Free Until the End of the World (Book 3): All the Stars in the Sky by Sarah Lyons Fleming Page A

running our way.”
    Kyle’s face reverts to its usual hard expression, and I’m on the floor by the time he’s opened the door. Zeke’s face is red as if on the verge of a heart attack. Margaret breathes easily, although her hair has escaped its ponytail.
    “Tony…under the truck…surrounded,” Zeke pants.
    Nelly looks behind them, his hands gripping his rifle. “Mike and Rohan?”
    Zeke bends double, hands on knees, and shakes his head.
    “They were at the truck, watching one way,” Margaret says. “We were at the other end of the lot. We didn’t hear anything until the screaming. They came out of nowhere.”
    “Could Mike and Rohan be under the truck?” I ask.
    “Rohan, maybe. But I saw Mike—” The corners of her mouth arc downward.
    The thought of Mike and Rohan being eaten alive makes my stomach lurch, as does the guilty relief that creeps in. Relief that the people I care about most are still alive. Peter and I might have been joking about sticking like glue, but I’m not anymore.
    “Let’s go,” Kyle says.
    He has the key turned in the ignition before we’re all in. Bits and Hank have abandoned their papers at the sight of Zeke and Margaret. I sit beside Hank and watch Bits across the table, where Peter has seated himself. “We’re going to help them,” he says. “It’s okay, we’re safe in here.”
    In a perfect world, I’d have the kids in another vehicle, fully-gassed and heading out of Winnipeg as fast as was safe, but we can’t leave Tony and Rohan. And we need the pump and the pickup’s fuel tank. If Tony’s under the truck, we’ll lead them away and have him follow us. If he’s dead, we’ll have to get the truck ourselves.
    “Is the tank full?” Shawn asks.
    “At least half,” Zeke replies. His breathing has returned to normal, but he still looks dazed. “It was going for a few minutes before they came.”
    Kyle follows Margaret’s directions onto a wide road littered with bodies. The wind ruffles what’s left of the corpses’ clothing and swirls plastic bags and wrappers in tiny tornadoes. The gas station is set behind a grassy field at a wide intersection, with a drugstore behind it and a supermarket across the street. It could mean food, and probably does, given that a pod of Lexers streams from the broken glass in front. They may have been trapped in there for over a year with only the noise of the pump, and maybe Mike’s screams, giving them enough incentive to break out.
    “Jesus,” Zeke breathes.
    Kyle pulls into the station. The pump lays on the concrete near the ground tank. The pickup’s hood is up, with the wires that run the pump still connected to its battery. In order to drive the pickup anywhere, we’ll have to disengage the pump and reattach the truck to its battery.
    Lexers wander, except for the one who lies tangled in the pump’s suction hose; it winds over one leg, then twists around and down the other to the ankle. Even if we get the truck out of here, without the pump we’ll be forced to siphon using rubber tubes in deep underground tanks—incredibly time-consuming if not impossible. The hose must be cut if it can’t be untangled, but finding a new hose might prove difficult. This particular hose is reinforced to withstand the vacuum of the pump, as well as equipped with some sort of anti-static metal so we don’t blow ourselves to hell. We need this one intact.
    The Lexers advance on the RV. Barnaby raises his hackles and starts his relentless barking that, for once, isn’t unwelcome. We need them to come toward us in order to give Tony a fighting chance. Bits crawls under the table and puts her hands over her ears.
    “Tony!” Margaret yells out the window. “We’re leading them away. Get in the truck!”
    We don’t expect an answer, as that would be deadly for him. The one tangled in the hose attempts to rise, the pump rattling along the concrete, and lands near what’s left of Mike’s body. Mike’s abdomen is hollowed out,