Chapter 123: always a step ahead

Rain fell steadily through the trees.

It had started as a light drizzle earlier, but now it came down harder, soaking the ground and turning the soil into dark mud.

Cherie stood in front of the shallow grave she had spent the last few hours digging.

The hole was uneven. The edges were rough and collapsed in places. The pile of dirt beside it looked messy, like it had been thrown aside in a rush.

It was far from perfect.

Of course it was.

Cherie lifted her hands slightly and stared at them.

Dirt packed under her fingernails. Mud smeared across her palms and knuckles. The skin around her fingers was red and raw from clawing at the ground with a dull shovel.

Her chest rose and fell slowly at first.

Then her breathing began to stutter.

She tried to steady it, but every breath felt heavier than the last.

Cherie bit down on her bottom lip.

The pressure was supposed to stop the shaking.

It did not.

Her lip quivered anyway.

In front of her, Hailey’s body lay on the wet ground.

The rain had soaked through her clothes and darkened the fabric. Her hair clung to her face and neck, strands stuck there by the water running down.

For a long moment, Cherie just stood there looking at her.

Then she bent down.

Her arms slid under Hailey’s body as carefully as she could manage. The weight caught her off guard for a moment, but she lifted anyway.

Her muscles screamed in protest after hours of digging.

Still, she held on.

Step by step, she moved toward the grave.

Her boots sank into the wet ground.

The rain made everything slippery.

Cherie tried to lower Hailey slowly into the hole.

Her foot slipped.

Her knee hit the mud hard.

Hailey’s body slid halfway out of her arms and dropped into the grave with a dull thud.

For a moment, Cherie stayed frozen where she had fallen.

Her hands were still stretched forward, fingers shaking.

Then something inside her cracked.

The tears came fast.

She did not try to stop them.

Her shoulders shook as she leaned forward, both hands pressing into the wet dirt beside the grave.

Rain poured down over her.

Her blonde hair clung to her head and face. Water ran along her cheeks and down her jaw, mixing with the tears she could no longer hold back.

Mud smeared across her hands as she tried to wipe her eyes.

It only made things worse.

The faint traces of blue dye that had once colored parts of her hair began to bleed out under the rain. Thin streaks of faded blue ran down the strands before dripping into the mud below.

Cherie barely noticed.

Her crying came out in uneven gasps now.

Every breath shook.

Memories flooded in all at once.

The way things used to be.

Who she used to be.

Before the surge.

Before the infected.

Before all the people she had lost along the way.

Before Hailey.

Or maybe it started with Hailey.

Cherie was not even sure anymore.

Her mind had always found strange ways to deal with things. She pushed feelings away. Buried them. Ignored them until they stopped making noise.

It had worked before.

It did not work now.

She sniffled and wiped her nose against her sleeve before leaning forward again.

Her hands reached into the grave.

“Come on,” she muttered weakly to herself.

Her fingers gripped Hailey’s jacket and pulled.

The body shifted deeper into the hole.

Mud coated Cherie’s arms as she struggled to push her the rest of the way down.

Her knees sank deeper into the ground.

By the time Hailey was finally lying flat in the grave, Cherie was covered in mud from the waist down.

She sat there for a moment, staring.

Rain continued to fall.

Eventually she forced herself to stand.

Her legs felt stiff as she pushed herself up.

Cherie raised a hand and tried to wipe the tears off her face.

All it did was smear dirt across her cheek.

She lowered her hand slowly.

Then she looked back down at the grave.

And in that, the first official crack had begun.

—

The road ahead was empty.

Rain from earlier had left the asphalt dark and slick, the headlights cutting a narrow path through the trees as the car moved forward. The engine hummed steadily beneath us.

I had just settled into the drive when the walkie talkie crackled.

Static burst through the small speaker.

Then a voice came through.

“…what?”

The word slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it.

“I said I have two of your people here with me right now.”

The woman’s voice came through clear this time. The feedback screeched through the speaker, sharp enough to sting my ears.

“A Carl and Adira… you familiar with those names?”

My whole world froze.

My hands stayed on the wheel, but they tightened without me realizing it.

The car drifted slightly across the empty road before I corrected it.

If there had been anyone else out here, I probably would have crashed.

Carl.

Adira.

For a moment my mind refused to process the words.

Through the rear view mirror, I saw Aubrey watching me.

Her eyes had narrowed the second those names were said.

She was studying my face.

Trying to read me.

I ignored her.

Lila sat beside me in the passenger seat, quiet as ever. She leaned against the window, staring out at the passing trees like nothing important had just happened.

Like the world had not just shifted.

I took a breath.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

My grip loosened slightly on the steering wheel.

“What do you want?” I asked.

The walkie went silent for a second.

Then the woman laughed.

—

Miles away, Annie stood in the dim room with the walkie in her hand.

Carl and Adira sat tied to their chairs in front of her. Both had guns pressed against the sides of their heads by two guards standing behind them.

The blindfolds stayed tight over their eyes.

They had not moved since she started speaking.

“Good,” Annie said calmly into the radio. “I’m glad we’re on the same page now.”

Her eyes drifted lazily between the two prisoners as she spoke.

—

Back in the car, the sound of her voice made something cold settle in my chest.

“Now here’s how this is gonna go,” Annie continued. “I know all about your little plans to kill more of my people and mess with the flow of Amber.”

She chuckled quietly.

“Really, really petty on your end if I must say.”

My eyes darkened as the road stretched out in front of me.

“If you think that’s gonna hurt my feelings,” I said flatly, “you’re gonna have to try harder than that, sweetheart.”

Silence hung in the car for half a second.

Then I heard Aubrey shift slightly in the back seat.

Lila still did not move.

On the other end of the line, Annie seemed amused.

“I’ll fucking murder you,” I added under my breath.

“Ah ah ah,” Annie said quickly. “Language, Adrian.”

Her tone stayed light.

“This is a negotiation, remember?”

I did not respond.

My jaw tightened.

The tires rolled over a patch of gravel as the road curved ahead.

“Your friends are in safe hands for now,” Annie continued. “If you want to keep it that way, I would suggest you make a U-turn and head straight for Amber society.”

The words sat heavy in the air.

Behind me, Aubrey leaned forward slightly.

“What?” she asked quietly.

I raised a hand slightly without looking back.

Not now.

The walkie crackled again.

“You remember where to go, don’t you?” Annie asked.

I closed my eyes for a moment.

Just long enough for a shadow to fall over them.

Of course I remembered.

That place had burned itself into my head.

The gates.

The walls.

The smell of Amber in the air.

“You’ve got ten minutes,” Annie said.

Then the walkie clicked.

The static disappeared.

The car filled with silence.

I lowered the radio slowly into my lap.

For a second I just stared at it.

Something bitter rose up the back of my throat.

Bile.

I swallowed it down.

My hands stayed on the wheel as the road stretched forward into darkness.

Then I slowed the car.

Aubrey leaned forward from the back seat.

“What happened?” she asked.

I did not answer right away.

Instead, I turned the wheel sharply.

The car spun across the empty road and started heading back the way we came.

The engine growled as I pressed the gas.

Aubrey’s voice rose slightly behind me.

“Adrian, what the hell is going on?”

My eyes stayed locked on the road.

“Carl and Adira,” I said.

The words felt heavy leaving my mouth.

“They’ve got them.”

The car went quiet again.

Even Lila stopped staring out the window.

For a moment none of us spoke.

Then Aubrey said quietly, “Who’s they?”

My grip tightened on the wheel again.

“Annie.”

The name hung in the car like a storm cloud.

The road ahead disappeared into the dark as the car sped toward it.

And all I could think about was one thing.

Ten minutes.

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