Chapter 15: Lawless land

“Lila— wait!!! Can you at least think about this first before you do anything stupid?!?”

I stumbled helplessly behind my ex girlfriend’s brisk footsteps. She didn’t slow. Not even a twitch. Her dirty-blonde hair whipped behind her in wild, tangled strands, catching the light like warning flashes.

She wasn’t listening to me. She never listened to me.

In her hand, a metal bar she picked from off of the ground gleamed— cold, heavy, meant to break something.

Or someone.

“Lila— seriously— stop! How do you even know it was her!?!?”

This looked like it was it. Lila was going to ruin my one opportunity of sanctuary at this place because of her insanity. Damn it— they’d probably find out about her sooner than I anticipated.

If they saw her like this… if they realized what she really was… we’d be thrown out of this place in seconds.

We weren’t even here for a fucking week yet.

I reached for the bar again, fingers grazing the cold metal before she jerked it out of reach, her grip immovable and full of resolve. My stomach dropped. Her eyes….that look wasn’t anger anymore.

It was bloodlust.

Eyes red and furious. Animalistic. The same thing I saw at the warehouse. I could only pray barely anyone noticed.

I pushed through the crowd, mumbling apologies as we shoved past startled strangers. She didn’t bother apologizing— cutting her own way straight ahead through. Every second, every step, I felt dread consuming me.

Until suddenly—

“TERRI, DUCK!!!”

The metal bar sliced through the air in a violent, whistling arc— aimed right at Terri’s skull. Her eyes widened, feet slipping on instinct as she dropped low.

The bar missed her head by inches, slamming into the wall behind her with a crack that the whole camp could’ve probably heard.

Terri staggered, almost falling. Her face drained of color.

I dragged a hand through my hair, my heart pounding so hard it hurt.

“What the hell!?!? What did I DO???”

Lila yanked the slightly bent bar from the stone wall, glaring like an animal cornered and rabid.

“You’ve picked the wrong bitch to fuck with, metal mouth.”

She swung again. This time, it was even closer. Terri stumbled backwards, crashing into the ground.

“I didn’t do anything wrong—!!! Why the fuck are you attacking me at eleven in the MORNING!?!?”

“Don’t play coy with me, slut.”

Terri blinked up at her in trembling confusion.

“You think I don’t see you eye-fucking my boyfriend every chance you get? Huh?!?”

Eyes snapped toward us. People began to stare.

God damn it.

Heat crawled up my neck. Not this again. Not here, not in front of everyone.

“For the last time— I’m not your fucking boyfriend, Lila!!!”

That was enough to freeze her. Thank God.

She loomed over Terri, metal bar raised above her head. Terri covered her face, eyes squeezed shut, bracing for impact.

“What the fuck is going on here???”

Aubrey’s voice cut through the crowd like a blade.

Lila didn’t even look at her, eyes focused on the trembling Terri.

“This bitch here tried to scare Adrian with some sick note in his bed,”

Lila snapped, pointing the bar accusingly.

Aubrey frowned at her, unimpressed.

“I don’t even know what she’s TALKING about!!!” Terri gasped, her voice trembling.

Aubrey exhaled sharply, rubbing her temples.

“Look, Lila— we do not have time for this. None of us do. I came looking for you two because the commander wants a meeting.”

She glanced down at Terri, still shaking on the ground.

“She needs you there as well.”

A moment passed. Lila scoffed, pushing past someone as she stormed off.

“I didn’t do anything…”

she whispered, more to herself than to us, like she was trying to understand the world collapsing around her.

Poor girl.

The tent flaps closed behind us with a heavy sway, sealing us into a space that felt far too small for the tension already crawling up my spine.

Aubrey walked ahead with steady footsteps.

Terri… she looked like she might pass out any second. Her hands trembled nonstop, fingers twitching like she was trying to physically shake the fear out of her bones.

I tried so damn hard to keep my expression neutral when she looked at me.

The scarred woman sat behind a metal table.

Her eyes met mine with that same empty, unaffected stare she always had—like she was evaluating whether I was useful, annoying, or expendable.

I fucking hated her guts.

“Where’s your girlfriend?”

Her voice was flat— aimed directly at me.

My jaw clenched.

“She’s not my—…”

I stopped myself. What was the point anymore?

“Doesn’t matter,”

The woman said, dismissing my existence with a flick of her fingers. I tried not to scoff.

“We can start without her.”

A thick silence followed before someone cleared their throat.

A short, bespectacled man standing off to the side— someone I hadn’t even realized was in here until now. Round glasses, neat shirt, clipboard clutched too tightly.

My eyebrow raised.

“H-Here’s what we know about the Crucible so far,” he began, voice wavering for the first second before settling into something rehearsed… and terrified.

He flipped a page.

“The Crucible is…well— was… uh… a decentralized extremist network. They’re linked to ritualistic Satanism, and… and a specific strain of violent nihilism.”

He swallowed.

“They promoted murder, terrorism, and the belief that morality is a weakness. Their ideology encourages followers to reject empathy entirely, embrace chaos, and inflict suffering in the name of… well, nothing. Just because.”

A chill shot up my spine.

I was starting to think that somehow these people were the ones who caused this outbreak in the first place.

The man’s grip tightened on the clipboard.

“Police across multiple countries have ongoing investigations on them. They’re known suppliers—illegal weapons, specialized ammunition, explosives… They arm anyone— gangs, militias, cults—

whoever’s willing to pay, really.”

Holy fucking shit, dude. What did I even get myself into???

“And…” he pushed his glasses up nervously, “most of the original cell was arrested in 2014, which forced the Crucible to fracture. What remains now is more unpredictable, more reckless, and harder to track.”

He exhaled shakily, as though it physically killed him to deliver such information.

The scarred woman watched him finish, then shifted her gaze back to us.

“Thank you, Carl.”

With that, the man hugged the clip board to his chest, disappearing out of the tent. Our eyes followed— but quickly turned back to the woman as she spoke.

“One thing I hate more than criminals are criminals who reek havoc for absolutely no reason. With America now a lawless land, the Crucible thrives.”

Aubrey folded her arms. I couldn’t help but feel sick after Carl’s whole explanation.

“My gut tells me that you being here is gonna cause a whole lot of problems for this camp once those vermin come looking for you.”

Wait, what?

“Which they will. Their job was undone, so they’re coming to finish it.”

My words came out strained, my throat closing with fear and anxiety. God damn it, I knew this shit was gonna happened.

“So you’re kicking me out?”

“No.”

She spat coldly. A brief sense of relief washed through my bones.

“You pulled your weight last night. That buys you time. Nothing more.”

I frowned at that. Well, atleast it wasn’t what I suspected.

“What you will do, however, is help track down the members of the Crucible before they find us.”

My stomach plummeted.

Help them track down who now?

No.

Absolutely not— no fucking way.

They couldn’t actually expect me to hunt the same people I only ever saw on true-crime docs and news specials at three in the morning.

The same psychos people before the apocalypse used to whisper about, like saying their name too loudly would make them show up.

This was insane.

All of it.

Every second of the past week had been insane.

And now they wanted me to go after the Crucible?

The people who were seemingly already after me?

Just fucking fantastic.

It was obvious that the Crucible didn’t stop. They didn’t forgive. They didn’t forget loose ends.

And right now, I was probably the biggest loose end in America.

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