1. “Well, until these veils stop coming, I’m not letting you out of reach. I can’t risk having you taken away from me again.” His voice hitched at the confession, damn him, but he couldn’t help it. He hated showing any emotion that might make him appear weak, but this woman had that effect on him. He’d never believed he could love someone as desperately as he loved her.
2. Lifting the broom, he rammed the blunt end of the handle as hard as he could at the small window next to the knob. The glass shattered upon impact. Twice more he shoved the handle into the broken pieces to widen the hole. Reaching inside, he managed to unlock the one door as small droplets of acid rain began to sprinkle over them. He shoved her ahead of him seconds before it started to deluge the place.
3. He kept his arms out in front of him to keep himself from plowing face-first into whoever had the girl in his grasp. He made it as far as a dozen steps when something slammed into him from the side. The impact knocked him off his feet, and he went flying across the room before hitting the ground on his bad side and sliding another couple of yards along the slick metal floor. Numb with pain, Griff let out a groan. He couldn’t move, couldn’t think, couldn’t do anything but try and breathe through the agony lancing through his body. Dimly, he was aware of Nat screaming his name, but she sounded more distant than she had earlier. He attempted to answer her, but it was as if he was paralyzed, unable to respond, much less roll onto his back or stomach to take the weight off of his injury.
4. Griff was faintly aware of the passing night. Some part of him remained awake and vigilant to any strange or unusual sounds that might prove dangerous. It was a part of his past, part of his conditioning from being deployed on the front lines that he thought he’d lost. Thankfully, he hadn’t. In addition, he was aided in the fact that the cold weather made any sort of deep sleep impossible. He gave credit for that to his innate fear of freezing to death. If it weren’t for Nat’s warmth, he knew he wouldn’t have been able to make it through the night.
5. “It’s not shit,” a voice across the room snapped. Amos Daddow strode over to confront their hosts. “I felt the same way when I first heard Griff’s story, until I lived through it. If it wasn’t for his warnings, my wife and I would be dead by now. I swear by it!” He stabbed the air with a thick finger as he pointed toward the ceiling. “You got a metal roof over your heads. That’s as good a protection as you’re gonna get until that acid rain hits. But it won’t protect you forever. Listen to this man. He’s lived through more than most of us. He know what he’s talking about, and every word’s the truth.”
6. Griff nodded. “We’ve been transported across the US. Hey! You! Dickhead!” A plan had formed in his mind. It was dangerous, and more than one person could lose their life, but he felt they had no other choice. It was becoming uncomfortably clear that these men weren’t aware of their current circumstances, but once they understood, they might take out their fears and worries on the rest of the people. It could result in mass slaughter.
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