Chapter 40

The car jolts as the sound shoots through the air. The squeal of the brakes cuts through my body uncomfortably as the three of us start whipping our heads around, trying to spot what the noise is and where it came from.

“Hey, guys, what do you—” My question is interrupted by the sound of a second, third, and fourth bang, making the car jolt again. I swallow hard as I realize what is happening.

Gunshots.

“Nora, get DOWN!” Marcus yells at me, and I instinctively move at his order, curling myself into the floorboard space while Harlan starts speeding down the road. “How long?”

“Five minutes to the freeway, another fifteen until we’re there!” Harlan shouts back, doing his best to swerve in and out of traffic. The gunshots echo in the streets around us alongside the screams of pedestrians. None hit our car for a strained few seconds—not