerate him, at the very least, for Lissa. She really did love him. And he loved her in his own creep-tastic way.
He sighed. "I hope she's okay."
"Of course she's okay, Christian. They flew her out in a bloody helicopter, remember? Or were you stoned that day?" I snapped, to hide the fact that he was echoing my own thoughts.
He rolled his eyes. "I do not get stoned."
"Sure, sure," I mumbled in response, returning my energies to the annoying clutch. Lissa really was my only family. My mother had shipped me off to the prestigious Academy as soon as I could talk, and I didn't even know who my father was. The Academy had become my home, and Lissa my only family. Underneath my bravado, it was scary. If I didn't make it to the bunker, I would die alone. It wasn't the dying that had me worried, though. More the alone part. To die alone seemed the most tragic fate possible. I needed to get to Lissa. I would do anything humanly possible to get to Lissa. She needed me, and I needed her.
Suddenly the car spluttered and stalled.
"Learn how to drive," Christian muttered.
I frowned, peering down at the speedometer as I tried to restart the car. A blinking light flashed back up at me. The fuel sign. The. Fuel. Sign. I breathed in deeply and blew it out slowly. I counted to ten. I counted backwards from ten. It didn't work. The fury in my stomach boiled over.
"You didn't check the fuel?!" I screeched at Christian, who had gone an even paler shade of white than usual.
He gulped. "I didn't think to! You didn't check it either!"
"It was your job to organise the car!" I shouted back.
"I-I, I'm sorry! There's fuel back at the Academy, I'm sure!" he stammered.
"A lot of good it'll do us over there! We're fifty miles from there! You absolute blithering id-"
"Whoa," he interrupted me. "Fifty miles? How fast were you driving?"
"That's what you're concerned about? How about you worry about the fact that I'm going to kick your ass!"
He gulped, tightening his hold on the door handle. "Lissa wouldn't like that, Rose," he said weakly.
I gritted my teeth. Hiding behind Lissa. Typical. I jumped out of the car, slamming the door behind me and went to sit on the bonnet. I curled my knees up to my chest and hugged them tight, breathing in shaky breaths. I raked my hands through my hair and sang softly for a while, desperately trying to ignore the inevitable. But I couldn't hold it in much longer. I couldn't joke about it, or be sarcastic, or even angry. I just sobbed into my knees. I was going to die. Lissa was going to die. We were all going to die. And there was nothing I could do about it. My whole body shook and tears dripped off my chin.
I cried for a long time before Christian got out of the car and pulled me off the bonnet. I let him hold my hand for a while, and he swivelled me back toward the road so I was facing it.
"Come on," he said. "Let's get going."
And he was right. Now was not the time to be weak, it was not the time to cry. It was the time to take action. And if I was going to go out, I was going to go out Rose Hathaway style. But I would get to Lissa first.
I looked at the road, which seemed endless, sprawling out in front of me. I released Christian's hand and I began to walk. Because if I broke both my legs, I would crawl. If I broke my arms, too, I would slither. I would fight to the end, and nothing would stop me.
AN: Hey guys! What do you think? It's a bit rusty, I know. I haven't really written in a while. But I'd love some feedback! It'd be great if you took just a few seconds to review (: Thanks so much for reading! Hopefully, if I get enough feedback, I'll continue it, and we might even meet Dimka ;)
Have a lovely day (: