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AXEL ALVARES
Axel hadn’t been farbehind Daisy after she’d run after Sam. He sent the Faithful on their way and then tipped the barrels of fire onto the plants and made sure they caught. There had to be nothing left. He was prepared to wait and add fuel, but as it turned out, the barrels had oil inside. It poured like a flaming river onto the creatures and shriveled them up.
Knowing he’d never catch Daisy on foot, he returned to the motorcycle and followed. He weaved in and out of the container stacks, hunting her down corridors until eventually he hit the rail yard and saw her leap onto the train. He followed as the train sped up but had no idea what to do next.
Should he do as she did and find a way to get on board?
He was no superhero.
He settled for staying behind to be there if she needed him. A few minutes down the bumpy track, she emerged bloody from a boxcar and climbed to the top of the train. He’d shouted to her, but his voice was lost in the wind. Something was wrong. He could sense it in the air.
It was more than the fresh blood spray on her face. Her expression was pained. Was she hurt?
She disappeared again—this time, only for a few minutes before she was ejected from the engine door, landed hard on the limestone rubble and rolled into the brush. With his heart in his throat, Axel veered off the track and skidded, his wheels turning and kicking up dust as he slowed. He climbed off the bike before it stopped.
“Daisy,” he bellowed, stumbling after her.
He pushed aside tall foxglove weeds until he found a fallen angel lying still beneath the moonlight, silver hair splayed like she was asleep. Time stood still as he hovered his ear over her mouth and checked for breath.
She gasped and opened her eyes. Vivid violet eyes locked onto him, registered he was no threat, then bolted upright and chased after the train now quickly receding into the distance.
“Daisy, what—”
She ran, slick and fast and with silver hair streaming behind her. He jogged after her. They only made it a few hundred feet and then a fiery explosion in the distance slowed them. Axel grabbed Daisy and yanked her back. They stumbled but he caught her against him.
Anguish contorted her face as she glanced at him and then the wreckage. He squinted to see better. The train…
“I think…” He swallowed. “I think it’s gone straight over the damaged bridge and into the sea. Shit, Daisy. That could have been you.”
The pained look on her face worsened. She looked at him as though the sea would rise up and pull her down. She stepped back.
“Daisy,” he whispered, and reached for her. He wanted to comfort her. To tell her it was okay, but she slapped him away and let out a strangled cry as she attempted to breathe and not cry.
“He pushed me out,” she eventually said. “Why would he do that?”
Axel squinted down the line at the fireball being swallowed by black rolling water. “There were other people in there?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so… just the Faithful and some modified animals. I was going to do it. I was going to run the train into the sea but he—” She held her hands before her face and her breath hitched. She shook her head and wiped her palms on her pants. “This isn’t working.”
“What?” God, he was confused. “Daisy, what?”
But she strode back to the motorcycle, shaking her head the entire time. Axel jogged after her and took her shoulder.
“What isn’t working, Daze?”
“Me!” She rounded on him. “I’m not working.”
Tears leaked from her eyes. She wrenched her gaze away and tried to pick up the Ducati but her fingers slipped. She stubbornly tried to right the fallen vehicle but kept stumbling.
“Hey,” he murmured.
He took her hand and pulled her to him, be damned with her resistance. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. Tight. Like a vice.
“Daze, it’s okay. I’ve got you.”
She stayed stiff in his arms, and then suddenly softened. She melted into him and shuddered as her tears leaked out.
“You’re not hurt, are you?” he ventured.
