Above All Else (The Exodus)
1. Carter
Chapter 1
Carter
T hree rows of leather seats lined the narrow tube hurtling through the sky at five hundred miles an hour. The beige carpet in the aisle was thick and plush, screaming luxury. The oval-shaped window encompassed the clouds, the world a blue sphere beneath me, sandwiching me between the two. There was something so mesmerizing about observing the world from thousands of feet above—buildings reduced to the size of my fingertips and people so minuscule they disappeared in the rush.
In reality, our significance amounted to such a negligible level. We were mere blips on the extensive timeline of this indifferent universe. Our ephemeral, aimless existence made us easy to manipulate and even easier to extinguish.
My fingers drummed against the armrest as the jagged Rocky Mountains came into view with bobbing legs and accelerated breaths. A sharp white light seized my vision.
My chest is tight, causing a steady pinching in my ribcage. My hands glimmer with blood—screams shattering my eardrums.
“The weather in Gypsum, Colorado today is a brisk sixty-five degrees without…”
I cleared my throat, shaking away a bitter rush hitting me in the solar plexus.
“…but give it an hour, and that could change.”
The speakers crackled, and the flight attendant with a short blonde pixie cut, who’d smiled through the entire flight, giggled—the glasses she moved around, clinking against one another.
I washed down the unwelcome memories with the last of my bourbon, my knuckles bloodless as I clutched the tumbler and gathered a deep breath through my nose. The bourbon bled off sweet notes of toffee, making my mouth water.
The plane dipped down in a controlled descent.
“Prepare for landing.” The pilot’s speaker crackled, his words muffled as though he shoved the microphone into his mouth and chewed gum at the same time.
The flight attendant stepped out of the makeshift kitchen at the front of the rented plane and smiled. “It’s time to buckle.”
I lifted a brow, tapped the belt that had remained buckled the entire flight, then raised my empty glass and handed it to her. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, sir.”
The seatbelt sign above the flight attendant flashed when she walked into the kitchen, deposited the glass, and then took her seat facing me—her belt strapped over her shoulders.
Why does she have a harness, and the rest are lap belts?
The plane dipped. My stomach leaped. The wheels bounced and then skidded along the runway until it slowed and pivoted towards the hangar.
Here we go.
A smile spread across my face as the plane came to a stop. The attendant lowered the steps as I pulled the tab on my buckle and stood.
My heart rate spiked as I took in the flight attendant’s micro-twitches, the slight rosacea on her cheeks, and the bloodshot whites of her eyes.
Late-night drinking?
Taking sips of the bourbon before handing it to clients?
She has a problem, and her body is crying out.
The pilot exited the cockpit and tilted his head as I grabbed the small duffle bag stuffed with enough clothes to last two days and approached him.
“Sir.”
“Thanks for the flight, Captain. It was smooth as butter.”
“Glad to be of service. Enjoy the rest of your day.”
I slung the bag over my shoulder and stepped down from the plane with a respectful nod, the fresh air mingling with a dash of pine.
Pressing my lips together, I rolled my shoulders under my leather jacket, took a deep breath of mountain air, and walked toward the black Lexus waiting inside the hangar.
Get in, get out.
That’s it.
A faint breeze ran through my short hair as I opened the back door and dropped my bag on the floor. I licked my drying lips as I closed one door and opened the driver’s, settling inside, my hand grappling with the keys. Sweat beaded across my brow, my stray light brown hair sticking to my forehead.
Exhaling, I gave myself a once over in the small rectangular reflective glass mounted in the visor, running my fingers through my now unruly hair. With a quick flip upward, the visor slapped the car’s ceiling with a muffled thump.
My heart thudded in my chest, a hint of nausea bubbling away in my stomach. I closed my eyes and took calming breaths, which did nothing to ease the sickness growing inside of me.
The road toward Avon wound through the mountainside, thirty-five miles from the closest runway, and nestled in the heart of the Rocky Mountains.
The population of Avon, a meager five thousand, spread out along the prominent skiing resorts, making the town no bigger than the iconic Buc-ee’s rest stop in Texas. But my final destination, Vale, Colorado, took the record for a thousand less.
And tomorrow night, there’d be fewer.
My fingers tightened around the steering wheel, gripping the cool leather as autumn leaves blurred past in yellow, orange, and red streaks. The evergreens stood in sharp contrast against the vibrant fall colors.
Twenty minutes later, the soccer field I’d used to play at when I was younger appeared, and then the burger joint where I’d had my first kiss and date in high school. Her lips were so dry they’d stuck to my wet ones like adhesive on a corpse’s skin.
My jaw tightened as I pressed down on the brake, slowing down next to a familiar two-story, light beige house in the neighborhood where I’d last seen my sister. My skin heated, my forehead and palms slicked as I stared at my nightmare in the flesh, the home unchanged despite the passing of time. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. Bile hit the back of my throat.
What am I doing here?
My nostrils flared as my vision squeezed into a tight tunnel, the light at the end a burning inferno of misery.
The skin encasing my knuckles stretched taut as though it might split, my knuckles popping under the strain as I made a fist in my lap.
Adrenaline spiked my veins, my pulse increasing with each breath.
This is the year, Amber.
It’ll all come crashing down in the most devastating way possible.
I opened my phone and scrolled through the two-year-long email thread between me and Mr. Anonymous, filled with photos, videos, and text messages between Amber and a demon wrapped in angel’s clothing.
Mr. Anonymous gift-wrapped the truth for me, but only after teasing me with bits and pieces for the last two years—setting a raging inferno under my ass.
I’d waited for this moment.
A moment when the police went into hiding, the elites came out to play, and the laws didn’t apply.
The perfect night to wait for vengeance.
I hit the gas and sped away from the neighborhood, leaving the house in the rearview mirror. When all was said and done, I’d burn it to the ground and never step foot in Avon again.
My teeth ached as I clenched my jaw. I took a sharp right, speeding up as I neared the elementary school at the end of the street and parked on the other side. I rolled down my window and glanced at the aging building with browning grass, my nerves shrieking with tension.
Kids ran around the metal playground, the ground covered in rubber woodchips. Their tiny hands pushing one another in a game of tag. A woman wearing a yellow floral dress monitored the little sprites’ play, the slight breeze pushing her shoulder-length hair behind her. Her laughter carried on the wind as a child pulled her onto the playground, the words lost from the distance .
The air pushed from my lungs, my chest collapsing—the rebellious member between my legs swelling.
She’s changed.
Grown...
No.
Not anymore.
The lust burned away as I glanced down at my beeping phone—a stark reminder of why I was here.
It wouldn’t take much to haul her away, carve her up with my surgical knives, and discard her like the human trash she is.
She brushed her hair behind her ears and smiled at the kids.
How can someone so beautiful and innocent on the outside harbor such evil inside?
I sneered, my upper lip curling, my fist clenching around my phone.
June hid a terrible secret for far too long, and it was my duty to expose her to the world—along with her insides.
The side of my mouth curled up into a wicked smile, my reflection glaring back at me in the rearview mirror as though an alter ego took up residence within.
Tomorrow night, I’d bring her world crashing down and cement my place in a society of the damned and depraved—a world I never aspired to be a part of.