Chapter 6

The ringing in my ears was a high, physical pain that drowned out the wind.

Rust fell down the back of my pale blue shirt.

A sharp fragment of metal sliced through the fabric over my left shoulder.

The flashlight beam slashed blindly through the dust, hunting for the body they expected to find.

I gripped the makeshift iron strip and hurled it across the darkness.

It struck the far wall with a hard clang.

"Back wall!" the unfamiliar man barked.

He swung his flashlight and gun toward the far side of the shed.

He moved three cautious steps into…