Year One (Chronicles of The One #1)(73)

*

Eddie drove the SUV, trying to pack the snow down further, to give Max and the truck better traction. They’d grabbed a couple of bags of sand from the gas place, laid them over the tailgate of the SUV so they spilled out sand—with Max’s witchy-woo help—along the road.

But it was rough going.

He knew Max pushed it—with his Craft—and still the truck labored. As the incline steepened, he gritted his teeth as if pushing the truck himself, until sweat rolled down his temples, the back of his neck.

“Come on, Max, come on.”

As he topped the incline, he saw the house. Felt a new flare of hope as Lana ran out. He saw some of the others sprint out after her.

“We’re going to do it.” Then in the rearview, he saw the truck slide a full yard back. “Fuck me!”

Lana threw out power, imagined it like a hook and chain, latching onto the truck, pulling it up the hill. Her heart hammered through a vicious tug-of-war, then she felt the chain snap tight and begin to pull.

“Help,” she snapped at Eric. “You can help.”

“Trying.” His face went white, his eyes dark. “It’s so damn heavy.”

“Try harder. Pull!”

Another foot, then another, then she felt, finally felt, Max’s power mate with hers. She focused all she had on the baby-blue truck with the big white barrel, with the man she loved inside.

“He’s going to make it! He’s nearly at the pull off.” Poe ran, slipping and sliding along the path they’d dug in the snow.

“Don’t let go yet,” Lana told Eric. “Don’t let him go.”

“We’ve got him.” Eric clamped a hand on her shoulder. “Look, look, he’s at the pull off, he’s at the generator.”

When she saw Max was safe, she let go and ran.

Eric glanced back toward the house, saw Allegra, blew her a kiss. He spotted Shaun in his bedroom window, waved enthusiastically.

When she got to the pull off, Lana leaped into Max’s arms. “You did it!”

“Touch and go.” Breath labored from the effort, he rested his brow on hers. “Your touch turned the key.”

“Man, getting that big bitch up here took some doing.” Poe punched Max’s shoulder, faked one at Eddie’s. Then his jaw dropped when he saw the supplies loaded in the back of the SUV.

“What? You hit Sam’s Club?”

“Grocery store.”

“They had all that?”

“It’s a story,” Eddie told him. He wiped at his sweaty face. “Now we have to figure out how to get the gas out of the truck into the generator.”

“Max will figure it out.” Eric gave his brother an apologetic smile. “He got it here. Sorry, bro. Way, way sorry.”

“We’ll talk about it.” But he laid a hand on Eric’s shoulder, shook it. “And, yeah, we’ll figure out how to fuel up the generator.”

“I know how.” Shaun lost his balance on the shoveled path, went down on his ass. His glasses bumped down his nose.

Poe stepped to him, took his arm, helped him up.

“A nerd’s nerd.”

His ass wet, Shaun still managed a smile. “Yeah. I used to hang out when the gas guy came up to top it off. I like seeing how things work.”

“Show us how it’s done, my man.” Eddie stepped back as Joe sniffed manically at his boots and pants. “I’m going to get the supplies up to the house. Lana, why don’t you ride with me? You can take a look.”

She caught his exaggerated eye roll, gave Max a last squeeze, then climbed in.

“You hit the mother lode of supply stops.”

“Yeah, we did. They had a drugstore, too. I slipped what you wanted in my backpack. Otherwise, Max would’ve wondered what the what.”

“Thanks, Eddie.”

“I’m just gonna say good luck, ’cause I don’t know which way you want it to go. Front outside pocket.”

“I’m going to take your pack upstairs with me. We have to unload first. I have to do inventory. We have to keep an account, then I’ll go up.”

“Go up now while most everybody’s down below. It doesn’t take long, right? There was this girl once, and she thought maybe. Wasn’t, so whew, but I remember it doesn’t take long. I’ll say you went up to get some socks since you ran out in your shoes and they’re all wet.”

“Good. That’s good.” She slung his backpack over her shoulder, climbed out to go to the back and take a load in.

“I’d taken off my boots.” Allegra grabbed a cardboard box. “I had to get them back on or I’d’ve been out sooner.”

“That’s too heavy. Take one of those bags instead. You, too, Lana,” Eddie instructed. “And get out of those wet shoes, get something warm on your feet. We don’t want anybody getting sick.”

“You’re right. Just start putting things in categories—canned food, dry goods, and so on. I’ll be right back.”

She ran upstairs, closed the door. Rushed into the bathroom, closed and locked the door. She already knew, but wanted—needed—verification.

She even knew when, she thought as she opened the kit, followed the instructions. That night she’d come home from work, they’d had wine. That night before everything had gone insane, when they’d made love, intense and wonderful. And then, as the glow spread, that flash, that wild, wonderful explosion inside her.