Read dragons breath 01 - stalked by flames for Free Online Page B

anyway?” he asked.
    “I’m sort of a mix. My mom was born here, but she’s half-white and half-Malaysian.” I paused, my shoulders tensing. “And according to her my dad was part-Cherokee, but I never met him.”
    That was a rather sore point with me. I didn’t like talking about my real father—not that I had much to say about him. My mother only knew him for six months before he ran off.
    “So whose ranch are you going to?”
    “My stepfather, Grady, owns it. He married my mom when I was two years old. They had a son together after that and I’ve got two older stepbrothers. So it’s like one big happy family when we’re together.”
    Conrad snickered. “So, a lot of fightin’ and shit?”
    “Oh, yeah. That’s why I’m so thin. The boys always ate all the food.”
    We reached the garage exit. I thrummed my fingers on the steering wheel, debating which route to take. If Lindsey Street had been hit by the dragons that probably wasn’t the best way to go. The pouring rain wasn’t helping matters, either.
    “Stay in the neighborhoods as long as you can,” Conrad suggested. “Those seemed pretty clear when I was running through them.”
    “Good idea.” I turned south, heading for Highway 9.
    We only had to go a couple of miles until we’d reach the interstate. As we passed through the neighborhoods, there didn’t appear to be any burned houses or major damage along the way. No people out, either. At least, not from what I could see through the pouring rain.
    It wasn’t until we reached the I-35 onramp that we ran into problems. A huge pile-up of vehicles blocked most of the bridge, all of them burned with only parts of their shells remaining. A tire here, a truck bed there, and in one case the front engine compartment of a car.
    “Damn,” Conrad swore under his breath.
    I didn’t say anything. The sight of what must have been dozens of cars was horrifying, yet I couldn’t afford to get emotional right now. I didn’t have the time or the luxury. If we managed to get to safety, I could think about it then.
    I guided the truck around the graveyard of cars, eventually reaching the ramp. As we made our way down, we came upon the shell piece of another car—the trunk and back tires. It blocked most of the lane.
    “I’m going to nudge it out of the way,” I said.
    Conrad nodded. “Go for it.”
    I inched forward until my bumper connected with the trunk piece, then steered it to the side. The sound of metal grating on cement had Conrad and me wincing. Once it was out of the way, I continued on and joined a line of cars heading out of town. Guess we weren’t the only ones trying to leave here. The driving rain kept movement to about forty miles per hour, but some of the tension in me eased just by knowing we were finally making progress.
    Conrad put his hands behind his head. “Ain’t this some shit out of some b-rated movie?”
    I passed a car with several kids in the backseat. Oddly, they were playing on their tablets and smiling like nothing major had happened. Had they missed the carnage or had video games dulled the effect for them? And was that a good or bad thing?
    “If it’s a movie, I’d like to press pause now,” I replied. “Or better yet, rewind.”
    “Gotta find the remote first.” He looked around like it might have slipped between the seats.
    “Yeah, right.”
    We drove for a while in silence, the windshield wipers and beating rain making the only noise. Traffic jammed about five miles out of town where a collision had taken place. Not one caused by dragons, but probably road conditions. Everyone had to move to the left lane to go around it. There weren’t any cops or emergency vehicles there yet. Would they come?
    “The rain’s letting up,” Conrad said after we got clear of it.
    “Check your cell phone and see if you can get a signal,” I suggested.
    He glanced at it and frowned. “I got one bar.”
    “That’s better than nothing. See if you can reach your