He grinned. “I’ll bet you say that to all the guys.”

She had loved him once, but then she’d changed and he hadn’t. Now that she’d found him again . . . “You’re not the man I left.”

“It’s been kind of a busy year.”

“Put down your mug.”

He blinked, surprised, then set his mug on the table just before she stepped into him, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him fiercely. He kissed her back and she pressed him against the counter, holding him tightly, needing him more in this moment than she’d ever needed anything. Outside the storm raged, the mainland burned, and the island cowered in fear. Kira forgot it all and kissed Marcus.

Chapter Forty-two

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

“They’re coming,” said Falin.

Kira looked up from her pack, fitting in the last bottles of frozen water. “Who?”

“The whole damn Partial army,” said Falin, racing to catch up. He’d been halfway up an office building, scouting behind them while Kira and Marcus and the rest of the refugees foraged for food. “They’re in East Meadow now, but they’re not stopping. They probably already got word that the humans had fled.”

“The entire army?” asked Marcus.

“What’s left of it,” said Falin. He looked at Green. “Can he walk?”

“Not very well,” said Kira. They’d spent five more days in East Meadow, rounding up as many people as they could and all the supplies to sustain them, and now there were only five days left before Green’s expiration. Kira had never seen it happen, so she didn’t know what to expect, but the Partials didn’t seem surprised by Green’s early signs of weakness, growing slow and weak as his body turned its energy against itself.

Kira had hoped that Green’s interaction with the humans of East Meadow would save him, but it wasn’t working; either it needed more time to function, or it didn’t work at all. Watching him grow more frail and damaged caused the entire group’s spirits to sink. They had begun to see her as a savior, but now they were terrified that Kira’s shining promise was just one more false hope. They had gathered nearly four hundred human refugees, and ten more Partial soldiers had joined the group, but without any hope of salvation, Kira didn’t know how long the group could stick together. She prayed that Green would pull out in time, recovering miraculously, but the prospects were bleak. A part of her still feared that this would be her end as well—not expiration, but simply death. Four hundred and twenty people, running through a snowbound hell, chased by nuclear fallout and a vast army of super-soldiers. What chance did they really have?

Kira looked at Tomas, the Partials’ demolitions expert. “You’re ready with the explosives?”