Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 92392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
The staircase groaned at the connection point. The bolts that held it to the fuselage shrieked under the strain. The wind caught the ramp like a sail and threw it sideways, and I grabbed the railing with one hand and held my gun with the other and fired up at the men still pouring from the hatch.
“Akiro, you cowardly son of a bitch!” I shot some more. “Come out and finish this!”
The plane rose to six feet.
Hiro's boots slipped on a blood-slicked step. He dropped to one knee, caught the railing, and pulled himself up. The Hannya horns scraped the underside of the step above him.
I shivered. “Don’t you fucking fall!”
“Never.” Hiro tore his mask off and sneered.
The twins pressed against the railing on the left side. Aki—or Yuki—grabbed his brother's arm to keep him from sliding off the edge.
The plane rose, and so did we.
And soon the fucking grass below was ten feet away and getting farther.
Reo fought two men at the top of the stairs. The plane's movement threw his balance and he adjusted, widening his stance, driving his blade upward into a man's armpit. The Tsuchigumo mask showed nothing. His body showed everything—the ribs that Nyomi's cheese had supposedly healed were taking the punishment and his weight favored his right side.
We have to change course.
I looked down.
The Claws and Fangs had nearly cleared the soldiers at the base of the staircase. Only a handful remained between them and open ground.
Good.
Because the plane wasn't climbing slowly anymore.
Every heartbeat stole another foot.
"Jump off the stairs!" I yelled. "We’ve got this from here!"
None of them jumped.
Kaede buried his blade in a man's throat.
Daisuke drove his shoulder into another and threw him beneath the landing gear.
Rin took a step up.
“Don’t be suicidal, Kenji,” Yoichi growled as Satoshi got next to him.
Toma didn't even look up. "We stay together. Always."
"No!" I slammed another round into the hatch above us, getting a man who had just stepped out. "You won't make it and this staircase won’t hold all of us."
The plane lurched higher. The grass no longer looked close enough to trust. I knew the moment was coming when jumping stopped being an escape and became a gamble with broken backs and snapped necks.
"That's an order!" I roared. "Jump while you still can!"
Hiro yelled, “NOW!”
“You fucking assholes.” Kaoru looked down at the shrinking ground. “Jump with us!”
“No.” I reloaded. “This ends here for us. For you, jump off and finish anyone down there.”
Cursing, one by one, they grabbed the railing, shoved away from the staircase, and threw themselves into open air.
Kaoru spiraled through the air and hit it hard.
Toma and Daisuke fell and rolled.
Satoshi dropped and then crashed shoulder first.
Kaede disappeared into the smoke before hitting the ground and staggering back to his feet.
They made it.
Barely.
But Yoichi and Rin, they stayed.
I sneered. “Get off of the fucking stairs!”
Yoichi snatched off his mask. “Call your spirit beast back. He’s rested long enough.”
I blinked.
What? He can see and hear him?
I had no time to break this new information down. Goryū, come back.
The engines roared louder.
The propellers bit the air.
The plane accelerated forward, and the staircase rattled like a chain being dragged across concrete.
We were now too high in the air to jump. We either would fall to our deaths or get inside that plane where many armed men remained with Akiro and my father.
Goryū exploded from the dark below the plane.
Black smoke poured upward along the fuselage and his massive body reformed in the air above the hatch. His wings spread wide. His gold-fire eyes blazed brighter than before, as if the rest had fed him rage instead of calm.
He opened his jaw and shadow-fire flooded the hatch opening from above.
The men inside the doorway screamed. Three of them stumbled backward into each other. A fourth threw himself sideways and missed the ramp entirely—his body tumbled into open air, arms spinning, and the dark swallowed him before his scream finished.
Two more staggered out of the hatch clutching their faces. Their legs buckled on the top step. The wind caught them and peeled them off the staircase like leaves torn from a branch.
They fell without sound.
Hiro and I were able to rush up.
Goryū poured more fire into the opening, and I got a good view inside. The men still in the plane scrambled deeper into the cabin bay, away from the hatch, away from the shadow flames, tripping over each other and their own weapons.
The doorway cleared.
That is all I have for now.
Rest again. Come back when you can.
Goryū's body thinned. The gold eyes dimmed. He dissolved into the wind along the plane and was gone.
But the hatch was open and empty.
The tree line approached. If the plane gained enough speed it would rise over them. If it rose, the staircase would fold or break away and anyone still on it would fall.