Page 29 of What Remains

She’s quiet for a beat before relenting with a reluctant, “Okay.” Then she vanishes into the thick of the woods.

Easton rises, tugging me up with him. He’s still holding my free hand like he refuses to lose me again. “How’s your vision? Adjusted yet to the dark?”

I look around. Shadows, branches, and a thousand tiny night noises. But better than being in that room. Better than that belt unbuckling. “I’m okay,” I lie.

“How’s your hearing? No ear protection, so⁠—”

“My ears are the least of our worries.” Always thinking about everything, even now.

He nods. “Just stay close.”

“Nowhere I plan to go but with you,” I cry, and he grips my hand even more firmly before pulling me deeper into the brush.

Not even a minute later, he stops short, then yanks me behind a tree. He steps out and fires twice. I don’t see a body fall, but I hear something hit the ground.

Since when was Easton like this? I’ve always pictured him safely behind a yoke, not wading through hell on foot beside Carter and the others. I mean, sure, I knew he occasionally operated from the ground, but I had no clue this man could turn into a human blade. He’s slashing the world apart to save me.

“Good?” he breathes out, fingers curling around my wrist.

“I don’t understand any of this.”

“Same.” He tightens his grip on me. “But we have a safe house a couple miles away. Think you can make it on foot?”

“Ye—yes.” But guilt keeps me bolted in place.

Why is it okay for me to survive when others didn’t?

“What’s wrong? I mean, aside from—” He cuts himself off, spins away, and fires at someone I never heard or saw coming.

“I need to stop distracting you.” Everything else has to wait until we’re out of here.

He takes hold of my face with one steady hand and gently brushes his thumb across my cheek. His voice goes low, soft, and almost intimate—even in the chaos—as he rasps, “Distract me all you want once we’re out of here . . . okay?”

CHAPTER 10

Gwen

“We’re almost to the house.” Zoey stops in front of us, scanning the darkness. The sound of her voice is still a little muffled from the pressure in my ears after hearing those shots fired without protection. “You two good alone if I go ahead and clear it?”

Aside from the lights mounted to their weapons that they’ve barely used—probably to avoid drawing attention to us—they’ve pretty much relied on the moon’s reflection off the water as a guide. It’s been painting a ghostly trail along the edge of the woods we’ve been trekking through.

“You sure you don’t want backup?” Easton asks her.

“All good, no worries.” She lifts the rifle, turning on the flashlight attached to it, and the small beam of light cuts through the trees as she sets out her course forward.

“We’ll be right behind you,” he promises before Zoey disappears into the shadows.

She’s been leading us since the compound, including past bodies they left behind. Fifteen people. I wasn’t counting, but I heard Zoey mention it, her tone flat, like tallying up how many people ordered a Guinness at the local pub.

But those fifteen people had futures. Families. Now? They’re dust.

Not that I feel bad for them. They did choose the wrong side, but still.

I swallow, my stomach hollow and clawing at itself.

“You okay?” Easton asks once we’re alone, picking up on either my stomach growl or my depressing thoughts.

“Mm-hmm,” I breathe out.