That spark.
That flicker.
Gone.
He hit the ground hard and didn’t move again.
His body sprawled on his side, his eyes wide open, locked on mine.
I did this. I ended him... took his life.
I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t blink.
I just… stared.
At him.
At what I’d done.
I’d taken a life.
His.
No...no....
I felt it lodge inside me like a shard of ice.
I didn't hear anything after that.
It was like my hearing was taken from me. Like I was locked in a tunnel of pain and fear with the man I had killed.
Gray’s hand was suddenly on my shoulder. His voice was low, fierce, and alive.
“You break later,” he said. “Grieve later.”
He knelt, checked the man’s pulse, then turned back to me. “Right now, youlive.”
I shook my head, barely able to speak. “I... I didn’t mean...”
“You did what you had to do.”
“Ikilledhim, Gray.”
“I know. And we’ll carry that. We all do. But not here. Not now. It was him or you, Ava. You made the only choice that ended with you living.”
He looked back toward the smoke, thick, black, still rising.
“They’re not all dead,” he said. “We don’t have long.”
He grabbed my face with both hands, blood on his fingers. “Runtoward the road. Keep the smoke at your back. Do not stop. I’ll draw the rest away.”
“No.... please...” I grabbed his wrist, panic rising.
“Ava,go.If they find you before help gets here, that death will mean nothing. This isn't the end for you... I promise.”
We stared at each other for what felt like forever, and then he pushed away from me, unsteady in his movements and said... "Go, Ava... run. I have you."
I wanted to say more. Wanted to scream. Beg. Plead.
