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Nausea rolled through him, but he was able to swallow it down. His head continued spinning, forcing him to squeeze his eyes shut. Even the dim lighting felt all too bright for him.
Not a good sign, but it wouldn’t be his first head injury.
He should stay awake, push through the nausea, the light sensitivity, the ache he felt in his skull, put up a good fight against it all. But he couldn’t seem to make himself do that.
Instead, he found himself falling back into sleep.
He prayed that Anna had gotten away safely.
? ♥ ?
“For the last time, Anna,” Mason growled, “it’s not happening.”
Anna huffed out a breath, her frustration building to the highest point it had been in weeks. Even higher than when Hayden had cuffed and carried her.
“The longer we wait, the more prepared they’ll be for us. We need to move now.” Actually, they needed to move yesterday, but Sawyer had insisted she give everyone a day to grieve their losses. Longest day of her damned life.
For nearly an hour, she’d been arguing on and off with Mason and the others. First, she tried to be charming. Then, she moved to angry. Now, she was about to explode. Inspiration, it seemed, was not her thing.
Mason opened his mouth again, but no sound came out, Rachel’s hand closing over his shoulder as they shared a look. “We’ve lost enough,” Rachel said softly.
“You have,” Sawyer interjected before Anna could bite back a response. “We all have.” He stood from the tree stump he’d been sharpening his knives on, moving toward the fire where they all spoke. “I have watched more good men and women die than I can count.”
Anna watched as he spoke, standing in front of the fire, the light from the flames playing across his features. “Mason, why did you come up here?”
Mason’s nostrils flared, and Anna couldn’t help but notice the way Rachel’s grip on his shoulder tightened. He didn’t speak.
“When I first saw the free states, I was tempted to just move there myself. No more moving from place to place, no more fighting or scavenging, no more looming danger.” His eyes flicked to Anna, then back to Mason. “Except there is no place without looming danger, is there? Not even in the free states.”
“No,” Rachel responded quietly. “There’s not.”
Anna shifted in her seat, noting that everyone around them had their eyes on Sawyer.
“Do you know why that is?”
Rachel’s eyes fell to the ground, nobody else offering up a response. Anna thought back to what Hayden had told her, back before they’d even met up with Mason and his group, when she’d asked him why he stayed and fought when he could go be free somewhere else.
“Nobody will ever be truly free until we all are,” she spoke, though the words weren’t her own. She zeroed in on the fire, getting lost in thoughts of Hayden.
“She’s right,” Sawyer answered. “Until every last civilian has been freed, until the UNR is nothing more than a scary story we tell over campfires, we will never be free. We will never be safe.
“You came up here to fight for that freedom, that safety. And I will tell you right now, it’s not going to be easy. Most of us won’t live to see the world we’re fighting for.” His eyes locked on Mason’s once more. “But your family will. Your children. Your children’s children. The people you love most? They’ll never know what it means to fight. To bleed. To fear. They’ll have no fucking idea what that means because you will have saved them from it.”
A chill ran down Anna’s spine. She thought to her own wounds, her scars, the open, bleeding gashes on her soul that she could never quite heal. The only person who’d ever helped her to stop the bleeding was now trapped behind enemy lines, if not dead. How would she face the world without him? A month ago, she’d laugh at the thought. Now, it left her terrified.
“Rachel, what would you give to ensure nobody ever had to feel the pain you’re feeling right now again?” He raised a brow, waiting.
Rachel licked her lip. “Anything.”
“You, Mason?”
He hesitated only a moment, then nodded. “Anything.”
Sawyer spun, arms wide. “Anyone disagree with their answer?”
Nobody said a word. Sawyer faced Mason once more. “Would Austin have disagreed?”
Mason shook his head, eyes falling to the ground.
