Page 45 of Warrior

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Dreams consumed by Marinah made sleep all but impossible.I woke with a heavy ache in my chest, which began the day on the wrong foot.

We broke camp an hour before sunrise, quickly clearing out of our overnight spot so it showed no sign we had been there.We moved through the devastated countryside on high alert.So far, we hadn’t encountered humans or hellhounds, which surprised me.Locating humans outside Washington was essential to proving the Federation’s lies.

Two hours after the sun rose, we came across our first small group of hellhounds.

I needed the fight.

Me and three Warriors dispatched them quickly.We kept moving and stopped at abandoned farmhouses, which provided valuable resources.At first glance, most places appeared stripped of essentials, but we had once been farm boys and knew where farmers hid their stash.While we didn’t find much, every bit we uncovered helped extend our food supplies.If this mission lasted longer than expected, we would need them.

The men kept their distance from me.Each time I was forced to speak, I either metaphorically snapped someone’s head off or growled.Beast and I were completely in sync on this.Both of us were struggling with worry over Marinah, and it showed.

Around noon, we entered what had once been a small, rural town.Most of the buildings had crumbled to rubble, their remnants standing as silent witnesses to the destruction.Even though two years had passed since the first hellhound war ended, the air carried the stench of death.

At the edge of town, we discovered the reason why.

Inside a church, we found over two hundred decaying bodies.

These people hadn’t died years ago.They’d been killed possibly a month earlier.And they hadn’t fallen to hellhounds.

They’d been shot.

It was clear they’d been herded into the church and executed.Among the dead were women and children.

It was hard to stomach, but we did what needed to be done, beheading them all to ensure they wouldn’t rise as hellhounds.

The grisly task set me even more on edge.

We found a few bodies of men who had tried to defend the town and were left where they died.It appeared the main group of people had been overwhelmed by numbers and surrendered quickly.

Across the street from the church, in a building that once might’ve been a small store, we found two more bodies.These wore Federation uniforms with red stripes on their sleeves.They lay with folded towels beneath their heads, like someone had tried to make them comfortable before death.From their wounds and the blood that stained the floor, it was clear they had died slowly.Most likely, they were left behind while still alive.

The pieces fit together too easily, and the picture they painted turned my stomach.

Federation soldiers had attacked the town, slaughtered the residents, and left their dead when they moved on.

What we’d feared most had become fact.

The Federation was murdering U.S.citizens.

And Marinah was in the middle of their stronghold.

Beast roared inside me.

For some crazy reason, President Barnes had changed tactics and decided he needed her for some purpose.

My one hope was that she was too valuable to harm.

But there were too many ifs in this scenario, and each one felt like it was tearing me apart from the inside, though that was most likely Beast.His frustration and rage mirrored my own, making it harder to hold myself together.

If my insides stayed intact through this ordeal, it would be nothing short of a miracle.

Chapter Fifteen

Marinah

I wasn’t surprised by the early knock at my door.Quickly, I dressed in military pants and a sky-blue T-shirt, bracing myself for whatever nonsense the day would bring.The short skirt and see-through blouse from yesterday were begging to be tossed in the trash, but doing so would raise questions I didn’t want to answer.

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