The spare was on. They were moving again, but the rhythm had changed.
"We're coming up on the bridge," Jax said. "It connects the river bed to the access road for the airfield. It's a choke point."
Thomas was back in the driver's seat. "Lucas, get in the back. I'll take the wheel."
"No," Lucas said, staying put. "I know the line. I know the depth of the gravel."
"It's too dangerous, Lucas."
"We don't have time for an ego contest, Colonel!" Kofi shouted from the back. "We have movement on the ridge!"
Lucas looked in the side mirror. On the canyon wall above them, silhouettes were moving against the moonlight. They weren't running. They were shadowing the van. Keeping pace.
"Dad, look at me," Lucas said, his voice hard. "You drive like a tank. You plow through. That works on the road. In the river bed, you have to flow. If you drive, we'll high-center on a rock and die. Let me drive."
Thomas looked at the ridge. He looked at the obstacles ahead. He looked at his son's hands on the wheel—steady, confident.
Thomas unbuckled his seatbelt. "Take us home, Lucas."
Lucas floored the gas.
The van surged forward. Ahead, the bridge was a narrow stone arch. And standing in the middle of it was a single figure.
It was the Alpha.
It stood perfectly still, its arms at its sides. It wasn't blocking the path physically; it was blocking it psychologically.
"It's a test," Jax said. "Don't stop."
"If we hit him, we might crash," Maggie screamed.
"We don't stop," Lucas said. "We don't swerve. We commit."
Lucas locked his eyes on the Alpha. He didn't blink.
The van accelerated. Fifty miles per hour. Sixty.
The Alpha didn't move.
At the last second, Lucas realized the Alpha wasn't looking at the van. He was looking at the tire.
"BRACE!" Lucas yelled.
He yanked the wheel to the right, not to avoid the Alpha, but to hit a patch of loose gravel on the side of the bridge.
The van drifted, its back end sliding out. The side mirror clipped the Alpha.
CRUNCH.
The Alpha spun and vanished into the river below.
The van corrected itself and shot off the bridge onto the access road.
Lucas exhaled, his heart hammering against his ribs. "I hit him."
"You didn't kill him," Thomas said grimly from the back. "But you pissed him off."