I reach down and gently guide Erin behind the crates lining the edge of the room. She stiffens under my touch, resisting for a second.
“Luca,” she whispers, her voice cracking. “Don’t leave me. What if something happens to you?”
I crouch beside her, gripping her shoulders, forehead pressed lightly to hers.
“I need you to stay down,” I murmur. “Please. Just for a few minutes.”
Tears glisten in her lashes. “I’m not afraid for me. I’m afraid foryou.”
I tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, my thumb brushing her cheek. “Do you trust me?”
She swallows. Nods.
“Yes.”
That’s all I need.
I squeeze her hand, then rise and turn back into the dark.
Darkness presses in from all sides. The silence is too complete. Too staged.
Then—
A breath to my left.
The scuff of a boot against concrete.
The faintest metallic click, like a weapon being drawn.
I don’t think. I twist, aim, and fire into the dark.
A cry.
The sound of a body collapsing, heavy, ragged.
Then nothing. Nothing but my ragged breathing and Erin’s muffled sobs against my shoulder.
But I don’t move.
There’s more.
I canfeelit.
Something brushes the wall in the distance. A shadow shifts near the old crates. I pivot again, covering Erin with my body, every muscle tense.
A door creaks open. Another footstep.
Too many.
I fire again, twice this time. The muzzle flash bursts like lightning in the pitch black, revealing the pale flicker of movement before plunging the room back into darkness.
Another groan. Someone stumbles.
But still, no full retreat. No surrender.
Cowards with knives in the dark.
My fingers sweep along the wall, searching for a breaker or a switch. Anything to give me back the light.
