Hannah grabs my wounded arm anyway.
Her fingers are gentle.
Too gentle for a room falling apart around us.
“You don’t get to die for me,” she whispers.
The words slip under my ribs and wrap around something I didn’t know was still breakable.
I lean closer.
So close her breath catches.
“I’m not dying.”
The door slams again.
The iron bar bends.
I look straight into her eyes.
“I haven’t told you yet.”
Her lips part.
“Told me what?”
Everything.
That’s the word that almost leaves my mouth.
Everything.
That I’m in love with her.
That I don’t know when it happened.
That somewhere between blood and fear and her stubborn, beautiful heart, she became the one person I would tear the world apart to keep breathing.
But the door explodes inward before I can say it.
Russ fires first.
“GO!”
Gabriel drops into the tunnel.
Miles passes the little girl down.
Lucas follows with the wounded woman.
Russ turns to Hannah.
“Move!”
Hannah looks at me.
I nod once.
