Page 58 of Ash Storm

Ash

Fuck, he’d thought he was keeping up with his training, but in reality, he’d gone soft.

Once, he would have been able to run through the night with a man on his shoulders and not break a metaphorical sweat.

Tonight, his knee felt like it might give out at any moment. It was tight and swollen enough that he couldn’t fully bend it or straighten it anymore. He was trying hard not to think about the possible damage to it too hard. As long as he could walk to the helicopter, that would have to be enough.

His shoulders burned from Griffin’s added weight, but he knew better than to try to spread it out. Anytime he moved his ribcage, the pain in his ribs threatened to bring him to his knees. If that happened, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to get up again.

Even worse than the pain was the crippling fear that he would fail Reka, like he’d failed her friend. He thought, again and again, of everything they might have done differently—of every course of action they might have taken to get the two women out sooner.

Then he worried about what he would do if Reka wasn’t able to keep going.

To leave Griffin here was unthinkable. And he knew what Griffin would say. Hell, he’d already said it. To take Reka out of here and come back for him later. But Ash knew, deep in his heart, that if he left Griffin now, there would be no later. His teammate would either bleed to death or, if Afsan found him first, face unspeakable torture, followed by death.

But Ash also couldn’t carry both of them out of here.

And Reka had been incredible throughout the night. He wouldn’t ever have imagined a civilian in Reka’s position could go as far as she had, without complaint. But, as courageous as she was, he could see she was fading fast. He slowed his pace further, delaying the inevitable moment when he’d have to make the unspeakable choice.

“Stop it,” she said, panting loudly.

“Stop what?” he asked innocently.

“Looking at me like that. Like you’re worried I’m going to faint or something.”

“Do you want to stop and rest for a bit?” he asked, his tone serious.

“Will that help us get to the helicopter faster?”

He tried to shrug, regretted the movement almost immediately. He gritted his teeth.

“Maybe we should stop and rest for a bit,” she said, watching him. Now that the sky was starting to lighten, they could see each other much better.

“I can keep going,” he said. Moments later, his foot slipped on a rock and he almost fell. He pulled himself back at the last minute, groaning deep in his throat at the pain in his knee.

“Stop, Ash. Please,” she begged. “Just for a few minutes.”

Ash nodded and went down on his good knee. With her help, they got Griffin flat on the ground. At least the man was still unconscious. That was a small mercy—the trip would be agony for him if he were awake.

Reka pulled the shirt back to look at the bandages. “It’s bleeding less. That has to be a good thing, right?”

Ash looked at Griffin’s ashen tone, wondering if she would prefer a lie or the truth.

“Is he …” Her lip shook. With everything that had happened, he hadn’t seen her cry a single tear for herself, but she was going to cry now over a man she’d only just met.

“He’s alive. But we need to get him to Slate. I’m worried about his blood pressure.”

“Slate?”

“Slate’s our team’s medic—and also Griffin’s brother.”

“God, I can’t imagine—“ Her voice broke, and Ash knew she was thinking about Chloe. Chloe, in the hands of that madman.

Ash pulled out an energy bar and offered it to her—a poor distraction, but it worked.

“Which one is it?” she asked.

He’d been feeding her energy bars throughout the night, and she seemed to have developed a ranking of flavors.