Rougher.
Tighter.
Pain.
Thunder cracked overhead as gunfire exploded again somewhere behind us.
Shadow Division returned fire hard enough to shake the woods.
But I couldn’t focus on any of it.
Only him.
Only the warm wetness suddenly soaking through my hands where I grabbed his side.
No.
No, no, no.
My breath started shaking violently.
“Hersh…”
He tried to push himself up.
Failed.
Fear slammed into me so hard I thought I might stop breathing.
“Medic!” Wolf roared somewhere nearby.
Another gunshot cracked through the trees.
Rook shouted orders.
Trigger cursed.
Everything around us became chaos?—
but all I could see was Hersh collapsing beside me in the mud.
“No.” I grabbed his face desperately. “No, no, no, don’t you do this. You stay with me.”
Rain poured down his face.
Blood mixed with water beneath him.
His jaw tightened hard enough I saw the muscle flex.
“It missed anything important.”
“You are such a liar.”
His mouth almost twitched.
Almost.
Then his eyes shut briefly.
