I stalk around the shelter, wet to the skin in seconds.
They’ve been gone so long I’m growing concerned something has gone wrong. I should’ve been there with them. Three would’ve given us better odds. But at the same time, I’m glad that we only had to rescue one, not both, because that would’ve increased the complexity.
There is nothing I can do but wait. The frustration of not being able to help Colton and Hargrave adds to the clawing of my blood that Ashely wakened. The need to do something, anything, keeps me moving.
Reed would laugh. He has a mouth, but when it comes time to work, he is cool and calm no matter what is going on around him. He wouldn’t be anxiously pacing—a second lap is no longer a sweep of the area no matter what I want to call it—he’d be napping, ready to go the second he was ordered. The military breeds snipers differently to other soldiers.
Colton’s blood runs hot, and he’s gotten into his fair share of trouble…Reed has calmed him down a bit. Hargrave likes to follow the rules. He’s reliable and will get the job done without making a fuss or a mess.
Me, I don’t know how I ended up in charge, but I did.
This is my team, my guys. My responsibility.
Fuck.
I stand there, letting the rain pour over me, hoping it will wash away my fears and doubts. But they swell in the silence and stalk me through the shadows, so every movement becomes a threat.
There is a very big difference between thinking about something and actually doing it. And I’ve done a lot of shit because I needed to, not because I wanted to. I don’t want Ashley to become a regret. In my head, everything works out.
But my one-handed fantasies are not real life.
This is.
The mud. The fear. The praying that everyone comes home, and that I didn’t make the wrong call by letting Colton and Hargrave go. Odds are that Colton would’ve gone alone and dealt with the consequences later.
If he survived.
Thoughts of death and desire tumble through my head until I feel as though my skull is about to explode. There’s nothing I can do to ease the tension.
Leaves tilt and twitch as the rain hits them, but the movement to my left is different. I remain still, hoping that the predators haven’t grown hungry and decided to risk hunting. I adjust my grip on my rifle but don’t lift it, not yet. Better to be motionless and not seen than to move too early.
For a moment, I think it is my imagination taunting me, but then I see the out-of-place movement again. Out of the sheeting rain appears something hunched and mis-formed. I blink and what I’m seeing resolves into two men, one carrying the other.
I step toward them.
The third man, who’d been behind them, lifts his rifle.
I lift my hands. “Priest.”
“Thank fuck,” Hargrave mutters as he lowers his weapon.
CHAPTER22
Colton
I’mabout ready to fall over. While we shared the carrying, that last shift did me in. I slump down beneath the shelter next to Reed, who helpfully passed out about halfway, which meant we were a little rougher with him than we had been. He’d managed to stumble along for a bit before Hargrave started carrying him.
Reed’s legs stick out in the rain.
Ashley is in the corner of the shelter. She offers me a cup of coffee that was hot a few hours ago. I drink it without tasting it. We drank and ate what I carried before Reed passed out. The coffee and sugar didn’t help him. We both knew it wouldn’t, but we pretended that was all he needed because it was easier than talking the truth.
While I drink, Hargrave unpacks the medical supplies and the food and drink he carried. “What do you want?”
“A miracle?”
“I think even Priest is out of them,” Hargrave says without a smile.
Priest is out in the rain keeping watch. If we were followed, I’m sure they would’ve picked us off by now. But maybe they wanted us all in one place.
