Read Online Buried Flames by Kennedy Layne - Free Book Online Page A

city whose idea of a disaster consisted of breaking a nail. She was as tough as he was and she wouldn’t be sitting on the sidelines if something went sideways. She closed her fingers around the octagon barrel of her Winchester, reality finally closing in on her that this was actually happening. She’d been doing her best to think of this as any other road trip, but the massive black cloud hovering above them now made that impossible. The sight in front of her sped up her insight.
    “What the…”
    “Shit,” Mason muttered, breaking fast and then jamming the truck in reverse. He jackknifed the trailer and flipped it back into drive. He stomped on the gas pedal and swung it around while Brenna stared in horror at the people bearing down on them with their vehicles while various types of wildlife were scrambling for their lives. “Hold on.”
    The only thing Brenna could come up with was that this dirt road had somehow connected to another small town on the other side of the outlying properties. The trailer started to jostle as the horses were trying to keep their footing, the horrifying thumping sounds causing a lump to form in her throat. She had glanced to her right, wanting to make sure Mason was clear on her side of the road when she spotted it.
    “There!” Brenna yelled, pointing ahead toward her side of the road at what appeared to be an old abandoned barn a hundred yards back off the road. There were a few wooden boards missing from the side and the door was hanging half-open, but it was better than nothing. It would hopefully give Mason time to rig the special masks to the horses’ harnesses. “Turn now!”
    Mason expertly spun the steering wheel to the right, causing the trailer and the truck’s back end to skid a bit sideways. It happened so fast that the vehicles and animals kept going right past them. The panic, desperation, and fear written on their faces weren’t something Brenna would ever forget and she wondered how long it would be before she felt the same. Days? Hours? Minutes?
    Brenna refused to let it be now and had her hand on the door handle before Mason’s warning penetrated her thinking. She didn’t care. He’d slowed down when the truck was only feet away from the damaged door of the almost black-colored wooden barn. It was probably that color from rot, but shelter was shelter. She was outside before he could stop her, pulling the entry open with all her might. It ever so slowly started to open and she was yelling for him to pull the truck and trailer inside.
    Brenna placed her nose and mouth against the crook of her elbow, doing her best to breathe in and out through the fabric of her shirt. The ash was thickening, but she was still able to see through the debris. How did Mason think it would be possible to ride the horses through this thick residue? Her heart dropped a beat at the sound of someone’s screams through the now darkening area.
    Mason had pulled the trailer and truck inside the barn and was at her side just as quickly. His strength helped draw the door closed and both of them leaned against the decaying wood to catch their breaths now that they’d managed to shut much of the ash outside. The blinding lights from the headlights of the truck made it impossible to see their surroundings, but she didn’t care. She was able to inhale enough oxygen and she did so now as deeply as she could. He caught her by surprise when he wrapped his warm fingers around her arm, the heat searing through her shirt. She hadn’t realized the temperature had dropped. He led her back to the truck, opening up the driver’s side door.
    “Inside. When I tell you something, you do it.”
    Mason slammed the door after shutting off the headlights, but the dome light had been enough to illuminate his worried features. He didn’t appear angry so much as…frightened? Brenna would never have guessed he was capable of fear, but then she was relatively sure that no military training could have prepared