Page 42 of Hell Breaks Loose

“Yeah. I can relate. Tell… I lost him.” It’s been brewing in the back of my mind since returning, since hearing that Tell would be back soon.

That I’d have to tell someone, that I needed to tell someone what happened.

Specifically, one of us. The three men in Hellena’s life.

Over the past few weeks, months, we’ve become like… like a family.

Or we were starting to, anyway.

Tell doesn’t look at me, just nods. Then he waits, lets me work it out.

“We ran out of time. Got one bomb disarmed, tried to get another far enough away…” It blurs in my memory, the order of events. But what doesn’t is the rushing water.

The cold.

Feeling his hand slipping out of mine.

“It was like the fucking ocean let loose, right down on top of us,” I whisper, gripping my bottle. “Unrelenting. All I could do was find anything to hold onto. To grab Evan’s hand. But we were both beat to shit.”

“Gav—”

I press on.

“The fucking asshole knew I couldn’t hang on much longer. Not with both of our weight.”

Silence hangs over us as the last bits of sunlight fade behind the rim of the valley.

“I bet he said some martyr, hero bullshit about staying alive, getting back to Hellena, that she needed you more than him?” Tell chuckles softly, bitterly.

“You know it. That sanctimonious prick.” I sniff, blinking away the burn in my eyes.

“So damned dramatic.”

“I should’ve?—”

“No. Don’t fucking do that to yourself.”

“I failed him. I failed Hellena. I couldn’t find him, Tell. After, I?—”

“Did everything you could, just like I did. Followed Hella. And she turned me away. If you failed, then so did I. But it’s not over, man. She’s still alive. Which means there’s still a chance.”

“Ugh. How do you stay so damned positive?”

“Spite, mostly.” Tell’s smile fades slightly, his mood sobering.

“There’s more bad news, isn’t there?”

“Yeah. I went to Severance before I came here. To check on Rachelle.”

It hadn’t even occurred to me these past few weeks to think about Hellena’s aunt.

“And?’

“She’s gone. Hospital says she woke up. Checked herself out. Vanished.”

7

HELLENA

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