“For the mission?” He looks toward the shelter where Olivia is helping one of the mothers bundle up a child. “Or for you?”
I don’t answer.
Don’t need to.
Miles smirks anyway.
“Yeah,” he mutters. “Thought so.”
I glare at him.
He just grins wider.
Unbelievable.
9
Olivia
The silence is wrong.
That’s the first thing I notice.
Not quiet.
Wrong.
Too still.
Too heavy.
My boots crunch against loose dirt as we move through the narrow stretch of rock, everyone spread tight and careful across the ridge. Wind slips through the canyon walls in low whistles, carrying dust across the path.
Nobody talks.
Nobody wastes energy.
Children cling to their mothers while Lucas scouts ahead and Russ watches everything like he expects the mountain itself to open fire.
And somehow that should make me feel safer.
Instead, the knot in my stomach tightens harder.
I glance behind us.
Nothing.
Just empty terrain and jagged stone.
Still—
The feeling won’t leave.
Like eyes are tracking every step.
Like something’s waiting.
My pulse picks up.
