Chapter 8 · Grind, Loot, Survive - Chapter 8: Blood Bath in the Valley

"Get your ass moving, Kade! Or I'll let the scavengers start with your toes," Selene barked, her voice cutting through the humid haze of the valley.

She didn't look back. She didn't have to. The snap of her boots on the shale sounded like a countdown. Milo scrambled after her, his lungs burning, his boots slipping on a patch of iridescent moss that smelled like old pennies and rot.

"I'm moving! I'm moving!" Milo wheezed, clutching his side. "Maybe if we weren't sprinting into a literal death trap, I could breathe!"

Selene stopped dead. In one fluid motion, she spun around and shoved him back against a jagged rock wall. The impact knocked the wind out of him, but it was her forearm pressing against his throat that kept it there. She was close—too close. He could smell the ozone and cold steel clinging to her gear, and see the terrifyingly calm, icy blue of her eyes.

"Listen to me, you loud-mouthed mistake," she whispered, her voice a low, dangerous vibration. "In this valley, noise is a dinner bell. You keep complaining, and I'll personally make sure you're the first course.