Page 54 of Scars of Fate

Not stop.

Fade.

There was a difference.

Stopping meant the danger was over.

Fading meant we were getting farther away from it.

I tightened my arm around the elderly man’s waist as we struggled up the narrow trail.

His name was Farid.

He had spent thirty-seven years teaching history at a university that no longer existed.

Now his left leg dragged behind him, blood soaking through the makeshift bandage Janice had wrapped around his thigh.

“I can walk,” he insisted.

“You are walking.”

“You are carrying me.”

“I’m helping.”

He looked at me from beneath thick gray eyebrows.

“You are very stubborn.”

“So I’ve been told.”

Behind us, another explosion shook the mountains.

Several children screamed.

Farid stumbled.

I caught him before he fell.

“Keep moving!” Russ called from the rear of the group. “Stay close to the rock wall!”

The trail wound between two towering ridges, barely wide enough for everyone to move single file.

Boone had taken the lead.

Russ protected the rear.

Janice moved through the middle, checking the wounded while trying to keep frightened families together.

Adam, Hawk, and Lucas were still behind us.

Holding off an army.

My stomach twisted.

I glanced back again.

Dust filled the canyon.