dragons breath 01 - stalked by flames by susan illene Read Free Book Online

grandma.”
    He dialed and pressed the phone to his ear. “Hey, Grams, this is Conrad. You doin’ okay?”
    I caught the sound of an older woman’s voice on the other end of the line, but couldn’t make out her reply.
    “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” Conrad said, frowning. “Hey, you’re breaking up.”
    He checked the screen and put his phone back to his ear. “I don’t know if you can hear me, but just wanted to let you know I’m trying to get back that way. Hope to see you soon.”
    “Bad connection?” I glanced at him.
    “Yeah.” He stuffed his phone in his pocket.
    “Try turning on the radio. Maybe they’ve got some news.” I should have thought of that before, but I didn’t use it much since I had Bluetooth and music playlists on my phone.
    Conrad switched it on and scanned the stations. We couldn’t get anything on FM, but one of the AM channels worked. For a few minutes we listened, the tension between us mounting.
    “Damn. They’re tearing up the city,” Conrad said.
    “No kidding. I only saw maybe ten or so in Norman, but now there're hundreds? That’s crazy.” And the dragons were on a rampage like they’d just escaped the zoo or something—except, maybe, Aidan. The jury was still out on him.
    “At least they aren’t in Dallas.” He crossed his arms. “It’s alright there.”
    So far, but who knew how long that would last.
    The ground buckled beneath the truck. As the shaking continued, I gripped the wheel and slowed down. A car ahead of us swerved into the station wagon next to it, sending both of them off the road and into a ditch. Red brake lights went up on all the cars ahead of us as drivers tried to control their vehicles. This was another big earthquake—maybe the largest yet.
    I veered the truck over to the shoulder and fought to keep it straight until I could stop. A van darted in front of me, screeching its tires. I almost slammed into it. With only a few feet to spare I managed to bring the vehicle to a halt. I was fairly certain my heart had lodged in my throat and would take a while to get back into place.
    The sound of metal crunching into metal came from behind us. Conrad and I turned, watching in gaping horror as vehicles piled into each other. Then a billboard on the side of the interstate fell to the ground, sending a herd of running cows in a nearby pasture in another direction.
    “This is bad,” I said, gripping my seat to keep from swaying too hard.
    Conrad snorted. “No shit.”
    By the time the shaking stopped, so had the traffic. It had lasted for a couple of minutes—longer than any of the previous quakes we’d experienced.
    The first thing I noticed after I got my heartbeat under control was that the radio had gone out. Then shouting from where the pileup had happened behind us. A couple of guys rushed over to help a woman get out of her crumpled car. Traffic had been going pretty slow so at least it didn’t look like there was anything too severe, mostly fender benders.
    “Should we go back there and help?” I asked.
    A gunshot went off. We both jumped in our seats. I couldn’t be sure where it came from, but the angry shouts rising from a few cars back told me it wasn’t far. People scattered as they raced to return to their vehicles.
    “Hell, no.” Conrad shook his head. “Let’s get out of here.”
    He was right, though it felt wrong to leave injured people behind. I put the truck into drive and got back on the road, following others who were doing the same. A few mangled cars blocked the lanes ahead of us, but we were able to veer around them.
    For the next three hours, we slowly made our way south. We passed the occasional wreck and avoided cracks in the pavement where the earthquake had torn it up. There were people walking alongside the interstate as well. They held their thumbs out, hoping for a ride, but I kept going past them. That gunshot had been a stark reminder that in a situation like this I couldn’t take any risks and end up