I watch Cadel out of the corner of my eye. He appears to be watching the buildings, but I think he’s actually watching me. I stand up and move until I’m in front of him.
“What’s wrong?”
He shakes his head.
“Did you all dream of that omega again?” I say the word with utter loathing.
He raises an eyebrow. “It wouldn’t matter if we did; you don’t trust her, so you wouldn’t believe us.”
I scoff. “Are you avoiding me?”
“No.”
“You’re all being quiet and doing things without me.”
Cadel takes my face in his hands and kisses me. “You need to remember who you are, my love.”
I glare at him. “I’m Kaida Keres.”
“You are more,” he says and passes me into Jarek’s arms. “Take care of her. I’m going to scout around.”
“Cadel,” I snap, but he doesn’t turn back to me; he just keeps going, which leaves me with a hollow feeling.
“There’s a place where we can go that’s close,” Legion says at last.
We follow him single file through the blackened city streets. The green is gone. It’s apocalyptic now.
“It really feels like a cemetery,” I murmur, saying my internal thought out loud before I can stop myself.
“That is not helpful, Keres,” Mia snaps.
“Sorry. It just feels weird being here while it’s like this.”
The place we are going to is a brick house, but it’s the basement that is our actual destination, and when we get in there, it’s relatively untouched. I grab a bottle of water and a packet of ancient chips and go and sit down.
I drink some of the water and stare into space.
Mordecai and Jarek sit beside me.
I drink and eat, numb, mindless.
I fall asleep, but every time I close my eyes, I see that old man dying right in front of me. I see the agony on his lover’s face, the desperation, and I watch him die. Every person who died in that camp comes back to me over and over. Then there’s Theo.
I’ve seen gruesome deaths, but I have never seen anything like what happened to him. He was still alive. How can you live with your body missing that much skin?
“Kaida,”he whispers in my mind.
I jerk awake.
Jarek pulls me into his arms. “It’s okay.”
I shake my head. “It’s not. Everyone’s dead.”
“Not everyone,” Jarek whispers. “I’m alive, and I’m here with you. Even if I die, I will still be with you.”
I curl my fingers around his neck, burying my face in his shoulder. “We’re going to escape,” I say mournfully. “We have to.”
“Of course, we are,” Jarek says and kissesmy temple.
