Quill
“Piper… Piper…”
“It’s not Piper, Quill. It’s Josh.”
My cricket’s name spills out of my mouth repetitively as I hold onto the cool, smooth hand. But then the answer that feels just as repetitive, at last crawls through my subconscious, bursting in on me at the same time as a flood of pain.
“What the fuck?”
I let go of the hand I had believed was Piper’s. Crouching over me is Josh, looking very worried. Around me is the battlefield I had vaguely seen before the explosion. It’s strewn with dead bodies. Many of them soldiers. In fact, there isn’t a single person standing except… Logan.
He’s been nonchalantly leaning against a car, busy texting on his phone, completely unbothered by the casualties surrounding us. When he sees I’m awake, he walks over, stepping over cadavers, looking more annoyed than ever.
“What the fuck?” I groan again. “What happened?”
“A war,” he smirks. “That’s what happened. While you were dozing away. Did you have sweet dreams?”
I ignore his words, drenched in sarcasm. “Where’s Piper?”
“Not here, clearly. You know, I’d heard a lot of good about you, soldier. But you do seem to spend an awful lot of time sleeping, while the real action is going on.”
“He’s injured,” Josh defends me. “He killed like, ten people by himself. And then he was shot, but managed to get away. He survived an explosion. He’s a hero. And—”
“If this is what a hero looks like, we’re fucked,” snorts Logan. “If anyone deserves that term, it’s you, for refusing to leave him behind and pulling him out. But you know what, you don’t deserve that word either. You’re both fuckheads.”
I grunt, trying to sit up and failing. “Where’s Piper?”
“Do you know how to say anything other than that?”
“Piper.” I hiss the words out, not caring about his mocking. “I need to know where she is. Where is she?”
I struggle at last into a sitting position with Josh’s help, hating myself for needing it. Logan crouches down, and I notice for the first time how tired he looks. “I’d like to know that myself.”
I nearly fall back to the ground at those words. “You said you’d help. You said we just had to destroy this warehouse, and we’d find her. You lied.”
“I’m doing my best, okay?” he snaps suddenly. “At least I’m not sleeping on the job.”
“He’s not sleeping!” cuts in Josh angrily. “You sent us on a fucking suicide mission. It’s a miracle he even got out at all. It’s a miracle he killed ten men and—”
“A suicide mission?” Logan directs his scathing words at Josh. “Is that what you think? What kind of a person do you take me to be? If I thought it was hopeless, I wouldn’t have told you to do it.”
Josh looks a bit shaken, but he persists. “You wanted us to take out two entire criminal organizations. If that’s not a suicide mission, I don’t know what is.”
“I wanted you to create a diversion,” corrects Logan. “Meanwhile, I had the Devil soldiers surround the place. We ambushed the rest of the fuckers. The battle happened here. Your job was easy, comparatively. Grow the fuck up.”
“Oh.” Josh bites his lip, his anger dying down suddenly.
But I wasn’t angry to begin with. My focus is entirely on Piper. Or was. The wordsDevil soldierssuddenly pushes past myfixation.
“The Devil soldiers,” I repeat, my words hollow. “Where are they now?”
Logan gestures around him, to the corpses, still masked in white, though the whiteness is stained with red, now.
“That’s not all of them. I don’t think that’s all of them. Most of them, but not all.”
Not the important ones. Not Liam and Dane.
They’d be sheathed in white too, and yet, I know I’d recognize them. Or rather, I’d sense their presence. They’re not here.
