11
We walk slowly through the wide corridor.
After I shared as much as I could bear about my time with the vampires, we sat in silence for a long, long while. But it wasn’t the uncomfortable kind. It was the sort that somehow eases the pain, a shared trauma, a communal grieving. A silence that heals, not divides.
Gage leans against the wall ahead of us where he’s talking quietly to two soldiers. Now dressed in military fatigues, he flicks his gaze to me as we approach. The soldiers with him give a nod and then hurry away down a side hallway, their steps echoing against the cold concrete.
He strides to us. “Georgia, I know you’re catching up with Wyatt and Evie, but can I have a quick word?”
“We were going to show her the lab,” Evie says, though there isn’t much conviction in her voice.
I think we’re all drained. Happy to be together again, but somehow also crushed under the weight of it all.
“Maybe save that for tomorrow? It’s been a big day for everyone.” Gage stops in front of us, his warm eyes on me. “I’ll escort you to your quarters after.”
A few soldiers pass, both of them staring at me though clearly tryingnotto stare at me. When Gage turns to look at them, they finally decide to look straight ahead and nowhere else.
“She’s rooming with me, right?” Evie asks. “I’ve got plenty of space. No roomies at all.”
“Absolutely.” Gage smiles.
“Good.” She gives me a side hug. “I’ll show you how the shower works, and if you’re nice, I might even share some of my snack rations.”
“How nice are we talking?”
“Why don’t you share your snacks with me?” Wyatt harrumphs.
“Ugh.” She takes his good arm. “Come on. I’ll give you some of those fake cheese cracker things, all right?”
“Those are my favorite.” He lets her lead him away.
“See you in a few,” she calls over her shoulder.
I wave.
“Come on.” Gage juts his chin toward a set of metal doors a few paces down the hall. “Let’s talk.”
“Okay.” I follow him, passing a few more people, one of them dressed like a nurse and a few others in civilian clothes.
He takes a left and scans his badge, which opens another door that leads to a living area. “My quarters,” he explains as he holds the door for me. “I thought we’d be more comfortable catching up in here.”
I glance around. A simple living room with a faux plant and furniture that looks more like office fixtures than a homey space. Plain walls just like the gray ones in the hall.
“Please.” He gestures toward the couch.
I walk in, the door sealing shut with a click behind me, and have a seat on the stiff couch. Everything in the room is somewhat spartan, and there’s a sleeping area with a bed farther back. No kitchen. Everything is concrete, wood, and scratchyfabrics lit by fluorescents. Made for survival, nothing more. For a moment, it gives me echoes of the dungeon beneath the Black Cavern where I’d been held. My mouth goes dry, and I pull my knees up, wrapping my arms around them.
“You’re probably all talked out by now.” He hands me a bottle of water and sits beside me. “But I know you have to have a lot of questions for me. You took a leap of faith to get into that helicopter, especially after all you’ve been through. I want you to know that you made the right choice.” He angles himself toward me, his gaze searching for mine. “You know that, right?”
“I—yeah. I think so.”
“Good.” He smiles and relaxes a bit.
I glance at the small Saints emblem embroidered on his chest in gold thread.
He catches the movement. “We’re still the United States, just a hybrid of organizations is all. It was necessary after DC fell. And I promise you, the Saints that attacked you are not part of this.”
“I know they aren’t. They’re dead,” I say flatly.
