ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـ Tethered ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـ

Chapter 24

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• Luna •

"Correct me if I'm wrong . . ." Greer said, and Luna rolled her eyes, biting back a groan. She sighed, glancing between him and Amir. Her butt was starting to hurt after almost eleven hours of driving, and the guys bickered like babies until they finally made peace with one another. "I'm pretty sure we broke a few speed limits along the way," he finished.

"And . . . ?" came Amir's response.

"I'm just stating a fact." Greer was sitting behind them, but he could just as easily be in Amir's lap. He'd slid between their seats, his arms dangling off the back. "One sign said forty miles. Not eighty."

"You understand what the traffic laws mean?" Amir exclaimed, looking in the rearview mirror. "That's shocking, considering you were the organization's errand boy."

Greer grunted. "That was a pathetic dig at my previous job." He paused. "All I want is to not end up like one of those bugs we've collected in the front."

"You're invincible. Nothing will happen to you."

"I care about my body and what happens to it. I don't want to be scratched to hell and back for poor driving."

"Hmm," Amir mumbled as he moved around a wrecked tour bus. "Being scratched makes me think of wild animals roaming the streets, and I haven't seen any."

"Yet . . ." Greer went on to say. "I'm sure zoos have been dismantled by now, and we could still have our very own Jurassic Park."

Luna laughed at that. "I'm surprised you've heard of that movie."

"Just because I spent most of my life underground doesn't mean I didn't get to enjoy some good things," Greer remarked. "As heartless as BARDA was, they did give their captives some life experiences."

"You're making it sound like you were on vacation," Amir noted. "And we know that wasn't the case."

Greer shrugged. "I never said it was paradise."

After a few minutes, the car was getting close to an abandoned chicken restaurant. Luna furrowed her brows, trying to figure out what it was called. "Is that KFC?"

"It looks like it," Amir said. "Or Popeye's?"

"I think it's Popeye's," Greer stated.

Huh. He also knew what Popeye's was, Luna reasoned after she met his stare.

Amir's lip twitched. "I'm sure you're craving it, aren't you?" That question was directed toward Greer.

"Nope. I'm craving homemade fried chicken, dipped in egg and flour and fried in a skillet," he replied. "One of the cooks at a facility in Nashville used to make amazing chicken. It would satisfy you for hours, if not days."

"Sounds good." Amir let out a sigh. "I could go for something homemade myself. I miss eating and spending time with my family."

Luna narrowed her eyes and placed her hand on her husband's thigh. "There are a lot of things we miss."

"That's why . . ." Greer started, glancing at the clear blue sky, "we are doing this. We need to get everybody back on track and put a stop to what is happening."

"It's easier said than done," Luna replied, adjusting her seat.

"Ye of little faith," Greer mused. "I have a feeling things will work out."

Amir's eyes returned to the road. "I hope you're right."

"It'll be like old times teaming up with people I worked with," Greer said. "Hopefully, none of them are members of Team Kill Everyone."

Amir let out a snort. "That is a big wish."

"It's so interesting how you believe in Allah, Mr. Khan." Greer leaned back and folded his arms across his chest. "You make a big deal about having faith in a deity, but you clearly don't have any."

"Hey! Don't test me!"

"Just saying," Greer muttered. "Faith is important when you're battling something like this."

A low warning rumbled from Amir, and Luna couldn't believe they were now arguing about faith and trusting that everything would go as planned. But she shouldn't be surprised. Like Stranger Things, the men were passionately debating whether laboratories could hide portals to other worlds an hour earlier.

Amir wasn't familiar with the show, but he was aware of the concept and decided to argue with Greer about what he truly knew. She was puzzled by the fact that Greer had little experience in the outside world and hadn't eaten at many restaurants but had watched entertainment.

Greer sighed like a spoiled child stuck in a car with his parents. There was a brief moment of silence. "Are we close?"

Amir snarled. "I'm going to stitch your mouth shut. Keep whining."

When Luna looked out of the window, she covered her smile with her palm. But her smile faded when she took in the scenery. She had no idea where they were. Everything looked the same from about a hundred miles outside of Las Vegas.

Ghost towns.

Absolute carnage.

They hadn't seen another car on the major highway in the last three hours. There wasn't a single moving vehicle. There were countless dead engines along the road. Some vehicles were abandoned with personal items piled in the rear windows, as if the owners pulled over to the side of the road, exited, and left everything behind once the war started.

The others cars . . . they were sickening.

Wrecked vehicles. A terrible and distorted graveyard of smashed and scorched metal. Luna remembered what she had seen and fought against in California. She'd read about this in fiction and seen it on TV, but browsing row upon row of it in person was a different experience. It was mind-blowing.

"What do you think happened here?" she asked during a break in the discussion.

Greer leaned back in his seat, bending over to look out his window. "For some, it appears that it was too late. Others fled."

They came across a Jeep with the back door open. Items were scattered about. Behind it, a small brown teddy bear lay neglected on the road. She remembered that little girl at Dr. Kim's plantation and wanted to ask the guys if they thought those who'd traveled to safety made it, but she didn't because she was sure she already knew what happened.

Nobody could outrun anything the organization created.

And she and Amir had seen it firsthand. The Defectives showed up like a thief in the night, only it was daytime.

"Something was going on out here while you guys were doing things I don't even want to know about in your room," Greer blurted.

That statement didn't seem to bother Amir, but it burned Luna's cheeks. "What are you talking about?" she asked quietly.

"You know how the Resistance said there were regions completely lost under BARDA control? Some cities are still operational—TV is on, the internet is streaming, and phone networks are active. It's like nothing ever happened, except that more than half of the population is being slaughtered by super soldiers who have no idea what they're doing." Greer returned to his position between Amir and Luna. "But there are a lot of areas that have been . . . demolished."

"How could BARDA do this?" Luna shifted back in her seat. "Wouldn't they want the cities to be almost untouched so they could be habitable?"

"Yes, they do." Amir checked his sideview mirror. "But if people began to fight back, even if their fight was hopeless, then . . ."

"Cities are blown to smithereens," Greer concluded. "Even if we stop them, things will be tough afterward. A lot of repairing. There will be big changes."

"Not much," Luna whispered after they passed a damaged city bus that was more black than blue. She didn't want to think about whether or not the bus was full, while the backs of her eye sockets burned. "Everyone will need to work together on this."

"That's true," Greer agreed.

Since none of them wanted to travel more than a million miles from a BARDA-controlled area, Amir took a detour around Salt Lake City. Because of this, they all quickly stopped outside of a small Wyoming town so that the guys could alternate driving.

When evening came, sleep was inconsistent, and it wasn't just because of Luna's uncomfortable chair or Greer's dubious music preferences; listening to showtunes was barely manageable. Her body was a mess of overstrained nerves. They were about to drive right into enemy territory, and despite Titus's adamant assurance that Zander was the best, Luna had yet to encounter a superhuman she didn't want to flee from. But it went beyond that.

She yearned for her parents. She missed Liberty and Sarah. In the minutes when she couldn't sleep and Amir had gone to sleep in the back of the car, she missed her books and her studio and stared out the window, unable to picture what tomorrow or a week from now would look like.

"Are you all right?" Greer asked.

She hadn't realized she'd been shifting around recklessly. "Yeah."

"Unable to sleep?"

"Something like that."

"Amir doesn't seem to be experiencing any difficulties."

Luna smiled as she looked over her shoulder. He was propped up on his side against the seat, one arm strung along his body and the other curled under his neck. In deep, steady breaths, his chest rose and fell. She turned around. "He needs to rest."

"You, too, Mrs. Khan."

Luna shook her head. "Later. How about you?"

Greer gave her a playful nudge. "I didn't spend all of my free time acting as if the world was ending today."

Her cheeks burned. "You don't need to constantly remind me that there is no such thing as privacy with you."

A quick grin appeared on his face as he focused on the deserted street, but it faded away as quickly as the star she'd been watching in the sky earlier. She caught a glimpse of Greer's strong jaw and profile out of the corner of her eye.

"Stop looking at me," he muttered.

"Sorry." But Luna gave him her full attention and thought of—

"Yeah," he chimed in.

She cringed.

"You noticed it before when we fought in Los Angeles," he said. "I was trying to persuade Sefora to join us, but she refused."

"Maybe Alisha has her brainwashed."

Greer shook his head. "I don't think that's it. Her mother doesn't have her under a simulation."

"How can you be so sure?" She reached for her bottle of water while waiting for his response.

"Because I gave Sefora a blocker before we fled. I made certain she was sane enough to join me if the opportunity is given."

In the dim light, Luna smiled a little. "You must care about Sefora."

Greer took a breath in, then exhaled. "I do. I am worried about her and think about her. A lot." He tapped the steering wheel with his fingers. "I enjoy her company. The girl is . . . well, she's amazing."

"Have you expressed your feelings to her?"

He shook his head. "There are rules. The staff are forbidden to form romantic relationships with any of the captives or the employers' children."

Luna thought it was fortunate that no one from Sefora's family was in the car with them at this moment. "Screw the rules."

He laughed. "It does them no good now. I only wish I could have told her how I felt. It's too late."

Luna blinked her eyes. "Don't say that. It's never too late."

"Yeah, maybe." He smiled softly. "When they first brought her in, I had no idea she was Alisha's daughter. I was assigned with watching everything she did and making sure she didn't hurt herself."

"Poor Sefora."

"I tried, though. I made every effort to be a friend to her. I'd sneak out of my room, turn off the hallway cameras, and go see her. You know . . . just to talk."

Luna gently tugged on her seatbelt. "What happened next?"

"Well, Sefora was never good at concealing her thoughts. I don't think she tries. That's one of the qualities I like about her."

"Not to mention, she's really pretty and nothing like her mother," Luna said with a smile.

"Yep, what you said has something to do with it." His grip on the wheel stiffened. "I wish she would've came with us."

"Maybe she has her reasons."

Luna folded her arms and returned to staring straight ahead, remembering the conversation she and Sefora had about her newfound abilities at the restaurant.

A feeling of sadness overwhelmed her heart.

Her friend was only urging her to see Dr. Kim because her mother had told her to. And remembering that conversation hurt her because she had let her guard down. She had trusted Sefora with almost everything.

"I'll get her out of her mother's crosshairs," Greer said emphatically, leaving no room for doubt. "I'm ready to crush them all to save her."

Both of them were silent for a while after he made his promise; she must have dozed off a little because when she opened her eyes, Amir was awake and sunlight streamed through the clouds.

"Where are we?" she asked, her voice scratchy. She reached for her water bottle.

"Just entered Laramie, Wyoming." Amir's fingers slipped between the headrest and the seat. He squeezed her shoulders when she stared out the window.

Greer carefully navigated the highway, which was littered with wrecked vehicles, slowing them to a stumble. Luna clenched her seatbelt strap when they reached another cluster of burned cars. The further they traveled, the worse it became. The cars were not abandoned. Many were obliterated.

From behind, Amir gripped her shoulders. "Moon, turn away. Now."

But she couldn't. She had to look as they maneuvered around a destroyed motor home because, despite everything inside of her screaming no, there was something so inherent, so human, that compelled her to stare.

Although the motor home had been set on fire, most likely from a weapon created by BARDA, it wasn't empty like the other ones she was able to see.

Please God, no.

Her stomach sank.

That car was anything but empty.

In the RV, there were five forms. One pressed against a shattered window, two others in the front, and two in the back. As one form was hung over the middle console, another was twisted over the steering wheel and appeared to be clutching the driver in fear for what they had gone through while pressed for time. Good Lord, the bodies in the back were so tiny.

Unfortunately, all the occupants of the RV lost their lives in a fire.

And it wasn't the only vehicle that way. The cars came one after another, each with bodies inside and incinerated.

Luna cupped her throat in horror as if attempting to prevent the bile from rising. This scene was the worst of everything she had witnessed. It was dreadful. Her chest tightened when she became overcome by empathy.

Amir pulled on her shoulders and whispered, "Moon," into her ears. "Turn away."

"I can't."

"Mrs. Khan, you really shouldn't look," Greer said. "Neither of you."

Since she struggled to turn her head, she noticed Amir's jaw muscle twitching. When he inhaled deeply, he covered her eyes with his hand. "Could you find a way around this pile up?"

Greer responded, "I'm trying, Amir. This road doesn't have much room for driving. Either waste, carcasses, or wrecked vehicles have blocked it."

Luna muttered, her eyes still covered by Amir's hand, "It looks like something straight out of a horror movie."

Greer replied, "We can't go far in this mess. Unless you want to take our car off road. I'm not sure how clever of an idea—"

"Crap." Amir withdrew his hand as he focused his attention on the crowded road in front of them.

Greer sighed. "We're going to be caught in the middle of all of this. There's no way around it."

"Seriously?" Luna nearly jumped out of her seat when no one replied. "We have to find a way."

"Oh no," Greer muttered.

Amir swore, "Fuck. This is not good."

Turning to face Amir, Luna settled her eyes on him. "What is it?"

"I can feel it." He took her hand in his and gave her palm a light kiss.

Rising confusion and impatience were the only things she could feel. "I swear with everything in me I'll punch you both if you don't tell me what's going on."

Amir's lips curled into a sly grin. "Defectives aren't far from us."

Oh, no.

Luna squinted but couldn't see anyone as she moved forward and leaned her hands against the dashboard. Only a four-lane highway surfaced. "No one is out there."

"They aren't in front of us, Moon."

She shifted her eyes to the back, looking out the window as her heart hammered heavily. "Holy defective assholes everywhere."

They had just driven down a street when a large Diesel plowed through the remains of the wrecked vehicles five miles away.

"I'm going to take a wild guess and assume they're not coming to have a friendly conversation with us." The inside of her stomach crumbled.

"What made that obvious?" Greer asked while circling a tanker in the Explorer.

Amir swore under his breath again. "Absolutely not."

After that, Greer explained, "They are gnawing at my brain. They are calling out to me, but I'm not talking."

Amir scowled when Greer slammed on the gas, sending the tires squealing. "Which is making them irritated?"

"Yep."

Because someone needed to say it, Luna commented, "This whole human anomaly radio is really weird."

"You've got no idea." Greer took a breath and stretched as they kept going. "But you should be used to it by now, Mrs. Moon."

Greer calling Luna by her nickname made her chuckle a little.

Amir swung his long legs over the seat and sat on the other side of her.

Greer screamed and scowled at him, but Amir was a man with a purpose. He kissed Luna while holding her cheeks in his hands.

She inherently just sat there while he got friendly with her mouth because the contact was so sudden and unexpected.

"Seriously? Loving her right now is what we need to be doing when we have a livid gang of Defectives on us?" Greer grumbled.

"Loving my wife is always the right thing to do." Amir withdrew and clung to the seats. "We need to stop and deal with them. We know we can't outrun them, and we don't want anyone to follow us to the Engineered Souls and Hybrids."

Greer groaned. "This is not going to be entertaining."

Luna continued to sit there acting like a nerd with her lips twitching.

"Oh, we're going to enjoy ourselves a lot." Amir shifted his attention to her. "Wifey, you ready to play?"

"You . . . you called me 'Wifey.' You started calling me that when we . . ." With a tear in her eye, Luna stumbled over her words. "When we got . . ."

"Married?"

She smiled and nodded after Amir's reply.

"You remembered . . . our wedding?"

He shook his head. "Not everything, but quick flashes came back to me while I slept. Two religious ceremonies was not that difficult to conduct."

She chuckled, holding his stare.

"Did you take the medication Dominique and Owen gave you?" Greer questioned as he turned his head to look at Amir and Luna.

"Yeah. We did," Amir replied. "Why?"

Greer laughed silently to himself. "I hope the Defectives bid anyone they loved farewell. They're about to get their asses whooped."

Amir's brows furrowed, but he turned his head to Luna. "Want to show these guys who's boss?"

She nodded. "Hell yeah."

"All right." Amir grinned, and Greer stopped the car on the side of the road. "Let's rain hell on them."

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