Chapter 38: Contacting headquarters - 1
Morning crept in slow, its light spilling across the cracked earth. Shadows stretched long over the settlement. The air felt heavy, every footstep dragged by weariness. People moved with quiet urgency, tools in hand, eyes never still. And underneath it all—the ground kept shifting.
Inside the inn, the door creaked open.
A woman stepped in, arms wrapped around a stone bowl. Thick black tubes twitched inside, brushing against the rim. The smell hit hard—bitter and sharp, clinging to the air like smoke.
"They're ready," she said, her voice steady despite the lines under her eyes.
Ash rose from the window, his blade already forgotten on the table. He reached for the bowl, the warmth from the contents pulsing through the stone.
Max sat at the far end of the room, shoulders hunched over a table buried in scraps. Wires, broken parts, rusted plates—his hands moved through it all, tugging and twisting. The communicator sat in the middle, cracked and useless.
Kael was on the bed. His chest rose and fell, slow but steady. Each breath said more than words could—he was alive, but barely.
Ash closed the door. He knelt beside the table, fingers brushing over the writhing mass. The tubes shifted against his glove, slick and warm.
"I've already coated my blade and lined my coat," he said.
"But we need to be sure we're using all of them right."
Max didn't look up.