“How long before we meet Claire?”
“I don’t know when they left. I’m assuming right away. Considering the time of the call and how fast Claire drives, I would say less than an hour. Maybe half that.”
I nodded quickly, trying to make myself feel better. “Thirty minutes. We can hold on for thirty minutes. What could they possible throw at us that we couldn’t handle for that long?”
Jared didn’t speak for a solid minute while he studied the road ahead. When he finally focused on a tiny dot in the distance, his face fell, and his breath caught. “Oh, my God.”
I knew my human eyes wouldn’t have been able to make out the dark blur several miles ahead, but Bean gave me focus I might not otherwise have had. The long, dark blots on the road, dancing against the heat off the asphalt, barreled toward us.
It wasn’t until I tried to form a sentence that I realized my mouth was gaping open. “What do we do?”
Jared released my hand and reached under the seat. He offered me an extra handgun, and then put both hands on the wheel.
A caravan of Army vehicles, a Humvee, three Jeeps, and a large supply truck moved toward us at full speed. The back of the truck reminded me of a covered wagon, only one covered with camouflaged tarp.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” I said, breathless.
“They’re probably on their way to Fort Story,” Jared said.
“I don’t care where they’re going. This is why things have been so quiet, Jared. Hell knew about that caravan and planned to shell them the second they crossed our path. You have to leave the road.”
“They’ll just follow.”
I sighed in frustration, and then looked down at my watch. “Maybe they aren’t armed.”
“That FMTV transport has an armored cab. It could obliterate the Tundra if I let it get close enough.”
I turned to him and tried a nervous smile. “Please don’t.”
Jared returned my smile, and then nodded, gripping the wheel. He pressed on the gas. I wasn’t sure what he had decided, but he had a plan. It was possible that the drivers of those trucks wouldn’t shell at all. We could pass them without a problem like we had the previous ten or so vehicles. That, of course, was just empty hope. I could feel a strange burning deep inside my bones. Every one of those soldiers had already turned.
Chapter Fourteen
The Most Important Thing
The jeep passed first, and then the Humvees. I was just about to allow myself hope when the transport truck jerked into our lane. Jared didn’t twitch; he just drove faster. The needle on the speedometer vibrated at one hundred miles per hour. I gripped the door handle so tight that my knuckles turned white under the pressure. I trusted that Jared had a plan, but at the same time, soaring down the road to meet an armored truck in a head on collision didn’t sound like a good idea to me.
“Hang on, sweetheart,” Jared said, his voice low. “When I get out, take the wheel.”
“When you get out?” I said, instantly panicked.
In a move that was so smooth it seemed choreographed, Jared swerved to the right and jerked the wheel again in a nearly perfect half-circle around the Army truck. As the Tundra spun off the road, Jared opened the door and stepped out, shooting directly at the Army truck’s tires. I heard several popping noises, but I was focused on grabbing the wheel and getting my foot on the break. Although I was terrified, the move was effortless, and before I had time to be afraid, the Tundra had come to a stop on the shoulder.
I peeked over the steering wheel to see the truck skidded to a stop, all of its tires blown. Jared held one of the soldiers in the crook of his arm. The soldier went limp, and Jared lowered him gently to the ground. I counted eleven men on the ground, all of them unconscious.
Jared’s eyes met mine, and then he looked behind him, noticing the other vehicles circling around. He took off in a sprint, pointing behind me. I turned to see two shiny dots in the distance. I squinted, focusing in on the objects, and made out a motorcycle and a black sports car. It was Claire’s Exige, traveling at a speed manageable only to Earth’s most badass Hybrid.
I turned the wheel and stomped on the gas, picking Jared up along the way. My foot was flush against the floorboard as we raced toward our family.
Jared had barely broken a sweat.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Yes. The shells don’t have the strength of demons because they don’t have the same hold on them that they do when they take the time to possess. I didn’t want to kill them, so I incapacitated them.”
“Will they come after us after they wake up?”
“It’s possible,” Jared said, turning around. “Faster, honey.”