State of Emergency (Book) by Summer Lane Read Free Book Online Page B

heater.
     Lovely.
    “I don’t want the engine to get frozen,” Chris mutters. “A car this old might have trouble starting up again.”
    “I’d rather take that chance and not drive off a cliff in our sleep,” I say.
    Chris nods.
    “Okay,” he replies. “We’ll stop and rest for a couple of hours. If it’s a full blown winter storm we’ll want to keep moving, though.”
    He’s right, of course. Mudslides are pretty common up in the Grapevine during storms. So is flooding and icy roads. It’s not like my Mustang is tricked out for that kind of crazy terrain, so it’d be safer not to push it.
    Chris finds a type of hidey-hole off the road, wedged between a wall of bushes and trees. He cuts the engine, plunging us into total darkness. I instinctively check all the locks on the car before reaching for my backpack.
    “It couldn’t get any colder, could it?” I mumble. “Stupid weather. Stupid EMP. Stupid crowbar.”
    I dig through my pack in the dark. I finally find what I’m looking for, a wool camping blanket. I unroll it and spread it over my body. “Cold?” I ask, offering a corner up to Chris.
    He shakes his head, instead shrugging on his leather jacket. Even in the dim lighting I could easily imagine him as a sexy greaser from the 50s. His hair might be a little long, but still…
    “How’s your arm?” I ask, feeling guilty all of the sudden for not asking about it since I wrapped it up yesterday.
    “Fine,” he shrugs.
    “I should check it to make sure it’s not infected.”
    “It’s not infected, Cassie,” he grins. “Go to sleep. You’re going to need it.”
    I don’t argue. I just yawn and curl up, leaning my head against the window. The temperature is continuing to drop. I just hope I don’t wake up with an icicle on my nose. How embarrassing would that be?
    The two of us doze off for a while. I glance at the crank radio to check the time, noting that it’s only midnight. We’ve been asleep for three hours. I glance over at Chris, surprised to find him asleep sitting upright against the seat. He looks a lot more relaxed that way. More chill.
    I realize that my hands are so cold that they’ve gone numb. It hurts to flex my fingers. Alarmed, I pull my blanket tighter around my shoulders and lean across the seat. I brush my fingers lightly against Chris’s cheek. He snaps awake and grabs my wrist, pinning it against the dashboard. For a split second I can see the pure instinct in his reaction right before he seems to remember where he is and what he’s doing.
    “What time is it?” he asks, dropping my wrist.
    I can’t help but notice that his hands are warm.
    “Midnight,” I say, my teeth chattering. “It’s freaking cold up here.”
    “It’s only going to get colder,” Chris replies, turning the key in the ignition. It takes the car a few turns to rumble to life. “You okay?”
    I can’t seem to stop shivering and my head has started to pound.
    “Headache,” I mumble.
    Chris frowns and touches my forehead.
    “You don’t have a fever,” he says.
    “I’m not sick,” I answer. “I’m tense. The world just ended, remember?”
    He flashes an amused smile as we back out of the bushes, back onto the road. It becomes concerning to me that all of the windows are covered in a fine layer of snow. The road is ghostly white. It’s so thin that it’s almost like paper, which means the roads will be slippery.
    “Great,” I complain. “Snow. Fantastic.”
    “What did snow ever do to you?”
    “It made me cold.” I tuck my legs underneath myself, feeling like a popsicle. “Aren’t you cold?”
    “It’s just a little snow.”
    “Let me guess. You’ve probably walked uphill, barefoot for forty miles in the snow as a Navy Seal. You’re now impervious to cold weather.”
    Chris releases a rich, pleasant laugh.
    “That would have been a cakewalk compared to what I had to do,” he says.
     “And what did you do?” I ask.
    “You don’t want to know.”
    “No, I