Chapter 30 · Steel and Shrapnel

The rocket hit and the whole vault jumped.

Concrete dust came down like flour. My ears rang. Something warm ran into my mouth, and I tasted copper and salt.

Then a hand clamped around my wrist and hauled me flat against the floor.

"Don't move." Lucian's voice, right at my ear. His whole body covered mine, heavy and hot through his ruined shirt. "Count your fingers."

"Get off me."

"Count them, Bianca."

"Ten. Jesus. Ten."

"Good."

He pushed up. The lights were gone. Only the red emergency strips along the racks were still burning, and they turned every rifle on the wall the color of a fresh cut.

Above us the ceiling groaned. A thin line of orange glowed along one seam in the concrete. Thermite. It was eating its way down to us.

I sat up and spat dust. "That's not a warning shot."

"No." He was already moving along the racks, yanking drawers open. His knuckles were split. I didn't remember him getting hurt. "It's a door knock."

"Funny."

"I'm not joking."

He came back with a vest in one hand and a mag in the other. He didn't ask.