it, he’s a monster, but you need to keep your ass moving.”
I cringe away from him instinctively, but I can’t get far with the tight grip he has on me. He refuses to let go of me, dragging me across the field until we meet back up with the TacTeam, complete with Nox and his black void eyes as he destroys every last member of the Resistance that his smokey horror touches.
If the Dravens are monsters, then what does that make me?
Kieran transports us out of the Resistance camp and this time, I vomit all over his shoes.
The look he gives me as everyone starts to move away from us is savage and after I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand, I give him a smirk because if I had to ruin someone’s shoes, I’m glad it was his.
Then Gabe lurches out of my arms to collapse on the grass and I have more important things to think about. “Do we have any Healers here? Fuck, please don’t die.”
Gryphon stalks over, that glowing hand of his pressing into Gabe’s forehead and almost instantly he regains some color in his face. Sage comes over to tuck her arm in mine, a show of solidarity as always.
Nox has already turned his back on me, pretending like always that I don’t exist.
I look around and realize I have no freaking clue where we are. More empty fields for miles, we could be anywhere in the world right now.
“Where are we?” My voice is croaky and raw thanks to the puking, but Gryphon hears me well enough, glancing over to me. Nox doesn’t bother, his eyes staying fixed on the skyline.
“Kieran couldn’t get us all back home in one go, and rather than leaving some of the others behind, we’ve made it to a rendezvous point. We’ll be picked up from here in a few hours. Find somewhere close by to sit until then.”
I walk back up to Gabe and park my ass next to him, ready to just whittle away the hours there, and instantly my eyes start to droop. I’ve gone too long without using my gift that it’s exhausting to use it now, like taking months away from the gym and then dying after your first session back.
Gabe’s head moves slowly until it’s resting on my thigh, his breath evening out. Gryphon finally moves away from us both, standing back up and walking over to Kieran to talk amongst themselves.
I lose time in the haze of my exhaustion, only rousing when a female voice calls out, “Are we expecting any ground cover?”
My eyes flutter back open, the light blinding, to a lot of movement around me. It’s hard to see from the ground, but I can just make out the army convoy through the legs.
An entire freaking convoy.
“Fuck. Samual, get us covered and fast.”
Instantly there’s a shield covering us all, all of the TacTeam shifting into position at the edges of it like they’re waiting for the opening to unleash hell on these worthless excuses of humans. But when the vehicles open up, the streams of bodies piling out never seem to end, and my stomach drops out at the realization.
We’re outnumbered, at least ten-to-one.
“Get Oli out of here now.”
My head jerks up to see Gryphon and Kieran checking over their weapons together, their hands moving quickly over their bodies. Kieran doesn’t look happy at this suggestion. “I don’t have enough energy to come back, we’ll find another way.”
When he glances over at Nox, Gryphon shakes his head at him. “Draven can’t go again, he’s drained and I’m not going to let him push past his ability.”
I glance over to him, shocked that he’s tapped out when he looks completely fine, but as soon as I look at him, actually look at him, I can see it. There’s a tightness around his eyes and shadows across his face.
It seems obvious now that Gryphon has said it, he just took on dozens of Resistance and dealt with them himself. Gifted aren’t usually limitless.
Not even Top Tier Gifted.
There’s another shout and then one of the cars is lifted and thrown at the shield, bouncing off of it without any damage, but then Samual’s nose starts to bleed and we all know we’re running on borrowed time.
It’s time for a Hail Mary pass… we’re going to die here without one. I scramble up to my feet, stepping towards the shield.
"Stand behind us, Oleander,” Gryphon growls, but I shake my head. Healing