Sera watched the edge of the city fall away in the side mirror.
Concrete turned into cracked asphalt. Cracked asphalt turned into pale dirt. The buildings grew smaller, then sparser, and then they were just gone. The last CDC tent and its flapping plastic walls disappeared behind them, swallowed by the heat haze.
From there, even the weird roadblock didn't interest her much. The men spoke a lot, but they didn't really say anything. By the time they got on the road again, Sera was waiting for something big to happen.
It had been too quiet lately, and while the human part of her liked it, the creature under her skin really did not.
She leaned her head back against the seat and let the movement of the truck roll through her bones. Zubair drove with both hands on the wheel, his shoulders were loose, and his eyes steady. It was almost like he was worried that something would go wrong.
