Page 7 of Ash Fall

His shoulders drop as he exhales. "Jesus Christ."

The taller man rubs both hands over his face. "Mate, thank you. It felt like being trapped in my own head. I knew I didn't want to do any of it, but when the Colonel gave an order, there wasn't a choice. I knew it was wrong while I was doing it and still couldn't stop."

The shorter soldier nods. "Same. We could think whatever we wanted. Didn't matter."

I stare at them while the full meaning of that hits me. My father hasn't just taken Prairie Gap hostage. He's taken his own soldiers hostage too.

Gage steps beside me and folds his arms across his chest. "Where are the Canadian Forces from the base? Didn't they try to stop any of this?"

The shorter soldier shakes his head. "All the senior officers on base had a meeting the day after the moon cracked. After that, the Canadians started leaving. Trucks rolled out day and night. Nobody told us where they were going. They kept leaving until it was pretty much just our unit left on base."

"All of them?" Luna asks.

"As far as I know."

That makes no fucking sense. An entire Canadian base doesn't abandon the surrounding area in the middle of a national disaster without a reason, and the look Gage gives me says he isn't buying it either.

Mars steps closer to the soldiers. "If Torrin does the same thing to the rest of your unit and gets rid of Ashford's orders, will they release the people at the warehouse?"

The taller soldier thinks about it. "Most would. Immediately."

"Most?" Gage asks.

"There are a few who might keep backing the Colonel even without whatever he's doing to us. Some of the men are enjoying this a little too much."

"Of course they are," Gage mutters.

Luna moves closer to me, and I can already see the plan forming behind her eyes. "Then that's what we do. We go to the warehouse, and you free the soldiers from his orders. Once they're thinking for themselves again, they can let everyone go."

She says it so simply that I wish I could believe it will be that easy. Her face is brighter now because she can see a way to get Reid, Jules and Gigi back without turning the warehouse into a shooting range, and I want to give her that more than anything, but I also know exactly who is waiting inside.

Luna catches whatever crosses my face. "Tor?"

I don't answer right away. They don’t understand because none of them grew up with my father. They know he's an asshole because I've told them enough stories over the years, but they don’t know everything. There are things I never told them because I didn't want to talk about them then and sure as hell don't want to now.

I can hear Mom’s raised voice in the hallway. She sounds angry, which almost never happens because showing anger only makes him worse. His voice stays low and controlled but there’s a bite in it that makes me afraid for her.

Then I hear the crash and run out of my room. I reach the landing in time to see her at the bottom of the stairs while Dad walks down after her, calmly, without rushing.

He doesn't call her name or ask if she's okay. He reaches the bottom, crouches beside her and puts two fingers against her throat before looking up at me.

There is no panic or concern on his face, only what looks like satisfaction.

I force the memory away and look at the taller soldier. "Is Colonel Ashford at the warehouse?"

"Yeah, probably. He set himself up in an office near the front of the building and he doesn't leave much."

That tracks, he’ll like being the king of the castle.

Luna's hand slides into mine, and I close my fingers around hers while I think about what going to that warehouse really means. I won't be talking about my father from a safe distance anymore or remembering him from years ago. I'll have to stand in front of the man who killed my mother and spent years insisting it was an accident even though we both knew the truth.

My stomach turns, but Luna squeezes my hand again. I look down at our joined fingers before lifting my eyes toward the soldiers. If my power works on him, I can make him stop. If it doesn't, I'll find another way because I'm not letting him hurt Luna, this town, or anyone else again.

Chapter 4 - Luna

For the first time in days, I can breathe without wondering if everyone I love is dead. Gage and Torrin are standing in my kitchen, alive and close enough that I can touch them. Gage saw Reid at the warehouse, and if Reid is there, Jules is probably with him because separating those two for longer than twenty-four hours would require an act of God. Gigi might be there too. I don't know that for sure yet, and until I see all three of them with my own eyes, I'm not going to feel completely okay, but we're closer than we were an hour ago.

Learning that Gage, Torrin and Mars all have some version of whatever is happening to me should probably make the situation more terrifying. Instead, I feel less alone. The silver light coming out of my hands has made me question whether something went seriously wrong inside me when the moon cracked, and now Gage is building stairs out of dirt, Mars has shadows crawling around him, and Torrin can tell someone to stop moving and make their body obey. So, it looks like weird is a group activity for us now. There are about a thousand questions I need answers to. We need to sit down and talk about what is happening to us, try to figure out how to deal with it. For right now though, Reid, Jules, and possibly Gigi are behind barbed wire, so my questions are going to have to wait until we are all together and have time for a group hug.