“It sucks.” Rhage made another set of bug eyes, even as he kept his voice casual. “And we still have the Februaries to get through.”
Just let it go, Tohr sent back.
“When was the last time we watchedFrozen.” Rhage resettled with a grunt. “Over a decade, right? Maybe longer. I think we all need a re-screen.”
“If anybody starts singing,” V said, “I will open this door and jump the fuck out.”
“Don’t tempt me with a good time,” came the rebound.
“Okay, okay.” Tohr felt like escaping himself, and you know what? Sometimes, it sucked to be the only levelheaded one. “We’re almost there.”
The hell they were. Still, distancewasbeing made, and sooner or later—fine, definitelylater—they’d get out of this vehicle, and maybe seeing some civilians would help. Or nah, probably not. That’d likely make the vibe worse. And then there was always the wild card of the war and theglymera, which never, ever came up with good news.
Who the fuck knew what was going to happen next.
“Watch out!” Wrath barked as he shot down and grabbed his dog’s halter.
Tohr retwisted toward the front windshield— “Take cover!”
The municipal plow was as big as the whole horizon, orange as a Cheetos, and as immobile as a rock face.
He only had the briefest glimpse of its evil-eyed red brake lights and its towering height before his forearms jacked up over his face and wrapped around his head. Just as he locked onto his skull, the impact exploded throughout the SUV, his airbag bursting free, his seat belt carving into his chest, his lungs inflating with powder and gas. His own forearm punched him in the nose as he was pelted with shattered safety glass, and then weapons from that open duffel bag went airborne in the cockpit, all kinds of gunmetal taking flight and shooting forward like bats flushed from a cave.
After that…silence.
No, not total quiet. Weaving through the gusts of the snowstorm entering the cockpit, there was a hissing as the bags deflated, and the engine got its death rattle on—not that Tohr could really track any of it.
His head was ringing, and clearly he was stroking out. Why else would he be tasting salt?
Also, blood. He tasted his own blood. Smelled the blood of another—Vishous?
Just before his eyes rolled back, he dropped his arms and got a quick shot of the black protrusion that was somehow half into the Suburban’s cockpit.
Then he lost consciousness.
Back at the Wheel, Beth sank the nonstick pan she’d used into a basin full of suds, and then she went for her mate’s plate. The thing was full of eggs and bacon, and she eyed George’s bowl. Maybe she’d save it for her dog—
Wrath’sdog.
Stretching some tin foil over the meal that hadn’t been touched, she put the rejected breakfast into the refrigerator and then leaned back against the thing. As a replay of the most current round of going-nowhere between her and Wrath banged through her brain, the water bowl on George’s eating mat caught her attention. She was fussy about making sure that what was in there was super clean—she couldn’t bear the thought of him lapping up all kinds of bacteria, even if it was his own.
As she went across, she wondered how many times she’d done this since she’d moved in here. Jesus…had to be in the thousands? And never once had she felt like a maid.
She did now.
Back over at the sink, she emptied his bowl, rinsed it out, and filled the thing up again. Returning to where he ate, she kneeled down and looked things over like she was an inspector from the health department. Maybe she needed to take a rag to the mat?There wasn’t any debris or even water droplets, but it couldn’t hurt to…
“Really. This is what you’re reduced to.”
A month ago, she was running the species. Now, she was a dog butler. And she didn’t even have the dog anymore. George’s master was back so she was chopped liver—
The knock on the door was just the kind of interruption she needed.
It was probably Fritz, summoned by her merely entertaining the thought that she was about to fill a bucket with some soap and water.
It certainly wasn’t going to be Wrath. He’d taken the dog so he had everything he needed. And anything else could be found at the Audience House.
Assuming that was where he ended up.
