Page 68 of Darkness I Become
“It’s a settlement occupied by the Skulls.”
There was a murmur among the Blackguard, who followed behind them.
“What should we do, Cap?” Raph asked after a moment. “Check it out?”
Cade was quiet for a moment, but then answered, “No. Move out.”
The men hastened to obey his order. Only Asha stopped short.
“Wait, what?” she blurted out. “What if they need help? The Skulls aren’t our enemies.”
“Not our problem. We have a schedule to stick to, and we don’t know what might be waiting there. It’s not worth the risk.”
She glowered at him. “But—”
“I gave you an order,” he interjected coldly. “Defy me again and see what happens.”
Stupid, stupid man.He should’ve known by that point that that was just challenging her,daringher to defy him.
“Guess I will,” Asha said with a too-casual shrug. “Because I’m going. Whether you come or not is your decision.”
She turned on her heel and walked toward the smoke, drawing her pistol.
“That’s not going to work, Asha.”
She ignored him and kept walking. A few minutes later, she heard a string of curses, and the collective footsteps of the men following behind her. Satisfaction bloomed in her chest.
It was short-lived. As they moved toward the smoke, a small village loomed in the distance. And it was on fire.
Flames licked several roofs of derelict houses, and though the fortified fence around the settlement was still standing, the gate was not. It looked as if it’d been blown open by some explosive force. There were bodies lying around, broken and forlorn, strewn across the wreckage of what had once been a hub of activity. Oflife.
“Hold up,” Cade ordered, and this time, Asha obeyed. She waited for him, and he accompanied her into the carnage, the Blackguard at their backs.
“What caused this?” Asha asked, hushed, as they walked across a ruined courtyard littered with corpses. “Another gang?”
“Possible.” Cade’s assessment was cold and clinical, reminding her that he’d done this kind of thing before. Perhaps he’d evenlefta place in this state before.
She pushed the thought away and kept going. They came across a small village square, and this had clearly been the centre of whateverbattle had taken place there. There were more dead people, and the dry, stone fountain in the middle of the square was cracked almost in half.
But it was the door of a nearby home that stopped Asha in her tracks. Over the weatherworn wood, someone had pinned a black mask painted with a large, golden eye opened wide, staring out at the ruined world.
The same mask worn by those who had destroyed the Cave. She’d seen it in her nightmares from time to time, if only because it was so distinct. As they walked farther, the corpses changed. No longer were they only of simple villagers. Instead, a few were dressed in all black, and they wore the black masks that covered their entire faces, all bearing that same emblem of the golden eye.
Theyhad been here. They had ventured outside the compound.
All at once, Asha couldn’t breathe. She clutched her chest uselessly, fighting for air. She felt like she was dying.
“Asha,” Cade said, his voice containing a forced calm, masking the alarm underneath that only she could hear. “Are you alright? Talk to me.”
She tried, but nothing came out. Instead, she sat on the ground, forcing herself to suck in short, desperate gasps.
“It’sthem,” she managed to tell him when he crouched in front of her, a crease of worry between his brows. “The ones who attacked the Cave.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Shit.” He turned to the men. “Do a sweep. Find out if there are any survivors. If you find any masked ones alive, bring them to me.”
The men hastened to obey, and Cade sat back on his heels across from her.
“Did you know they left the compound?”
