Maybe his injuries were treated there.
With what resources?
Maybe he was really dead.
Agony sliced through my chest.
I forced my eyes open. The whiteness of the room had gone shadowy and blue with nightfall, and the space was empty again. The door stood wide. I had a clear view of the nurses’ desk. Men and women chatted around the computers, laughing.
It was like watching a movie, completely removed from my horrid reality. The beep of the monitor above me was surely a lie. I had no heart left, so what could possibly be beating in there? My chest was a dark cave I wanted to sink into.
What would my life be without him? Without all of them? Had anyone else survived?
Zara would know, but my room was empty and dark. I let my eyes fall shut again.
Memories flashed through my mind.
Are you the war whore?
If they waste you, they lose me.
Is your name really Sophia?
Are you brave or just stupid?
I wanted someone who wasn’t on the front lines so she’d outlast me.
I hear voices begging me not to kill them.
You’re mine.
Remember how scared of me you were in the beginning?
It’s what I deserve.
You deserve better.
My soul ached for him. It had been ripped in half, and the shredded edges left every nerve exposed. Pain became my existence. I forced myself to turn over and go back to sleep.
The sun had risenthe next time I woke. Zara visited again, but she only brought bad news. Neither Devon nor Isaac had made it to Canada either.
“What about Theo?” I asked. “Can I talk to him?
“The general is on the move,” she said. “He hasn’t called in two days. I don’t know much.”
“And Dr. Grayson?” I asked.
Her eyes glistened with tears. “He was in the west wing when it was bombed. He didn’t make it.”
How it was possible that my heart collapsed even more, I wasn’t sure, but it managed. I gave way to the sheer hollowness of this new existence.
Empty.
After that, we sat in lonely silence together, each of us wallowing in our own brand of pain. She left shortly after, returning to her own room with a promise to visit again tomorrow.
I should have gone to visit Adam, but I had no energy.
I had nothing.
