Omega's Run by A. J. Downey, Ryan Kells Page A

best chance of survival.
    “Where the fuck are we anyways?” I muttered, looking at the landscape passing by outside.
    “South Bend, Indiana,” she said, shortly.
    “Indiana?” I was surprised. I hadn’t realized we’d left Illinois. “Why the fuck did we go to Indiana?”
    She was silent for another minute, perhaps struggling with the natural inclination to deny information to one of the creatures she had spent who knows how long hunting. Since we were officially in this together at this point, I was reasonably certain she would start to talk eventually.
    “The facility we were holding you at is an American Red Cross distribution center. The underground portion is a secret from the majority of the Red Cross employees.”
    “Why a Red Cross Facility?”
    “The Red Cross is a front for our organization.”
    My mind latched onto that information faster than you could imagine. Finally, a chance to get into the details, get some information about the Hunters. I would never be able to rejoin my pack, but if I could take some of this to William, it might earn me some leeway. However, before I could do any of that, we needed to finish our escape.
    “Head north,” I said, changing topics abruptly and in her defense Ava simply nodded and rolled with it, without a hiccup or a stutter. She shifted mental gears with equal precision to shifting physical gears in the Jeep.
    “What’s the plan then, oh great evader?” Her tone was only slightly caustic and I ignored it in favor of keeping the peace. There was no reason to fight with her right then. I knew when to pick my battles, unlike my late brother Rom.
    “We’ll get into Michigan and ditch the Jeep. We’ll steal another one or buy one if I can get access to my bank accounts. Then we’ll turn west until we hit Lake Michigan.”
    “What happens when we hit the lake?” I grinned and suppressed a wince of pain as a flare of heat burst in my leg from the slowly healing gunshot wound.
    “We’re going to cross it.”
    To her credit she didn’t flinch or swerve us off the road in her surprise, she just kept driving but she did glance at me out of the corner of her eye as her mouth dropped open in shock for just a moment before it snapped closed again with an audible clack of her teeth.
    “Are you completely out of your damn mind?” she demanded. “It’s mid-May, there’s still likely to be ice on the lake. We might not actually be able to cross the thing without us getting sunk in the process.”
    “As long as there aren’t any storms we should be good.” I leaned over and looked through the window up at the clear sky. “I don’t see any storm clouds, do you?”
    “That’s not the point, why the hell would we want to choose to go across the lake. It’s dangerous, not to mention huge .”
    “Exactly why,” I said and shifted in my seat, grimacing again as I moved my leg. “Goddammit, my leg is driving me nuts,” I grumbled. She didn’t have anything to say about that and just waited for me to continue.
    “Look, crossing the lake isn’t going to be a picnic. It is a big-ass lake, and yeah there probably will be ice on the water at this time of year. The hunters following us might agree with you that it’s too dangerous to cross after us. And if they drive all the way around, or even if they catch a plane, by the time they get to the other side they won’t have any idea where we came ashore. They’ll waste time trying to find us and we’ll have a better chance of getting away.”
    She fell silent, considering my argument for a minute.
    “Actually, that’s not a horrible idea,” she admitted, finally. “Do you have a plan in place for what we’re going to do once we get to the other side of the lake?” she asked.
    I shrugged. “I hadn’t actually gotten that far,” I admitted. “My main goal right now is just to shake them off our tail,” I gave her a pointed look that communicated she’d best keep it shut when it came to the unintended