Before the Fall Read Online Free PDF

wished they weren’t. She felt safer up here than she did on the ground, where the world wasn’t her world anymore.
    â€œAnything you know how to use!”
    â€œWhat about you?”
    â€œI have my own.”
    She grabbed a shotgun and a box of shells, then fisted a couple of daggers and something that looked like a foot-long nail. She found the bag he’d been carrying beside the guitar case and crammed the weapons inside. “I know you said guns won’t work, but I grabbed a shotgun anyway.”
    â€œIt’ll work. The shells are silver.”
    She worked her way back to the cockpit. “What’s with the guitar?”
    â€œWhat about it?”
    â€œYou never told me you played.”
    â€œI don’t.”
    â€œOh.” She wrung her hands together and sat down.
    â€œIt’s only an hour to St. Augustine from Daytona. We should be okay, right?”
    He answered with a smile that wasn’t quite reflected in his eyes. She knew him well enough to know he wouldn’t offer her any false promises. So he kept quiet.
    Shanna realized she’d never been more afraid in her life. Not even last year when she’d had a gun pressed to her temple and a very noble stranger named Zach had distracted the perp long enough for her to take him down.
    â€œTime to land?” she asked.
    â€œEither that or risk being shot down by a nation in panic.”

 
    Chapter Five
    8:16 p.m.
    3 hours and 44 minutes before the fall . . .
    T he minute they touched down in Daytona, a dozen armed men rushed the plane and hurried Shanna and Zach off the runway. The country was officially in red-alert mode, and all aircrafts were to be either grounded or shot out of the sky. The government was treating the situation like a terrorist attack, and in a sense, they weren’t wrong. But all the red alerts in the world weren’t going to protect against an enemy they didn’t know how to fight.
    If Zach knew anything about the Order, they were quickly pulling shit together to keep the humans as safe as possible. That meant bringing officials in on the truth and trying to temper the reactions of the world as they discovered demons and gods weren’t just creatures of myth. They were real.
    As one of the security guards rushed them toward the exit, Zach adjusted his hold on the guitar case and weapon bag, and grabbed Shanna’s hand, unwilling to risk losing her in the crowd outside the gate.
    â€œAll of Florida being evacuated or just the south?” he asked the guard.
    The overweight man grunted and fumbled with the gate locks. “All of Florida is being urged north. Don’t know what’s happening, dude, but Florida don’t get earthquakes. This is fucked up.”
    He had no idea.
    â€œBut if earthquakes are happening everywhere, where is everyone supposed to go?” Shanna asked, turning her hand so her fingers linked in Zach’s.
    â€œDon’t know. Sent my family to Carolina an hour ago. Doesn’t look like much is happening there yet.”
    As the guard shoved them through the gate and locked them out, he walked away grumbling, “Just so fucked up . . .”
    They started toward the terminal. A golf cart sat abandoned just around the corner, keys inside and just begging to be used. He dragged Shanna toward it. “Let’s go.”
    They hopped in and he maneuvered around the throng of people demanding flights they’d never be granted. A crowd had spilled from inside the airport into the drop-off and pickup lanes outside where Zach drove now. He wound around the thickest part of the mob toward the parking garage, not at all surprised to find it packed. Getting a car out of there would take forever.
    He chose a shuttle van instead. The driver stood across the lanes, smoking a cigarette—it was his own damned fault. Together, Zach and Shanna rushed to the vehicle, got inside and took off. The driver chased them down