Page 5 of Ravaged Saints

“You must miss them a lot,” Bryn says softly, her words barely more than a whisper.

“I do.” I hesitate, memories flickering in my mind.The farm. The smell of fresh earth. My father’s rough hands guiding mine.“We lived on a farm. My family worked on it—hunting, farming… life was simple, but it was good.” I swallow the lump in my throat. “I had two older brothers. They were the best—always looking out for me, teaching me how to fight, how to survive.”

I glance at Bryn.Do I say more?But the words slip out anyway.

“My dad always said I had to learn everything like my brothers so I wouldn’t have to rely on a man.” I shake my head, huffing a soft laugh. “Never thought this was what he meant.” I wave my hand around at the ruined world, trying to keep my tone light.

Bryn laughs along. “Survival skills on hard mode, right?”

I laugh and nod. “What about you?” I ask as we reach a point in the river that’s impossible to cross, and I take a deep breath, heading towards the dense woods. Unfortunately, we can’t avoid it anymore; we also need food, and it’s easier to hunt there.

“Well…” she stops, running her hands through her hair.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, Bryn. It’s fine, really. I don’t want her to feel forced to talk about her past; who we were before doesn’t define who we are now. We’ve all changed, and unless she was a serial killer or something, it’s none of my business.

“I was a call girl,” she blurts out.

I stop dead in my tracks. She stiffens, her fingers twitching at her sides, and her face flushes deep red. Her shoulders draw in, like she’s bracing for judgment, for disgust.

“Oh, thank God,” I gasp, pressing a hand to my chest.

Her eyes widen, her lips parting in stunned silence.

“I’m sorry,” I rush to add, shaking my head with a small laugh. “For a moment, I thought you were going to say you were a serial killer or something like that.”

Bryn bursts out laughing, doubling over as she leans against a nearby tree, her arm wrapping around her bruised ribs. She wheezes through her laughter, shaking her head.

“Aspen, Jesus Christ,” she chokes out, still grinning.

I smirk, rolling my eyes, but her laughter slowly fades. Her fingers swipe at the corners of her eyes, the humor in them dimming.

“I had put together a team of girls,” she says, softer now. “High-end. Fancy. It took me three years to build it up, to get to a point where the girls were making good money in a safe environment.” She exhales, her breath unsteady. “Then the news broke.”

She looks away, her fingers tracing patterns against the bark of the tree, like she’s grounding herself.

“When things started shutting down, when panic spread, we ran. One of my clients was a retired army guy. I trusted him. He kept us safe.” Her jaw tenses. “But not all of us made it. Some got sick. Others…” She swallows hard, shaking her head. “Others, like me, didn’t.”

Silence stretches between us, thick with everything unsaid. She doesn’t look at me, her fingers curling and uncurling at her sides. The weight of loss lingers in the air between us, unshaken by time.

I exhale slowly, choosing my words carefully. “That must’ve been… hell,” I say, my quieter now. I want to reach for her, to offer something more, but I don’t know if she’d welcome it.

She lets out a humorless laugh, shaking her head. “Yeah. It was.”

Only then do I step closer. “I’d never judge you for that, okay?” I say firmly, making sure she sees the sincerity in my eyes.

Her lips twitch, a small, almost hesitant smile tugging at them. She nods, but I can still see the shadows in her gaze.

We walk in silence until we reach a clearing, a wide patch of earth surrounded by thick trees. It’s secluded, safe enough, and big enough to give us some breathing room. The sun is already sinking, casting long shadows through the branches. We won’t get much farther before dark.

“This will do for the night,” I say, shrugging my bag off my shoulders. “It’s sheltered, and if we’re lucky, we might even find something to eat.”

Bryn nods, glancing around. “I can keep watch if you want to scout ahead?”

I shake my head. “No, we’ll set up camp first. No point wandering hungry and exhausted.” I crouch down, pulling out a rabbit trap I made. It’s nothing fancy, but it does the job. “I’m going to set this up. Can you gather some wood for a fire?”

Bryn nods, heading left while I go the opposite way, positioning the trap near a tree with a piece of food as bait.

Now we wait.

---