Page 78 of Ashes of Honor

I turned to Memphis, shaking her by the shoulders. “Hey!” I barked. “Get it the fuck together. We have to go. Now.”

She stared past me, her eyes glassy and unfocused, still locked on the bodies of her friends. The fire was closing in, smoke thickening the air. I shook her again, harder this time.

“Memphis! Move!”

She blinked and stumbled to her feet. I damn near dragged her out, coughing as the smoke clawed at our throats.

The others waited out the back door. No other guards in sight. Luck had funny fucking timing. Memphis doubled over and vomited onto the pavement, her body racked with sobs. Grief clung to the others just as heavily, hollowing their faces.

“I’m sorry about your friends,” I said, though the words tasted like ash in my mouth. They didn’t mean anything—not to them, not to me. Apologies wouldn’t bring back the dead.

But I couldn’t stay. Not with the meeting set for tomorrow. Not with the information I possessed.

“The other group,” It came out sharper than I intended, even as my insides churned. “The one I told you about—they need this information. If I leave now, I might still make it.”

I glanced at Memphis, then Denver. Both were worn thin, the fight in them more instinct than choice at this point. “You’ve got two options: Monterey border patrol is west of here. I’ll give you a codeword to get them to take you to Monterey. Some of your caravan’s already there. Or you come with me to Hunter.”

Memphis met my eye, her face etched with lines of exhaustion and pain though recognition of Hunter’s name sparked a glimmer of hope. “We don’t belong behind walls. I like our chances now that we’re all together … most of us. But thank you, for everything.”

I nodded, but her gratitude struck hard, a blade sinking into my chest. I hadn’t saved them all. As I turned to leave, Denver’s voice called after me, quiet but firm.

“We’ll be around when you need us.”

Suckerpunch bounded off ahead. I didn’t answer. Couldn’t. The effort it took to leave them there, half-whole and on their own, was almost enough to stop me in my tracks. Almost.

Amaia

“He should be back by now,” I paced the contoured walkway atop the wall.

It was impossible to tell in the darkness of the night but if he were close, I would have felt it. I knew I shouldn’t have let him run off on his own. It was what he did, his job at St. Cloud Compound at least, but here, in today’s turmoil, I’d misjudged the weight of this task.No, you can’t think that way.But it was hard not to.

Doubting myself was dumb. I didn’t doubt any of the other calls I made in the field. Everything happens for a reason, and if Alexiares was late, then he had a reason to be. Perhaps himbeing tardy had saved his life in some other aspect. Who the hell knew? Not me. Worrying would only serve as a distraction.

Hunter came to my side, taking in the sea of fires sprawling the foreseeable distance. Ronan’s soldiers had appeared at dawn two days ago. Apparently Alexiares had beenefficientin San Jose and our consequences had come swift.

“Sunrise is an hour out. Fog’s rolling in,” Hunter said with no real emotion. Only fact.

Reina shuffled behind me, her floral scent breaking through the dewy morning stench of grass. “We have time.”

“No, we don’t,” I mumbled. It was already a fifty-fifty chance of a fight out and I had to have trust. “He’s fine. If he isn’t here, then he’ll know to meet us there. He’ll track us. Ye of little faith, Reina.”

Offering her a tap in the shoulder, I carried the false confidence all the way down the ladder, allowing myself only one quiver of the lip now that I was out of sight. This meeting could make or break us, but leaving my people behind with Ronan so close risked everything. I ran the numbers through my head once more.It is a calculated risk. You cannot defend with your numbers alone.

Tomoe was the first to hop down after me. Her hazy eyes studied me. “You were right to put Luna in charge. The people trust her and her transparency will help calm their concerns.”

I’d spent the night weighing the pros and cons with Riley. Ultimately, we’d decided that trusting our people to revert to their training over hysteria was the way to go. We’d run simulations on how to handle an attack since the last one. Sure, Ronan’s emissaries may have tipped him off here and there, but they didn’t knoweverything. There were ways to inform our people without them knowing. Secrets Ronan couldn’t touch.

This was a matter of survival. One unit, one compound. That would always keep us alive, inspire people to protect each other.I would be back soon. The same way I trusted Alexiares, Riley, and Luna to take care of business, I had to trust the people of Monterey Compound could do the same.

I nodded, the others soon falling in line as we made our way from North Gate, through GLQ and toward the earth slide. It had proven oddly useful.Ten points for Riley’s knack for innovation. Given the time of day, the pathways and side streets should have been quiet but not today, not when everyone knew who sat outside our gates. Sleep wouldn’t find any of them anytime soon.

The sky was still pitchblack, pink and orange yet to crest over the horizon. TV shows, movies, they never really showed the perspective on exactly how fucking dark it is in the middle of the night. Thankfully, the clear sky lighting our way would serve as enough of a guide until the clouds not too far off rolled in along with the morning fog.

A hand fell upon my shoulder for support. We’d have to guide each other for a while with only the silhouette of the person before you as reference. I led the way, my knowledge of the lay of our land serving to our advantage. Hunter was behind me, Reina next, then Serenity, Caleb, and Moe at the rear. Exactly as we’d practiced. I didn’t feel an ounce of guilt disguising my lack of trust as defensive tactics against whatever we ended up facing in the dark. We kept a steady pace, needing to clear the areas Ronan’s troops lingered by sunrise or we’d be shit out of luck.

Twenty minutes and one mile. That’s as far as we got before the fog rolled in place of the rising sun in the sky before realizing we were fucked. I sensed them before I heard them. That creaky-clicking, throaty sound of Pansies. Then their mildewy, rotten smell filled my nostrils. I couldn’t see them through the cloudy, thick white fog, but I sure as hell could smell them, and there were a lot.

With Pansies, a lot ranged from a group of five to over a hundred. There was no way to tell with the way we were trapped in the haze of a Monterey morning. Right now, at this very moment, it sounded like maybe ten. That was only for our immediate vicinity. Only time would tell if they had spread out from a herd with the confusion of the fog or if a few of the plenty was all we were dealing with.

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