My bond starts to warm in my chest, flooding down my limbs and getting ready to take over as it senses danger is near, right as I hear the sound of approaching footsteps.
Kieran signals us all to be quiet and palms a gun, moving around us until he’s got the rest of us pinned between his body and the tree, effectively shielding me from the danger.
A large group of at least thirty Resistance walk through the Shield boundary in front of us, arriving fresh onto the front lines and making it through the same weak point we had.
They spot us straight away.
“Cowering like fucking children, that’s why we’ll win the war against the sheep, boys!” one of them calls out, and my bond hammers at my mind to be let out.
I take a deep breath, what I assume will be my last one while in control for the day, before there’s a snarling sound and then the darkness rolls in. It’s breathtaking.
Literally, I can’t breathe as I watch the group get torn apart.
They all attempt to fight it off, but how exactly does one fight off smoke and the dark itself? Their arms flail about even as the creatures’ sharp teeth shred them to pieces, a gory death that they all surely deserve.
Through the darkness, Nox appears as if out of thin air, Brutus padding along obediently by his side. He looks like death incarnate, blood spattered all over him, but it only takes a quick glance to know that he’s in one piece and the injury I’m feeling isn’t his.
The relief and dread mix like an acid cocktail in my gut.
I chuckle nervously. “Just in time, thanks for that. I thought I was going to have to shove Kieran out of the way to deal with this myself.”
The last man standing there with pure terror on his face snaps, lurching towards us with a knife in his hand, one last desperate act of a man staring down a blood-soaked death. Nox is quick to act, planting himself between us both and using the butt of his gun to knock the guy out without much effort. He was nothing more than a bag of bones anyway, but the shadow creatures don’t seem to mind as they get to work consuming him.
Kieran pulls a face and turns away from the sight of it.
“Are you trying to die here, Poison? Get your bond out and make yourself useful.”
I feel like he’s obsessed with my bond at this point. I snap back, “Just accept the thanks and move on. It’s not that hard.”
“How about you do something useful and stop walking around like this is a field trip for your enjoyment? People are dying here.”
My bond still doesn’t react to his jabs but boy does my temper. When I feel the next group of arriving troops from the Resistance, I let my Gift out to kill them all at once. Fifteen men, gone in the blink of an eye before they even had the chance to spot our little group.
Atlas’ hand tenses in mine, but his shoulders roll back a little as he prepares himself for whatever comes next.
“Like that? Should I kill everyone now, regardless of whether or not they’re actually Resistance? Should I let my bond out again to just wipe the area clean and call it a win?”
He leans forward and his eyes flash black, but it’s his own voice he speaks in. “Yes. There’s no saving them once they’re killing their own anyway. Just take them all out.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Oli
Kieran is far more confident moving through the Wasteland with Nox at our side.
He’d given a quick and dirty debrief of what had happened when they’d arrived a few hours ago, about the ambush that was waiting for them here, and the massive amount of resources the Resistance were willing to sacrifice to capture one of my Bonded. There’s no doubt in anyone’s minds about whether or not that was the plan. They had made it very clear that Silas Davies wants my Bonded Group.
He honestly thinks he’s strong enough to capture and keep us all.
Stupid, stupid man.
I managed to stay calm for as long as it took to hear Nox out, and the moment he was done, I’d demanded to leave, my eyes still blue but my bond coming out in my voice a little bit, just as impatient as I am, at this point.
I need to find my Bonded.
As we all move out, following Nox as he leads us to where he’d last seen North, we find signs of them everywhere. There are bodies torn apart and the greenish acidic goo stuff that the shadow creatures sometimes leave behind.
The area is full of slopes and dips, which makes it an ambush nightmare. Every time we start on an incline, there’s a moment where I know we’re exposed, not able to see who might be hiding in the valleys ahead of us, or even beside us, making us a giant moving target.
Except Nox sends out his shadow creatures out all around us to scout, screams and gunshots ringing out around us as they find our enemy lying in wait. My bond is still warm in my chest and limbs, poised at the edge and ready for the moment that I finally let go, but I’m not ready to tap out yet. I’m not ready to miss out on seeing my Bonded and knowing that they’re healed up.
My legs speed up all over again.
Atlas moves with me, still intent on staying close to me and using his Gift to protect me fully. Gabe is taking up the rear with Kieran, one eye on me and the other looking around in case the shadow creatures miss someone.
I don’t think we’re going to miss anyone.
Nox stops abruptly and speaks without turning, “The main fight is happening over that ridge. There’s another Shield in place, it’s why you can’t hear anything. The moment you cross it, it’ll feel as though you’ve stepped through a portal. North is in there. I was as well. Gryphon was pushing the front lines forward to get to Unser, and we were cleaning up everything he sent our way. He had a small team with him. I’d guess it’s him who’s hurt, but he’ll still be pushing forward. We made the call not to withdraw until we got Unser.”
A shiver runs down my spine.
I haven’t said it to any of them yet, but my plan isn’t just to find whoever is hurt and heal them. I’m also going to start funneling power to the rest of them. I’m going to use my ability to turn the deaths of our enemies into a weapon to use against the rest of the Resistance until we’re all safe.
I don’t care if that makes me a monster.
”Bassinger, stay with Fallows, no matter what happens. You can all speak to each other through the mind connection now, right? Use it,” Kieran says, and then we move together down the last slope and into the next phase of hell in the Wasteland.
We’re immediately split up by a Flame, a wall of fire heads towards us that we all have to dive away from and take cover. Atlas shoves me behind an overturned truck, our feet stumbling over the asphalt that is unexpectedly underneath us as we hit a road of some sort. Visibility is freaking terrible, and I have to duck my head to stop my hair from being set alight.
Brutus trots around the side of the truck, unbothered by the heat of the flames, and he sits obediently the moment he gets eyes on me.
Even if Nox still sees me as poison, his bond wants me safe.
Atlas pushes me further into a crouch, his body covering me more fully. There’s the sounds of screaming around us and the smell of burning flesh that’s indescribably horrifying wafting over to us.
Atlas makes a sound like he’s trying not to puke, and I feel a little better about how my stomach is doing flips like I’m about to puke up whatever is left in my guts.