Page 8 of Whispers and Warriors
Liam looked at Alex, a flicker of gratitude passing between them. Alex’s technical prowess had bought them precious time. But how long before their pursuers caught on?
As the van ate up the miles, Liam retreated into his thoughts, his clenched together until his knuckles turned white. The weight of responsibility settled heavily on his shoulders. Emma’s safety, the lives of his comrades, it all rested on his decisions.
Fear coiled in his gut, a cold and insidious thing. What if he made the wrong call? What if, despite his best efforts, he couldn’t protect them? The thought of losing Emma, of failing her when she needed him most, was almost too much to bear.
But he couldn’t let his doubts consume him. Not now, when they needed him to be strong. To lead them through this nightmare and out the other side.
Liam took a deep breath, forcing his muscles to relax. He had to have faith. Faith in himself, in his team, in the unbreakable bonds that held them together.
They would make it through this. They had to. Because the alternative was unthinkable.
FOUR
William satin the back of the truck, his arm wrapped protectively around Emma’s slender shoulders. She’d moved to sit by him a few moments ago, and he couldn’t help but wonder if she was less okay than she was outwardly expressing. Tension radiated from her body, and even from the gentle touch he couldn’t miss the way her muscles coiled tight beneath his hand. It was a feeling he knew all too well, a constant companion in this world of chaos and uncertainty, but one he’d hoped she’d never feel again after saving her.
His mind raced, strategies and contingencies whirling through his thoughts like leaves caught in a storm. It seemed that was going to be the status quo again, questioning everything, doing jobs no one else wanted to do to save people. He didn’t want to be bitter, but at the end of the day, he was. William was sick of running into danger to help people who didn’t want help. Sick of scavenging for supplies for the government now that he believed the organization did not use them for the right reasons. Sick of living day after day knowing that the best he could do to honor his parents was survive and he was struggling to do that well.
He wasn’t depressed—he wasn’t even sad. He was just annoyed. Hope was right there waiting to help them all start over, and it had been a lie.
You know what Dad would say, stop being so hard on yourself.
The vehicle rumbled onward, outside world offering far and few people compared to the thriving base. William struggled to quiet the weight of responsibility resting on him. He knew that their safety, their very survival, hinged on his ability to see what wasn’t obvious on the treacherous path ahead. Liam and Alex bore the responsibility of getting them to the next spot before the U.S. Military found them, but they were going to rely on his ability to see what’s hidden, both literally and figuratively, to determine if this new place, these new people, could be trusted.
It was a burden he carried willingly, a duty he had sworn to uphold from the moment he’d joined the team. With Emma present, it was more important than ever he saw what wasn’t there, to protect her. She was his light in the darkness, the one shining beacon of hope in a world gone mad. And he would do whatever it took to keep her safe, to shield her from the horrors that lurked around every corner.
But even as he held her close, even as he whispered words of reassurance and comfort, William couldn’t shake the feeling that he should be doing more. Emma was the heart of their group, the emotional anchor that kept them all tethered to their humanity. And right now, she needed them more than ever and they couldn’t promise her anything other than that they had food and water for the time being.
She deserved better. More. Possibly even more than when she’d opened that damn radio tower door and exposed herself to danger.
He leaned in close, his lips brushing against her ear as he spoke. “We’re almost there, Em,” he murmured, his voice lowand soothing. “Just a little longer, and we’ll be safe.” He wanted to promise her that, but he refused to ever lie to her.
Emma turned to face him, her hazel eyes shimmering with unshed tears. “I know,” she whispered, her voice trembling slightly. “I just...I can’t help but feel like every step we take is one step closer to losing everything we’ve fought so hard for. You’ve all done all you can to reassure me, but it still feels like the world exploded for a second time.”
William’s heart clenched at her words, at the raw vulnerability that lay beneath them. He knew all too well the fear that gnawed at her soul, the constant dread of losing someone she loved. It was a fear that had become all too real in this shattered world, a reality they had been forced to confront time and time again. No one in this vehicle hadn’t lost someone the day of the bombs, maybe no one in the entire world.
But even in the face of such overwhelming odds, even in the midst of such unimaginable darkness, William refused to give in to despair. He had to be strong, for Emma, for his team, and for the fragile hope that still flickered even if it was just slightly dashed away.
“We’re not going to lose anything,” he said fiercely, his tone far darker than normal as he made that promise out loud. “We’ve come too far, fought too hard, to let them take it all away from us now. And when we get to the meeting spot, when we’re finally safe, I’m going to make sure you know just how much you mean to me, to all of us.”
Emma’s lips curved into a soft smile, a glimmer of light amidst the shadows. She leaned into his touch, her body molding against his in a way that was both natural and electrifying every damn time she did it.
“I know.”
“I love you, Em,” he said, his voice raw and honest. “I know I don’t say it enough, but I need you to know that. You’reeverything to me. You’re my reason for fighting, for surviving. And I promise you, no matter what happens, I will always be here for you.”
“We all do. Love you,” Bash spoke up from the corner unapologetically. “We’ll get through this just like we got through the last hurdle.”
“Guys,” Alex’s voice drew William’s attention through the small window of the truck up to the front. “We’re almost there.”
A tension settled over William, like a weighted blanket only instead of grounding him, it set his nerves on edge. The air was somehow thicker, heavier with the weight of their collective fears and fragile hopes. It pressed down on him, threatening to crush the breath from his lungs.
He focused on the feel of Emma in his arms, on her slender body molded against him, and used her presence as an anchor against the rising tide of anxiety. But even that small comfort couldn’t fully ease the sense of warning that crept along his spine like icy tendrils.
He couldn’t see much through the small window that let him see through the windshield. Not that it would have mattered much. The world outside the truck’s windows offered no respite, an endless expanse of barren earth and skeletal trees that stood like silent sentinels, bearing witness to the ravages of the toxin. It was a harsh reminder of all they had lost, of the world that had been stolen from them in the blink of an eye.
William’s gaze drifted to the others, taking in the tense set of their shoulders and the grim determination etched onto their faces. They had all seen too much, endured too much, to be anything but wary. Trust was a luxury they could ill afford in this shattered world.
William forced himself to take a deep breath, to push down the fear that threatened to choke him. He had to be strong now, had to be the member his team needed him to be. With a finalsqueeze of Emma’s shoulder, he disentangled himself from her embrace and waited for the truck to stop.
