Shadows of the Divide

CHAPTER 6

ELI GRAYSON

The night stretched long and quiet, the silence that leaves room for thoughts you'd rather drown out. I crouched behind the skeletal remains of an abandoned van, watching the faint glow of their fire flicker against the blackened walls of the ruin they;d chosen for shelter. The girl—Lena—moved like a shadow between the flames and her sleeping brother, her form barely more than a silhouette.

    I should have walked away hours ago.

    I should have killed her days ago.

    I had told myself this would be simple. In and out. No room for hesitation or second-guessing. I'd ended lives with less effort than it took to light a cigarette, left bodies in my wake without sparing them a second thought. But her... she was different.

    She wasn't supposed to be different.

    I adjusted the sniper strapped to my back, the familiar weight of it ground me. I could end this now. A single shot would echo in the silence, and it would all be over. No more following her, no more watching her every  move, no more of this hollow ache growing in my chest every time she smiled at that kid.

    But I stayed.

    I stayed, because the thought of pulling the trigger made my stomach twist in ways I didn't understand.

    She sat now, cross-legged by the fire, her hands cradling a knife she'd been sharpening on a rock. Her shoulders were tense, her jaw set, but her eyes... her eyes betrayed her. Even from a distance, I could see the weight she carried, the exhaustion etched into her features.

    God, she looked tired.

    And yet she kept going. She fought and scraped and bled her way through this broken world, all for the boy sleeping soundly under her coat. I'd seen it in the way she shielded him in crowds, in the way she stood guard even when her body begged for rest. She would die for him without a second thought.

    A small part of me hated her for it.

    Because I'd never had something worth dying for.

    I shifted my position, the sound of gravel beneath my boots breaking the stillness. My hands ache from the cold, my fingers stiff and useless despite the gloves I wore. Without thinking, I pulled the canteen from my pack and took a long drink, the water burning like fire down my throat.

    It was hers.

    I didn't know why I'd packed it earlier, why I'd filled it and thrown it in with the rest of my gear. Maybe I'd told myself it was practically—she'd need water to survive long enough for me to finish this job. But deep down, I knew better.

    It wasn't about survival.

    It was about her.

    She shifted in the distance, pulling a small, tattered blanket tighter around her. Her face caught the light of the fire for a moment, and I froze. Her expression wasn't one of fear or anger or even pain—it was quiet, calm, vulnerable.

    I hated that I wanted to see her up close.

    I hated that I wanted to know her voice, her thoughts, her touch.

    The thought struck me hard and fast, and for a moment, I laughed under my breath, the sound bitter and sharp in the night air. I had no idea what this was, this... pull she had on me. But it was stronger than anything I'd ever felt, and it scared the hell out of me.

    Before I could think better of it, I grabbed the canteen and rose I'd tucked away—the one I'd stolen from the market two towns back, still fairly fresh due to the cooling weather.