15. Farrow

The boom came from nowhere. It was so loud it seemed to stir the sand dunes and rattle my teeth. Worried the sky was falling or something equally apocalyptic had happened, I hunkered my shoulders, ducking down to avoid certain death, only to realize the man who’d been attacking me with a raised axe remained frozen, his mouth gaping open in paralyzed shock.

I frowned up at him, confused, until blood welled from a minuscule hole that appeared in his forehead.

“What the fuck?” his comrade whispered before whirling to gape at me as if I’d caused the calamity. But I just shrugged, equally perplexed.

So his wide-eyed stare of horror strayed past me to Nicolette who was still behind me. Seeing her, his gaze immediately narrowed.

“You,” he snarled, raising his axe.

Before he could charge, though, the explosion came again, just as deafening as the first time. But following this report, the front of the attacker’s tunic bloomed red in the center of his chest. He gaped down in fear, patted h